Chapter 6 - THE MORETTI SECRET
Rosa fired.
Dante knocked her arm sideways.
The bullet tore into the wall.
Guards grabbed her.
"No!" Rosa screamed. "Let me finish it!"
Nolan laughed.
Dante looked at his sister like he didn't recognize her.
"Why does he know you?"
Rosa stopped fighting.
"Because I made a mistake."
"Eight years ago?"
Her silence answered him.
Dante looked sick.
"Matteo."
"I didn't kill him."
"Then tell me what happened."
Rosa looked at Nolan.
"Not while he's here."
Dante's face hardened.
"He stays."
Nolan was handcuffed to a chair.
Rosa sat across from him.
Then she told us everything.
Eight years earlier, Matteo had discovered that Salvatore Moretti—his own father—was secretly laundering money with Bellini.
Not because the families had made peace.
Because Salvatore intended to wipe out both organizations and keep the legitimate assets.
"Matteo wanted to expose him," Rosa said.
Dante whispered, "Why didn't he tell me?"
"He tried."
"What?"
"The night he died, he was coming to you."
Dante went completely still.
Rosa wiped tears from her face.
"Father found out."
My skin went cold.
"Salvatore ordered the bombing?"
Rosa nodded.
Dante turned away.
For a man like him, grief didn't look like crying.
It looked like stillness.
Dangerous stillness.
"I helped Matteo disappear."
Dante spun back.
"What?"
Nolan chuckled.
There it was.
The twist.
Rosa whispered, "He survived."
Dante stared at her.
"My brother is alive?"
"He was."
"Was?"
"I haven't heard from him in three years."
Dante grabbed the table.
"Where did he go?"
"Europe. Then South America."
"Why keep that from me?"
"Because Father told me he'd kill you too."
"Our father has been dead five years."
Rosa looked at him.
"Is he?"
Nobody moved.
Dante laughed once.
No humor.
"I buried him."
"You buried a closed coffin."
My stomach tightened.
Rosa continued.
"After his heart attack, Salvatore's doctor signed everything privately."
Dante looked at Enzo.
"Who identified the body?"
Enzo frowned.
"Dr. Mancini."
"Where is Mancini?"
"Retired in Florida."
Nolan laughed again.
Dante walked over and punched him so hard the chair tipped sideways.
"Dante!" I shouted.
Nolan coughed on the floor.
"I'm trying to help you!"
"You broke into my house with a gun."
"I came for the ledger."
"Why?"
"Because Salvatore wants it."
Dante froze.
Nolan looked at me.
"The old man has been building a second empire while his son protected a grave."
A guard burst into the room.
"Boss, we found a vehicle abandoned near the east fence."
"Whose?"
"Registered to Dr. Mancini."
Enzo and Dante exchanged a look.
"Search the grounds."
The guard hesitated.
"What?"
"We already found Mancini."
"Where?"
"In the trunk."
Rosa covered her mouth.
"Alive?"
"No."
The guard held out an evidence bag.
Inside was an old photograph.
Dante took it.
Salvatore Moretti stood beside Nolan.
The photograph was dated six months ago.
Dante's face hardened into something terrifying.
"He is alive."
Nolan nodded.
"And he knows Claire is here."
I looked at him.
"Why would he care about me?"
Nolan's smile disappeared.
"Because Henry Walsh didn't die protecting Moretti financial records."
May you like
"Then what?"
"He died protecting yours."
