Chapter 6 - The Bloodline Revealed
Dante’s breath caught in his throat. The room seemed to tilt beneath him as a tidal wave of memories crashed through his consciousness.
Nine years ago, his younger brother Matteo had vanished off the coast of Sicily during an assignment to secure a transport route. The official report, delivered by Marcus Vale himself, had claimed that Matteo's car had exploded after an ambush by rival syndicates, his body lost to the Mediterranean. Dante had mourned him, hunting down every supposed rival involved, burying an empty casket beneath the family mausoleum.
Dante stood up so quickly his heavy leather armchair toppled backward onto the hardwood floor. He didn't bother to pick it up. He strode out of the library, his boots echoing through the quiet corridors like the beat of a war drum.
He climbed the grand staircase two steps at a time, heading straight for the second floor. Outside the blue room, two armed guards straightened up immediately, lowering their carbines.
"Sir?" one of them asked.
Dante shoved the door open without knocking.
Anna was sitting on the edge of the bed in her nightgown, reading a picture book to Sophie, who was fast asleep beneath the floral duvet. Anna gasped, leaping to her feet and backing toward the window, her hands held out protectively.
"Mr. Moretti... what happened? Are the Russos here?"
Dante walked slowly across the rug until he stood inches from her. He held out his palm. Resting in the center of his calloused hand was the dissected gold star and the exposed metal seal.
Anna looked down. When her eyes registered the crossed falcons, she stopped breathing. Her hand flew to her mouth, tears instantly spilling over her lashes.
"Where did you get this, Anna?" Dante demanded, his voice trembling with an emotion he hadn't felt in nearly a decade. "Who gave this to you?"
Anna dropped to her knees, sobbing so hard her shoulders shook uncontrollably. "He told me... he told me never to speak his name until I knew you were safe! He said if the wrong person found out Sophie was alive, they would kill us both!"
"Matteo," Dante choked out, dropping to one knee before her, gripping her shoulders. "Matteo is alive?"
"He died three years ago, Mr. Moretti," Anna wept, looking up into Dante's agonized face. "He died in Cambridge from complications of old injuries... from the shrapnel in his chest. Before he passed, he gave me seven stars. He told me that if I ever ran out of money, if I ever feared for Sophie's life, I had to bring her to the Moretti estate. He said you were a ruthless man, but you would never harm an innocent child."
Anna reached into her bodice and pulled out a tarnished silver locket hanging from a thin chain. She clicked it open.
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Inside was a miniature photograph of Matteo Moretti, smiling under the Sicilian sun, his arm wrapped around a younger Anna. Beside it was a lock of dark curly hair identical to Sophie's.
"Sophie is Matteo’s daughter," Anna whispered, her voice cracking with heartbreak. "She is your niece, Dante. She carries the Moretti blood."
