Chapter 521: Dangerous
Chapter 521: Dangerous
Chapter 521: Dangerous
The first gunshot shattered the window.
Dante grabbed Isabella and pulled her to the floor as glass exploded across the room. Victor dropped behind the kitchen counter, while Marco fired toward the front door.
“Back entrance!” Victor shouted.
Dante looked at him.
“Where?”
“Basement!”
Another burst of gunfire tore through the walls.
Dante grabbed Isabella's hand.
“Stay with me.”
She nodded.
They moved low across the floor.
Marco covered them from the staircase.
Three men rushed through the front door.
Marco fired twice.
One dropped.
The other two ducked behind the furniture.
Dante reached the basement door and pulled it open.
“Go!”
Victor followed them down.
Isabella came last.
Marco slammed the door behind them.
The basement was dark and cramped.
Victor hurried toward a wooden workbench.
“There's a tunnel.”
Dante stared at him.
“Of course there is.”
Victor gave him a tired smile.
“Your father taught me that hiding underground keeps people alive.”
“I'm starting to think my father had a tunnel obsession.”
Isabella almost laughed despite the gunfire above.
Victor lifted a floor panel.
A narrow passage appeared.
They climbed inside.
Marco closed the panel behind them.
The sound of footsteps entered the basement.
“They're searching,” Marco whispered.
Dante moved forward.
The tunnel stretched beneath the neighboring buildings.
Victor led them through the darkness.
After several minutes, they emerged inside an abandoned garage.
Dante looked around.
“Where are we?”
“Two blocks away.”
Victor walked toward an old car.
He opened the trunk.
Inside were several bags, weapons, and documents.
“You planned for this.”
“I've been planning for Adrian to find me for twenty years.”
Dante took the envelope his mother had left.
“You said the second witness is dead.”
Victor nodded.
“His name was Samuel Grant.”
“Who killed him?”
“Adrian.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“Then why tell me?”
“Because Samuel left something behind.”
“What?”
Victor pulled a small flash drive from his pocket.
“This.”
Dante stared.
“What is on it?”
“Everything Samuel knew.”
Marco stepped closer.
“Then we need to get somewhere secure.”
Victor shook his head.
“There is no secure place anymore.”
Isabella took the drive.
“Then we'll make one.”
Dante looked at her.
She turned the drive over.
“Does anyone have a laptop?”
Victor nodded.
“Back room.”
They entered the garage office.
Victor locked the door.
Isabella connected the drive to an old computer.
The screen flickered.
A folder appeared.
BLACKWATER.
Dante leaned closer.
“Open it.”
Isabella clicked.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Financial records.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
Names.
Dante recognized several immediately.
Police commanders.
Judges.
Politicians.
Then one file caught his attention.
MORETTI FAMILY.
He opened it.
A photograph appeared.
His father.
His mother.
Clara.
Marco.
And a younger Dante.
The date was twenty years old.
Dante stared.
“Why am I in this file?”
Victor looked away.
“Because you were the reason your father fought Adrian.”
Dante opened another document.
It contained a list of threats against his family.
His name was highlighted in red.
Underneath it was a note.
Primary leverage.
Isabella's face tightened.
“He was going to use you against your father.”
“Yes,” Victor said.
Dante scrolled further.
Then he stopped.
There was a document dated the night his father died.
FINAL OPERATION.
He opened it.
The first sentence made his stomach drop.
Adrian Vale ordered the elimination of Antonio Moretti.
Dante stared.
“My father didn't ask Marco to kill him.”
Marco looked at him.
Dante turned.
“You said he did.”
Marco's face fell.
“I believed he did.”
“You believed?”
Marco swallowed.
“Your father told me Adrian was coming. He told me he needed to disappear.”
Dante's voice hardened.
“You didn't kill him.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Victor answered.
“Adrian's men.”
Silence filled the room.
Dante stared at the screen.
His father's death hadn't been a sacrifice.
It had been an execution.
And everyone had helped bury the truth.
Dante turned toward Marco.
“Why did you let me believe you killed him?”
Marco's eyes filled with regret.
“Because your mother begged me.”
“To protect me?”
“Yes.”
“From what?”
“From revenge.”
Dante shook his head.
“You thought I'd go after Adrian.”
“You were eighteen.”
“I would have.”
“And Adrian would have killed you.”
Dante looked away.
Isabella stepped beside him.
“Your father wanted you alive.”
Dante looked at her.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
She reached for his hand.
“And you're still alive.”
Dante squeezed her fingers.
Then the computer screen flickered.
A new message appeared.
YOU HAVE FOUND THE SECOND WITNESS.
Victor went pale.
“What?”
The message changed.
HE IS NOT DEAD.
Dante stared.
“Samuel.”
Victor shook his head.
“That isn't possible.”
Another message appeared.
COME TO THE OLD CENTRAL STATION. MIDNIGHT. COME WITH THE LEDGER.
Isabella looked at Dante.
“It's a trap.”
“Obviously.”
“Then we're not going.”
Dante nodded.
“We are.”
She stared at him.
“Dante.”
“We need Samuel.”
“If he's alive, Adrian will be watching him.”
“Exactly.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Samuel wouldn't contact you.”
Dante looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Samuel doesn't trust anyone.”
“Then why send the message?”
Victor's face changed.
“He didn't.”
Everyone went silent.
Dante looked at the screen.
“Someone else sent it.”
Marco nodded.
“Adrian.”
Dante closed the laptop.
“He wants the ledger.”
“He wants us.”
Dante looked at Isabella.
“He wants both.”
She stepped closer.
“Then let's give him neither.”
Dante smiled.
“That sounds like a plan.”
Victor looked toward the garage door.
“What are you going to do?”
“Make him think we're going to the station.”
Marco understood.
“And go somewhere else.”
Dante nodded.
“Find Samuel first.”
Victor hesitated.
“I know where he might be.”
“Where?”
“The old church on Jefferson.”
Isabella frowned.
“Why there?”
“Samuel used it as a dead drop.”
Dante checked his watch.
“It's almost midnight.”
Victor grabbed his coat.
“Then we don't have much time.”
They left the garage through the rear entrance.
Dante and Isabella climbed into the car.
Victor sat in the back beside Marco.
The city was nearly empty.
Rain fell against the windshield.
Dante drove toward the church.
Isabella watched him.
“You're thinking again.”
“I know.”
“What now?”
“I keep wondering how many people my family trusted.”
“And how many betrayed them?”
“Yes.”
She took his hand.
“You don't have to become like them.”
Dante looked at her.
“I won't.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because I have something they didn't.”
“What?”
“You.”
She smiled.
“That's dangerously romantic.”
“I have a reputation to maintain.”
They reached the church.
The doors were open.
Dante stopped.
No lights.
No cars.
Too quiet.
Victor whispered, “Samuel?”
No answer.
They entered.
Rows of empty pews stretched into darkness.
A single candle burned near the altar.
Beside it was another photograph.
Dante picked it up.
His father.
Samuel.
Clara.
And Adrian.
On the back were six words.
One of them is still lying.
Dante looked at Marco.
Then Victor.
Then Isabella.
His heart tightened.
A sound came from the balcony.
Someone stepped into the light.
Samuel Grant.
Alive.
He raised both hands.
“Dante Moretti?”
Dante raised his weapon.
“Yes.”
Samuel looked directly at Isabella.
Then his face went pale.
“You brought her.”
Dante frowned.
“Why wouldn't I?”
Samuel whispered the words that made the entire room go silent.
“Because your father told me never to trust Isabella's family.”
Isabella froze.
Dante looked at her.
And for the first time, he saw fear in her eyes.