Chapter 528: Blood Between Us
Chapter 528: Blood Between Us
Chapter 528: Blood Between Us
The gunshot shattered the room.
Isabella screamed.
“Mom!”
Elena crumpled to the floor.
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Then Dante did.
He shoved Isabella behind him and raised his weapon toward Salvatore.
“You son of a—”
Another shot exploded.
Dante fired first.
The bullet struck the metal table inches from Salvatore's hand.
Salvatore's men returned fire.
Everyone scattered.
“GET DOWN!” Marco shouted.
Isabella dropped behind the table as bullets tore through the computers.
Sparks exploded across the room.
Dante crouched beside her.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Isabella—”
“My mother!”
“I'll get her.”
“You don't know if she's alive!”
Dante looked directly into her eyes.
“She is.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Salvatore wants us to believe she's dead.”
Another burst of gunfire echoed through the room.
Dante grabbed Isabella's face gently.
“Listen to me. Whatever happens, you stay behind me.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Don't leave me.”
The words stopped him.
For a moment, the gunfire seemed distant.
Dante touched his forehead to hers.
“I won't.”
Then he disappeared around the table.
Isabella looked toward Elena.
Her mother was lying motionless near the center of the room.
Blood spread beneath her.
“Mom…”
She started crawling forward.
A bullet struck the floor beside her.
Isabella flinched.
Dante fired back.
One of Salvatore's men dropped.
“MOVE!” Dante shouted.
Isabella ran.
She reached Elena and dropped beside her.
“Mom?”
Elena's eyes opened.
Barely.
“Isabella…”
“Oh God.”
Isabella pressed her hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Elena tried to breathe.
“Listen…”
“No. Don't talk.”
“You have to know…”
“Know what?”
Elena's fingers closed weakly around hers.
“Your father…”
Isabella shook her head.
“We'll talk about him later.”
“No.”
Elena's voice cracked.
“There's no later.”
Isabella felt tears running down her face.
“Please don't say that.”
Elena stared at her daughter.
“I didn't abandon you.”
“I know.”
“I tried to protect you.”
“Mom…”
“I made mistakes.”
“So did everyone.”
Elena's eyes moved toward Dante.
“He'll protect you.”
Isabella looked over her shoulder.
Dante was fighting his way toward them.
“I know.”
Elena shook her head.
“No. You don't understand.”
A shadow appeared behind Isabella.
She turned.
Salvatore stood several feet away.
His gun was pointed directly at them.
Dante saw him.
“Salvatore!”
Salvatore fired.
Dante tackled Isabella.
The bullet struck Elena.
Her body jerked.
“No!”
Isabella screamed.
Dante fired twice.
Salvatore ducked behind the table.
“Get your mother out!” Dante shouted.
“I can't!”
“You can!”
Dante grabbed Elena's shoulders.
“Help me.”
Together, they dragged her toward the wall.
Marco appeared through the smoke.
“There's a service tunnel!”
“Where?”
“Behind the weapons cabinet!”
Dante looked at Isabella.
“Can you move her?”
Isabella nodded.
They pulled Elena toward the concealed entrance.
Behind them, Salvatore shouted.
“Dante!”
Dante stopped.
Salvatore stepped from behind the table.
“You really don't understand what you're doing.”
Dante aimed his gun.
“I understand enough.”
“You think killing me ends this?”
“No.”
Dante's eyes hardened.
“I think making you talk does.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You're becoming exactly like your father.”
Dante froze.
“My father?”
“He stood where you're standing once.”
“What did you do to him?”
Salvatore's expression changed.
For the first time, something resembling fear crossed his face.
“I didn't kill him.”
Dante's grip tightened.
“Then who did?”
Salvatore glanced toward Elena.
“She knows.”
Isabella stared at her mother.
Elena closed her eyes.
Dante stepped closer.
“Tell me where my father is.”
Salvatore shook his head.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
“Ask why Elena helped him disappear.”
Dante looked at Isabella.
She was staring at her mother in disbelief.
“Mom?”
Elena struggled to speak.
“I didn't have a choice.”
Salvatore laughed.
“You always had a choice.”
“You threatened my daughter.”
“I threatened everyone.”
“And I chose her.”
Isabella's heart broke.
“You disappeared because of me?”
Elena looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because if Blackwater knew you were connected to me, they would have killed you.”
Dante stared at Salvatore.
“Then why bring her here?”
“Because I needed you to see the truth.”
“What truth?”
Salvatore pointed toward the ledger.
“Your father wasn't the founder of Blackwater.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“You said that already.”
“I said your father inherited it.”
Salvatore's smile returned.
“I never told you who created it.”
Silence fell.
Voss stepped forward.
“Don't.”
Salvatore looked at him.
“You've been hiding long enough, Voss.”
Dante turned.
“What does he mean?”
Voss didn't answer.
Salvatore continued.
“Blackwater wasn't created by the Morettis.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“Then who?”
Salvatore looked at Isabella.
“Her father.”
Isabella went completely still.
“No.”
“Elena knows.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“He started it,” Salvatore said. “Antonio tried to destroy it.”
Dante looked toward Voss.
“You knew?”
Voss lowered his weapon.
“I knew pieces.”
“Pieces?”
“I never knew the entire story.”
Salvatore laughed.
“That is what everyone says when they are caught lying.”
Dante raised his gun again.
“Where is Antonio?”
Salvatore's smile faded.
“Alive.”
Isabella stopped breathing.
Dante stared at him.
“Where?”
“Somewhere you won't find him.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
Dante took another step.
“You shot Elena.”
“I shot the woman who betrayed me.”
“You shot my mother.”
“And she survived.”
Dante glanced toward Elena.
Blood continued soaking through her clothes.
Salvatore lowered his weapon.
“You need me alive.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm the only person who knows where Antonio is.”
Dante's jaw clenched.
“You're lying.”
“Then kill me.”
Salvatore spread his arms.
“Go ahead.”
Dante's finger tightened against the trigger.
Isabella looked at him.
“Dante.”
He didn't move.
“Don't.”
His eyes remained fixed on Salvatore.
“He knows where my father is.”
“And my mother is dying.”
Dante looked at her.
Isabella's voice broke.
“We need to get her out.”
The words reached him.
Dante lowered his gun.
Salvatore smiled.
“You see?”
Dante turned toward him.
“This isn't over.”
“No.”
Salvatore stepped backward.
“It has only started.”
He pressed something on the wall.
A steel door slammed down between them.
“Damn it!” Marco shouted.
Dante ran toward it.
He fired twice.
The bullets ricocheted.
By the time they forced the door open, Salvatore was gone.
But he had left something behind.
A photograph.
Dante picked it up.
His blood ran cold.
It showed Antonio Moretti standing beside a younger Elena.
Behind them was a building Dante recognized.
The old Moretti estate.
But there was something written across the back.
Dante turned the photograph over.
Three words.
MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE.
Isabella approached him.
“What is it?”
Dante didn't answer.
She took the photograph from his hand.
Her face changed.
“That building…”
“I know.”
“My father was there.”
Dante nodded.
“And if Salvatore is telling the truth…”
“He's alive.”
Isabella looked toward Elena.
Her mother was barely conscious.
“Then we have to find him.”
Dante looked at her.
“We will.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Not just my father.”
Her eyes hardened.
“We find the people who did this to my family.”
Dante stepped closer.
“And then?”
Isabella wiped the tears from her face.
“Then we end Blackwater.”
Dante stared at her.
For the first time, he saw something different in Isabella.
Not fear.
Not grief.
Resolve.
He reached for her hand.
She took it.
Behind them, Elena whispered one final warning.
“Isabella…”
She looked back.
Elena's eyes were filled with terror.
“Your father isn't the man you think he is.”
The room went silent.
Dante looked at Isabella.
And Isabella realized the war had never really been about the Morettis.
It had been about her family all along.