Chapter 5 - The Fathers’ SecretElena did not cry.
He had sent flowers when her grandmother died.
He had once spent twenty minutes helping her carry archive boxes because the intern assigned to the task had called in sick.
Now he held a gun against Marco’s chest.
Julian stood beside him.
Elena couldn't decide which betrayal hurt more.
Nathan smiled.
“Place your weapons on the floor.”
Dante didn't move.
“Now.”
Marco looked at Dante.
Dante slowly lowered his pistol.
Marco followed.
Nathan kicked both guns away.
“Good.”
Dante looked at Julian.
“You chose strange company.”
Julian's expression tightened.
“I didn't choose him.”
Nathan laughed.
“Everyone says that eventually.”
Elena looked at Julian.
“You knew about the attack?”
“No.”
Nathan's smile faded.
“Careful.”
Julian ignored him.
“Elena, I didn't know anyone was going to get hurt.”
“There are armed men holding hundreds of people upstairs.”
“I was told the building would be evacuated.”
“By him?”
Julian nodded.
Nathan sighed dramatically.
“Romance makes intelligent people disappointingly stupid.”
Elena's hand curled.
“What did you tell Julian?”
Nathan shrugged.
“That Dante had information concerning his father's disappearance. That the ring could force him to reveal it.”
Julian looked at Dante.
“My father worked for yours.”
Dante said nothing.
“He disappeared after Vittorio died.”
“I know.”
“You know where he is?”
“No.”
Julian's jaw hardened.
“You knew who I was when I started dating Elena.”
“Yes.”
Elena turned to Dante.
“You knew?”
“Not immediately.”
“How long?”
“Three months.”
Her face burned.
“Three months?”
Dante didn't defend himself.
She laughed in disbelief.
“You let me stay with him?”
“I investigated him.”
“For fourteen months!”
“I found no evidence he intended to harm you.”
“So you just watched?”
Dante's voice hardened.
“What would you have preferred? That I forbid you from seeing him?”
“You forbid me from ordering lunch from a food truck you don't like.”
“It failed inspection twice.”
“This is not about tacos!”
Nathan laughed.
“God, I've missed workplace banter.”
Elena glared at him.
Nathan lifted the pistol.
“Unfortunately, we're short on time.”
He nodded toward the ring.
“Give it to me.”
Dante closed his fist.
“No.”
Nathan pointed the gun at Elena.
Dante instantly opened his hand.
Julian stepped forward.
“Don't point that at her.”
Nathan turned.
“And there it is.”
“What?”
“The weakness.”
Nathan smiled.
“Every powerful man claims he can't be controlled. Then somebody points a gun at the woman he loves.”
Elena looked at Dante.
Dante looked only at Nathan.
Julian noticed.
Something painful crossed his face.
Nathan held out his hand.
“The ring.”
Dante tossed it.
Nathan caught it.
He removed the hidden chip.
“Twelve years.”
He stared at it.
“Twelve miserable years searching every safe, every warehouse, every offshore account.”
“You killed my father for it,” Dante said.
Nathan looked up.
“I killed your father because he discovered I was stealing from him.”
The room went silent.
“And the ledger?”
“Insurance.”
Nathan smiled.
“Vittorio compiled everything. Judges. cops. politicians. bankers. The entire network. He planned to turn state's evidence.”
Dante's expression changed.
“My father?”
“He wanted out.”
Nathan nodded.
“He'd become sentimental.”
“For us.”
“For your mother.”
Nathan shrugged.
“He planned to dismantle the entire organization before handing it to you.”
Dante looked stunned.
For years, Elena realized, Dante had believed he was continuing his father's legacy.
Now he was discovering his father had intended to destroy it.
Nathan inserted the chip into a reader.
The monitor lit.
Encrypted files appeared.
He smiled.
“There you are.”
Then his smile vanished.
Password required.
Nathan looked at Dante.
“Password.”
“I don't know it.”
Nathan raised the weapon toward Elena.
Julian moved immediately.
“No.”
Nathan fired.
The shot exploded.
Julian stumbled.
Elena screamed.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
He collapsed against the wall.
Dante lunged.
Marco moved simultaneously.
Nathan fired again.
The bullet struck the ceiling.
Marco slammed Nathan's wrist against the table.
The gun dropped.
Dante drove Nathan into the wall.
Julian kicked the weapon away despite his injury.
Elena grabbed it.
Everyone froze.
Especially Elena.
She had never held a gun.
It felt horrifyingly heavy.
Nathan looked at her.
“You won't shoot.”
Elena aimed.
“Probably not.”
Nathan smiled.
“Exactly.”
“But Dante might.”
She handed the weapon to him.
Dante took it.
Nathan's smile disappeared.
Marco restrained Nathan.
Elena dropped beside Julian.
“Let me see.”
“It's nothing.”
“You were shot.”
“Technically grazed.”
Blood soaked his shirt.
She tore fabric from a first-aid kit Marco threw toward her.
Julian winced.
“Ellie.”
“Don't.”
“I owe you an explanation.”
“You owe me several.”
“I loved you.”
She pressed harder against the wound.
He hissed.
“I said don't.”
“I need you to know.”
“Why?”
“Because you're going to hate me after this.”
“I already do.”
He smiled sadly.
“No, you don't.”
That hurt.
Because he was right.
Love didn't disappear just because truth became ugly.
Sometimes it lingered after trust was dead.
Dante watched them.
His expression unreadable.
Marco secured Nathan to a chair.
“We need out.”
Dante nodded.
“What about my mother?”
Nathan laughed.
Dante turned.
“What?”
“You think Alessandro kidnapped Sofia?”
Dante stepped closer.
Nathan smiled.
“He rescued her.”
Dante froze.
“From whom?”
“Me.”
The smile deepened.
“The men in your building aren't Alessandro's.”
Dante looked at the monitors.
“Then whose?”
“Mine.”
Nathan leaned back.
“Your uncle arrived after I took the lobby.”
Marco swore.
Nathan continued.
“He's been chasing me for twelve years. Today he finally got close.”
Dante looked toward the screen.
“Why?”
“Because Alessandro didn't kill Vittorio.”
Nathan's voice became quieter.
“He tried to save him.”
Dante said nothing.
Nathan smiled again.
“You built your whole empire hating the wrong man.”
Elena watched Dante absorb the revelation.
Everything he knew about his family was collapsing.
Then an alarm sounded.
Marco checked the security panel.
“Fire suppression system.”
Smoke began entering the hallway.
Nathan's grin widened.
“My men know I've been compromised.”
Dante grabbed his collar.
“What did you tell them?”
“If I failed to return in fifteen minutes…”
Nathan looked directly at Elena.
“…burn the building.”
Dante's eyes became murderous.
“There are six hundred people upstairs.”
“Yes.”
“You're insane.”
“No.”
Nathan's gaze moved toward the hidden memory chip.
“I simply understand the price of evidence.”
Marco dragged him toward the corridor.
“We move.”
Elena helped Julian stand.
Dante looked at her.
“You are not carrying him.”
“Watch me.”
“Elena—”
“He took a bullet because Nathan pointed a gun at me.”
“He also manipulated you for fourteen months.”
“Both things can be true.”
Dante had no answer.
They moved into the stairwell.
Smoke thickened.
Nathan coughed.
“Forty-second floor has a connection to the east tower.”
Dante looked suspicious.
“Why tell us?”
“Because I don't want to burn either.”
“Comforting.”
They climbed.
Julian leaned on Elena.
After several floors, he whispered:
“Dante really loves you.”
Elena almost dropped him.
“Not now.”
“He does.”
“You used me to manipulate him.”
“Yes.”
“So your romantic insight has questionable credibility.”
Julian laughed despite the pain.
“I knew the first time I met him.”
“When?”
“The charity gala.”
Elena remembered.
Julian had introduced himself while Dante stood twenty feet away.
“He barely looked at me.”
“That was the problem.”
Julian looked at her.
“He looked at everyone except you.”
Elena said nothing.
Ahead, Dante turned.
“What are you whispering about?”
Julian smiled weakly.
“You.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“Save your oxygen.”
They reached the connecting floor.
The door was locked.
Marco struck the release.
Nothing.
Nathan looked almost amused.
“Emergency lockout.”
Dante searched the wall.
Smoke gathered behind them.
Elena coughed.
Julian sagged.
“Dante…”
He looked back.
Elena was struggling to hold Julian.
Dante crossed toward them.
He took Julian's weight without argument.
Julian looked surprised.
“You know,” he said weakly, “this is strangely intimate.”
Dante glared.
“I can drop you.”
“Point taken.”
Marco found the manual release.
The door opened.
Fresh air rushed in.
Everyone stumbled through.
Nathan was last.
Then he stopped.
His expression changed.
Marco turned.
Nathan grabbed Marco's weapon.
Dante reacted.
Too late.
Nathan fired into the ceiling.
Then aimed at Elena.
“Give me the chip!”
Dante stepped in front of her.
Nathan laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
He pointed toward Elena.
“She is the password.”
Silence.
Elena stared.
“What?”
Nathan smiled.
“Vittorio chose the password twelve years ago.”
“I never knew him.”
“No.”
Nathan's eyes glittered.
“But your father did.”
Elena stopped breathing.
“My father?”
Dante turned slowly toward her.
Nathan nodded.
“Ask Dante what happened to Robert Marlowe.”
Elena looked at Dante.
Her father had died when she was sixteen.
Car accident.
Drunk driver.
That was what she had always been told.
Dante's face told her something else.
“Dante.”
He didn't speak.
Her heart began pounding.
“Tell me.”
Nathan's smile widened.
Dante finally said:
“Your father worked for mine.”
Elena stepped backward.
“No.”
“He was an accountant.”
“No.”
“He helped my father build the ledger.”
“Stop.”
“And when Nathan discovered it…”
Dante looked at Nathan.
“…he killed both of them.”
Elena's world went silent.
Nathan lifted the weapon.
“Now we're all caught up.”
Then another gunshot shattered the glass beside his head.
Nathan ducked.
Marco tackled him.
From the far end of the corridor appeared Alessandro Valenti with six armed men.
He lowered his pistol.
Looked at Dante.
Then Elena.
May you like
And said:
“If the family therapy session is finished, I'd strongly recommend leaving before the building explodes.”
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