Chapter 12 - The Villa on Lake Como
Italy was beautiful enough to feel offensive.
Lena stood beside the lake beneath a clear blue sky, looking at mountains rising beyond water so calm it seemed unreal.
Somewhere inside that beauty, Victor Valenti was waiting.
Dante’s villa stood above the shoreline.
Old stone.
Green shutters.
Terraced gardens.
He had bought it for Sofia after proposing nearby.
Lena walked through the bedroom Sofia once used.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Dante stood in the doorway.
“She loved this room.”
Lena looked at the photographs.
Sofia had been beautiful.
Dark blonde hair.
Intelligent eyes.
Warm smile.
“She looks kind.”
“She was.”
“You loved her.”
Dante did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
Lena smiled sadly.
“That’s good.”
Dante looked at her.
“She would have liked you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She liked difficult women.”
Lena laughed.
Dante’s smile vanished almost immediately.
Grief still came without warning.
Lena understood.
They searched the villa.
No evidence.
No journal.
No silver bell.
Then Lena remembered the lullaby.
The dragon sleeps beneath the lake.
“What exactly happened when you proposed?”
Dante stared toward the water.
“I rented a boat.”
“Where?”
“Near Bellagio.”
“What did you give Sofia?”
“A ring.”
“Anything else?”
He thought.
“A music box.”
Lena looked at him.
“What?”
Dante suddenly moved.
They entered the library.
He opened an old cabinet.
Inside sat a silver music box shaped like a bell.
Lena’s pulse increased.
“Sofia kept it here.”
Dante lifted it.
A dragon was engraved underneath.
Lena whispered, “There.”
They examined the base.
Hidden latch.
Inside:
A key.
Dante laughed in disbelief.
“I married a woman who apparently learned from your mother.”
Lena smiled.
“What does it open?”
The key bore a tiny number.
14.
Villa storage room fourteen.
They entered the basement.
Locker fourteen contained a waterproof case.
Inside was Sofia’s duplicate journal.
Dante sat down before opening it.
His hands shook.
Lena rested one hand on his shoulder.
He read.
Sofia had begun investigating after discovering irregular hospital payments connected to Victor Valenti.
She had learned of Elena.
Gabriel.
The trafficking network.
Paul.
And something even worse.
Victor was not trying merely to preserve the old Brotherhood.
He had created an international operation using legitimate shipping companies owned by descendants of the five families.
Many owners did not know.
Some did.
Sofia wrote:
Dante will burn the world if he knows what they did.
I need evidence before I tell him.
He cannot fight an enemy he cannot see.
The final entry was written the day she died.
I found the account.
Lena leaned closer.
Dante turned the page.
A banking code.
Hundreds of millions of dollars.
Victor’s operation.
Names.
Dates.
Transactions.
Enough to destroy everything.
At the bottom, Sofia wrote:
The master authorization requires two biometric identities.
Victor Valenti.
And D. Rosselli.
Dante stared.
“What?”
Lena looked at him.
“Your identity?”
“No.”
“How?”
“I never authorized anything.”
Matteo examined the code.
“Could be forged.”
Dante shook his head.
“Biometric.”
Lena whispered, “Another D. Rosselli?”
Dante froze.
Only three close relatives fit.
Dante.
His deceased father Salvatore did not.
Gabriel did not.
Then Dante remembered someone.
A cousin.
Domenico Rosselli.
Missing for twenty-five years.
Dante whispered, “Dom.”
Matteo looked up.
“Your cousin?”
“He supposedly died in Sicily.”
Lena stared.
“Supposedly?”
Dante stood.
“Sofia thought Victor was the top.”
“He isn’t?”
Dante looked at the journal.
“No.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“You always were slow, cousin.”
Everyone turned.
A tall gray-haired man stood there.
Elegant navy suit.
Dante recognized him instantly despite the years.
Domenico Rosselli.
Alive.
Behind him were four armed men.
And beside him stood Victor Valenti.
Victor smiled.
“Thank you for finding the journal.”
Dante’s hand moved toward his weapon.
Domenico shook his head.
“I wouldn’t.”
A red laser appeared on Lena’s chest.
Dante stopped.
Domenico smiled.
“There’s the problem with family.”
He looked at Lena.
May you like
“You always have someone worth threatening.”
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