Chapter 4 - THE NAME IN BLOOD
I turned toward Dante.
He didn't flinch.
"Why would Henry write your name?"
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not."
Detective Ellis looked between us.
"That's enough."
"No, it isn't."
I stepped closer to Dante.
"Did you know Henry?"
"No."
"Did your family work with my company?"
"Yes."
"Did Henry know things about you?"
"Probably."
My anger rose.
"So maybe Nolan wasn't searching for something because of me."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"Careful."
"Maybe this was always about you."
Rosa had warned me Dante could become terrifying without raising his voice.
Now I understood.
"Claire, I didn't set your archive on fire."
"Prove it."
Silence.
Then Ellis said, "She has a point."
Dante looked ready to throw him into traffic.
Instead, he took out his phone.
"Enzo."
A man answered immediately.
"Boss."
"Pull every Moretti transaction audited by Walsh's company. Five years."
"All of them?"
"Every page."
Dante hung up.
Then he looked at me.
"You're coming home."
"Your home?"
"Unless you'd prefer the police station."
Ellis said, "Actually—"
"No."
I stared at both of them.
"I'm not evidence."
Ellis's expression softened.
"You may be a witness."
Dante added, "And a target."
That night, Rosa gave me a bedroom upstairs.
I couldn't sleep.
At 2:13 a.m., I heard voices downstairs.
Dante and another man were arguing.
I crept toward the balcony.
"You should send her away," the stranger said.
"Where?"
"Anywhere."
"They'll find her."
"Then maybe that's what we need."
My stomach tightened.
Dante's voice became lethal.
"Finish that sentence."
The man sighed.
"I'm saying use her to draw Carter out."
"No."
"Since when do you care?"
A pause.
"Since she asked for help."
I stepped back.
A floorboard creaked.
The voices stopped.
Dante appeared below.
"Claire."
Damn.
Minutes later, I sat in his study across from him and his consigliere, Enzo Romano.
Enzo looked about forty.
Clean-shaven.
Sharp eyes.
No patience.
"We found something," he said.
He pushed a document toward me.
My company's audit records.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Carter Holdings.
"Nolan's company?"
"A shell company," Enzo said.
"Owned by?"
He looked at Dante.
Dante answered.
"My brother."
I blinked.
"You have a brother?"
"Had."
"Had?"
"Matteo died eight years ago."
Enzo turned another page.
"Except Carter Holdings received eighty million dollars three years after Matteo's death."
My pulse quickened.
"From who?"
"Moretti Shipping."
Dante stared at the document.
"Those transfers are fake."
Enzo nodded.
"Someone used Matteo's authorization codes."
"Who had them?"
"Three people."
Enzo looked at Dante.
"You."
"No."
"Matteo."
"Dead."
"And your father."
Dante went still.
"Also dead," I said.
Enzo didn't answer.
I looked at Dante.
His father, Salvatore Moretti, had supposedly died five years ago.
"Why are you looking like that?"
Dante stood abruptly.
Because something had occurred to him.
He crossed to a locked cabinet.
Opened it.
Inside sat an old leather ledger.
He flipped through pages.
Then stopped.
A sheet had been cut out.
Dante stared at the missing page.
"Someone's been in here."
Enzo stood.
"Impossible."
The house alarm suddenly screamed.
Lights flashed red.
A guard shouted over the radio.
"Intruder! East wing!"
Dante pulled a gun from beneath his desk.
"Stay here."
"No—"
"Claire."
He ran out with Enzo.
I locked the study door.
My hands shook.
Then I heard a soft click behind me.
I turned.
The curtains moved.
A man stepped from the shadows.
Nolan.
His face was bruised from the ballroom.
He smiled.
"Miss me?"
I backed away.
"How did you get in?"
He raised a gun.
"Same way I've been getting into Moretti houses for years."
My blood went cold.
"What?"
May you like
Nolan pointed toward Dante's missing ledger page in his hand.
"Now you're going to help me finish what your boyfriend started."
