Chapter 525: Blood Doesn't Lie

Chapter 525: Blood Doesn't Lie
Chapter 525: Blood Doesn't Lie

Isabella couldn't move.

The phone remained pressed against her ear long after the call ended.

Don't trust Dante.

Four words.

Four words from the woman she had spent years believing was dead.

Dante stood beside her, watching her face.

“What did she say?”

Isabella slowly lowered the phone.

“My mother.”

“I know.”

“She told me not to trust you.”

The warehouse became completely silent.

Marco exchanged a look with Victor.

Samuel's face remained unreadable.

Dante didn't move.

“Did she say why?”

“No.”

“Did she say where she is?”

“No.”

“Anything else?”

Isabella shook her head.

Dante looked toward Gabriel Voss.

“You knew she was alive.”

Voss didn't deny it.

“I suspected.”

Dante's gun came up.

“That's not an answer.”

Voss looked directly into the barrel.

“If you shoot me, you'll lose the only person in this city who can tell you what happened to your father.”

Dante's finger tightened around the trigger.

“You've got ten seconds.”

Voss remained calm.

“Your father wasn't betrayed by one person.”

“Then who betrayed him?”

“Everyone he trusted.”

Isabella stepped between them.

“Stop.”

Dante looked at her.

She could see the anger in his eyes, but underneath it was something else.

Fear.

Not fear of Voss.

Fear that Isabella believed her mother.

She reached for his hand.

He looked down at their fingers.

“Dante,” she whispered.

“What?”

“I don't know what to believe.”

His expression hardened.

“I don't expect you to.”

“That isn't what I meant.”

“I know.”

He gently pulled his hand away.

That hurt more than she expected.

Voss watched them.

“Blackwater was never just a criminal organization.”

Dante turned.

“Then what was it?”

“A system.”

Voss walked toward the old desk in the corner.

“Politicians needed money. Judges needed favors. Police commanders needed promotions. Businessmen needed competitors removed. Criminal families needed protection.”

He placed his hand on the desk.

“Blackwater gave all of them what they wanted.”

“And took what?” Isabella asked.

“Control.”

Samuel nodded.

“Your father eventually realized the organization had become bigger than the men who created it.”

Voss looked at Isabella.

“Elena realized it too.”

“Then why didn't they destroy it?”

“They tried.”

Dante stared at him.

“And failed.”

“Your father wanted out.”

Voss's voice became quieter.

“That was his mistake.”

A gunshot suddenly exploded outside.

Everyone ducked.

The warehouse windows shattered.

“Down!” Victor shouted.

Dante grabbed Isabella and pulled her behind a concrete support column.

More bullets tore through the building.

Marco fired toward the windows.

Victor moved to the opposite side.

“Cars!” he yelled.

Dante looked through the broken window.

Black SUVs were surrounding the warehouse.

“Adrian?”

Voss shook his head.

“No.”

“Then who?”

Voss looked at the ledger.

“The people who don't want you reading it.”

Dante turned toward Isabella.

“Stay here.”

“No.”

“Isabella.”

“You're not leaving me.”

“This isn't an argument.”

“It is if you're planning to walk into a gunfight alone.”

Dante stared at her.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then he nodded.

“Fine. Stay behind me.”

She smiled faintly.

“That's better.”

They moved together.

Dante fired twice through the window, forcing two gunmen back.

Marco rushed toward the side entrance.

“We need another exit!”

Voss pointed toward the rear.

“Loading dock.”

They ran.

A bullet struck the wall inches from Isabella's head.

Dante pulled her against him.

“Are you hit?”

“No.”

He touched her face anyway.

His fingers trembled.

“Don't scare me like that.”

She stared into his eyes.

“You're scared?”

“For you?”

“Yes.”

Dante swallowed.

“More than I should be.”

Before she could answer, another explosion shook the warehouse.

The loading dock door collapsed inward.

Three armed men rushed through.

Dante fired.

One dropped.

Marco took down another.

Victor tackled the third.

The man reached for a hidden weapon.

Isabella grabbed a metal pipe and struck his wrist.

His gun fell.

Dante finished the fight.

Silence returned.

Dante stared at Isabella.

“You just saved my life.”

“You're welcome.”

He almost smiled.

Almost.

Then he saw the man's jacket.

A small silver insignia was stitched beneath the collar.

Dante crouched.

He recognized it.

“No.”

Samuel came closer.

“What?”

Dante pulled the insignia free.

It carried the crest of the Moretti family.

Marco's face changed.

“That can't be.”

Victor looked toward Dante.

“Someone inside the family.”

Dante stood.

His expression became cold.

“Someone loyal to my father.”

Voss corrected him.

“Someone loyal to whoever replaced him.”

Dante turned.

“Tell me the name.”

Voss finally sighed.

“The last surviving member of the Blackwater council.”

Isabella looked at the ledger.

“The third name.”

Voss nodded.

Dante opened the page again.

His eyes moved across the final line.

Then stopped.

His face drained of color.

Isabella stepped closer.

“Who is it?”

Dante didn't answer.

She looked at the page herself.

The name was unmistakable.

Salvatore Moretti.

Dante's uncle.

The man who had raised him after Antonio's death.

The man who had taught him how to run the family.

The man Dante had trusted more than anyone.

Isabella looked at him.

“Dante…”

He closed the ledger.

“My uncle.”

Samuel looked away.

“I was afraid of that.”

Dante's eyes snapped toward him.

“You knew?”

“I suspected.”

“You knew.”

“I didn't have proof.”

Dante shoved him against the wall.

“You let me believe he was protecting me.”

Samuel didn't fight back.

“Because if I told you without proof, he would have killed you.”

Dante released him.

His breathing was heavy.

Isabella touched his arm.

“Dante.”

He looked at her.

“He's the reason my father died.”

“We don't know that yet.”

“He's in Blackwater.”

“That doesn't mean—”

“It means everything.”

Voss interrupted.

“There's something else.”

Dante turned.

“What?”

“Salvatore isn't the man who ordered your father's death.”

Dante's expression hardened.

“Then who did?”

Voss looked at Isabella.

“Your mother knows.”

Isabella's heart dropped.

“She was there?”

“She witnessed the meeting.”

“Then why would she tell me not to trust Dante?”

Voss didn't answer immediately.

“Because she believes your father was killed by someone connected to Dante.”

Dante stepped closer.

“Who?”

Voss looked toward the broken windows.

“Your father.”

Dante froze.

“What?”

“Antonio ordered the hit himself.”

Nobody spoke.

Isabella stared at Voss.

“That makes no sense.”

“It does if you understand what Blackwater had become.”

Dante shook his head.

“My father wouldn't order his own death.”

“He didn't.”

Voss looked directly at him.

“He ordered the death of the man everyone believed was Antonio Moretti.”

Dante's face went blank.

Isabella whispered, “What are you saying?”

Voss reached into his coat and removed an old photograph.

He handed it to Dante.

Dante looked at it.

The photograph showed Antonio Moretti standing beside Elena.

But there was another man behind them.

A younger version of Dante.

Except it wasn't Dante.

The boy had the same eyes.

The same dark hair.

The same face.

Isabella stared.

“Who is that?”

Voss answered quietly.

“Your father's other son.”

Dante looked up.

“My brother?”

“No.”

Voss's voice dropped.

“Your replacement.”

The warehouse seemed to disappear around them.

Dante stared at the photograph.

Then the phone in Isabella's hand rang again.

This time, the screen displayed a different word.

DANTE.

He looked at her.

She looked back.

Neither of them touched it.

Because both understood the truth.

Someone wasn't calling Isabella anymore.

Someone was calling him.

And whoever was on the other end already knew they had found the ledger.