Chapter 5 - The Wrong Brother
I didn’t tell Dante what Sophia said.
Not immediately.
First, I made breakfast. I checked the window locks. I called the officer who had given me his card and told him where we were staying.
Then I called my neighbor, Tessa.
“If I send you a message that says I need the red coat, call the police.”
“You don’t own a red coat.”
“That’s why you’ll remember.”
She went quiet.
“Rosa, what happened?”
“I’ll explain when I can.”
At ten, Dante came to the guesthouse carrying a paper bag.
“Mrs. Bell said she likes blueberry muffins.”
Sophia looked inside.
“Big ones.”
“They didn’t have little ones.”
“That’s okay.”
He almost smiled.
I sent Sophia into the kitchen with Mrs. Bell and stepped onto the porch.
Then I told him.
Dante’s face closed.
“I had a younger brother,” he said.
“Had?”
“Marco. He was supposed to handle security the night Carmela died.”
The wind moved through the bare trees behind the guesthouse.
“What happened to him?”
“We found messages on his phone. Payments. A route change he’d approved.”
“You thought he set it up.”
“I believed the evidence.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Dante stared into the yard.
“I accused him. He ran. Three days later, his car went into the river.”
I thought of Sophia’s sleepy voice.
The wrong brother.
“Who found the messages?”
Dante didn’t answer quickly enough.
“Vittorio?”
“And Mercer. My security chief.”
“Did you ever see the original phone?”
“I saw a report.”
We stood there in silence.
Finally, Dante said, “Marco called me that night. Before the crash.”
“What did he say?”
“I didn’t answer.”
Inside, Sophia laughed at something Mrs. Bell had done.
Dante turned toward the sound, then looked away.
“I won’t let another person pay because I refused to listen.”
He took out his phone and called Luca.
“Quietly. I want the original records from the ambush investigation. Not summaries. Everything.”
He ended the call.
“Vittorio is coming to dinner.”
“You’re inviting him here?”
“He comes every Thursday. If I cancel, he’ll know something changed.”
I stared at him.
“My daughter isn’t bait.”
“She won’t be anywhere near him.”
That afternoon, I brought clean towels into the main house while Sophia stayed with Mrs. Bell.
As I passed Dante’s study, I heard Mercer speaking inside.
“The apartment was supposed to scare her off.”
May you like
Then Vittorio answered.
“It would have, if my brother hadn’t brought her back.”
