Chapter 7 - The Woman Called ShepherdCeleste Romano wanted Dante angry.
Mara hated him for it until Luca disappeared.
It happened at 7:40 the next morning.
Not from school.
Not from a playground.
From inside Dante’s supposedly impenetrable house.
Mara was drinking coffee in the kitchen when Bianca screamed.
Dante ran downstairs.
“What?”
“Luca’s gone.”
Everything changed.
The calm man disappeared.
Dante Moretti became something terrifying.
“Lock the gates.”
“They’re locked.”
“Cameras.”
“Checking.”
“Staff.”
“Already gathering everyone.”
Dante grabbed Bianca’s shoulders.
“When did you last see him?”
“Twenty minutes ago. He was watching cartoons.”
Mara stood.
“Where was his security?”
“Outside the family wing.”
“Did anyone enter?”
“No.”
Mara’s mind raced.
A five-year-old hadn’t teleported.
“Does Luca hide?”
Dante turned.
“What?”
“Does he hide when he’s scared?”
Bianca nodded.
“Sometimes.”
“Where?”
“Under his bed. The library window seat.”
Dante’s phone rang.
Security.
No breach.
No car departure.
No exterior movement.
Then Mara remembered Luca talking about the dog.
“Where’s your dog?”
Bianca froze.
“Bruno?”
“Yes.”
They hadn’t seen him either.
Mara ran toward the mudroom.
A side door stood slightly open.
Cold air entered.
Dante’s face turned murderous.
“That door alarms.”
One guard checked the panel.
“Alarm disabled at 7:18.”
“By whom?”
The guard swallowed.
“Internal code.”
Dante looked toward the staff.
Someone inside the house had helped.
Mara stepped outside.
Bruno’s paw prints marked damp earth.
Beside them—
small sneaker prints.
Luca.
They followed toward the woods.
Dante had a gun in his hand.
Mara stayed beside him.
“You should stay inside.”
“Stop saying that.”
“You’re injured.”
“And you’re impossible.”
Under different circumstances he might have responded.
Not now.
They found Bruno barking beside a maintenance shed.
The door was locked.
Dante kicked it open.
Luca sat inside.
Alive.
Terrified.
A strip of tape covered his mouth.
Dante dropped the gun and fell to his knees.
“Luca.”
The boy threw himself into his father’s arms.
Mara turned away.
She had never seen Dante cry.
She suspected nobody else had either.
He didn’t sob.
One tear simply escaped while he held his son.
Then Dante noticed an envelope taped to Luca’s jacket.
His grief turned to fury.
Inside was a note.
NEXT TIME HE LEAVES THE PROPERTY.
Below it:
NO POLICE. NO DELAYS. BRING MARA TO PIER 19 TONIGHT.
Mara read it twice.
“They want me.”
Dante ripped the paper in half.
“They’re not getting you.”
“They have my father.”
“No.”
“They just took your son from inside your house.”
“No.”
“Dante—”
“I said no.”
Luca flinched.
Dante immediately lowered his voice.
He handed his son to Bianca.
“Take him upstairs.”
Once Luca was gone, Mara rounded on him.
“You don’t get to decide.”
“Yes, I do.”
“About me?”
“When someone is trying to kill you?”
“They want me alive.”
“You don’t know that.”
“My father is alive.”
“We don’t know his condition.”
“Exactly.”
Dante stepped closer.
“You think walking into Pier Nineteen will solve this?”
“I think doing nothing won’t.”
“We gather intelligence.”
“You’ve been gathering intelligence while they walked into your home.”
The words hit.
Dante’s jaw tightened.
Mara softened slightly.
“I’m not blaming you.”
“You should.”
“No.”
“He was under my protection.”
“He still is.”
Dante looked away.
Mara understood then.
His greatest weakness wasn’t rage.
It was guilt.
“Who is Luca’s mother?”
Dante became still.
Mara had never asked.
Bianca had never mentioned her.
There were photographs of Luca everywhere.
None showed a mother.
“She died.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Three years ago.”
“What happened?”
“Car accident.”
Something in his voice bothered Mara.
“You don’t believe that.”
Dante stared toward the lake.
“She was supposed to drive home from dinner. Her brakes failed.”
“And you think someone tampered with them.”
“I know they did.”
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“Could it be Shepherd?”
“That possibility has kept me awake for three years.”
Now everything made sense.
The fortress.
The cameras.
The guards.
Dante wasn’t paranoid.
He was a father who had already failed to protect someone he loved once.
“You can’t lock Luca in a tower forever.”
“No.”
“And you can’t lock me in one either.”
His gaze returned to hers.
“You’re not my responsibility.”
“Then stop acting like I am.”
“I can’t.”
The confession escaped quietly.
Mara forgot what she meant to say.
Dante took a breath.
“I’ve tried.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“No.”
He approached until only inches separated them.
“Because every time I look at you, I see the woman who covered my son with her body without asking who I was.”
Mara’s heartbeat changed.
“And every time I remember that, I wonder what kind of person does something like that.”
“A broke waitress with bad instincts.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“Someone good.”
Mara looked away first.
That evening, they went to Pier Nineteen.
But not the way Shepherd expected.
Mara wore a wire.
Dante positioned teams around the abandoned freight terminal.
Police were not involved.
Mara disliked that.
Dante claimed the Harbor Group might still have law enforcement connections.
That argument was difficult to beat.
At 11:03 p.m., Mara entered the warehouse alone.
A spotlight came on.
Thomas Bennett sat twenty yards away.
Older.
Bearded.
Bruised.
Alive.
“Dad?”
His head rose.
“Mara?”
Her knees nearly failed.
“Dad.”
He struggled against restraints.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
A man stepped from the shadows behind him.
Mara recognized him instantly.
Evan Cole.
The supposed private investigator from Bellanova.
He smiled.
“Welcome.”
“Where’s Shepherd?”
Evan laughed.
“You still think Shepherd is a man.”
Mara’s blood went cold.
A second person entered.
A woman.
Elegant coat.
Silver hair.
Mara had never seen her.
But Dante’s voice exploded through the wire in Mara’s ear.
“No.”
Mara whispered, “Who is she?”
The woman smiled.
Then Dante answered.
His voice sounded shattered.
“Luca’s grandmother.”
Mara stared.
Dante’s dead wife’s mother.
The woman approached Thomas Bennett and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“My name is Celeste Romano.”
May you like
She looked straight toward the camera hidden in Mara’s necklace.
“And Dante Moretti murdered my daughter.”
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