Chapter 5 - The Empty Nursery
Dante’s convoy tore through the city at speeds Lena would never have believed possible.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody needed to.
Dante called the estate six times.
No answer.
Rosa did not answer.
The nursery guard did not answer.
Security control did not answer.
By the seventh call, Dante’s hands were shaking.
Lena noticed.
The man feared across three states was terrified.
Not for himself.
For his son.
“Leo is going to be okay,” she whispered.
Dante looked at her.
She had no evidence.
Neither did he.
But he nodded once.
They reached the estate.
The front gates were open.
One guard lay unconscious beside the booth.
Matteo jumped from the SUV before it stopped.
Dante followed.
Lena ran behind them.
Inside, furniture had been overturned.
Two security men were wounded but alive.
Rosa lay near the stairs.
“Rosa!”
Dante dropped beside her.
The older woman opened her eyes.
“Leo…”
“Where is he?”
“They took…”
She struggled to breathe.
“A woman.”
Dante froze.
“What woman?”
“Blonde. Maybe fifty.”
Rosa grabbed his sleeve.
“She knew the code.”
Dante and Matteo exchanged a look.
Only a handful of people knew the nursery security code.
Dante ran upstairs.
The nursery door stood open.
The crib was empty.
A stuffed bear lay on the carpet.
Dante stopped in the doorway.
Lena nearly collided with him.
She saw the empty crib.
“No.”
Dante walked inside slowly.
He picked up Leo’s blanket.
Pressed it against his face.
For three seconds he looked like a man whose entire world had ended.
Then something inside him shut down.
When he turned, Lena barely recognized him.
“Seal every bridge.”
Matteo nodded.
“Airports too?”
“Everything.”
Dante looked at the security director.
“Find the camera footage.”
“The system was looped.”
“Find who accessed it.”
“Yes, boss.”
Lena walked to the crib.
Her fingers touched the mattress.
Warm.
“He was here recently.”
Dante stared at her.
Lena looked toward the open balcony door.
“Why is that open?”
Matteo crossed the room.
Below the balcony was a garden.
Beyond it, a service road.
“Extraction point.”
Dante’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Every person in the room stopped.
Dante answered.
No greeting.
A woman’s voice spoke.
“Hello, Dante.”
His face changed.
He knew her.
“Who is this?”
She laughed softly.
“You really don’t recognize me after all these years?”
Dante looked toward Matteo.
Then toward Lena.
The woman continued.
“Your brother always was the sentimental one.”
Lena stepped closer.
Dante’s eyes widened.
“Isabella.”
The voice smiled.
“So you remember.”
Lena’s pulse exploded.
Isabella Marchetti.
Her godmother.
The missing woman.
Alive.
“Where is my son?”
“Safe.”
Dante’s voice became lethal.
“If you touch him—”
“I didn’t take him to hurt him.”
“Then bring him back.”
“I took him because you finally found Alina.”
Lena covered her mouth.
Isabella knew her.
Dante turned on speaker.
“How do you know Lena?”
“Because I held her the night she was born.”
Lena’s knees weakened.
Isabella continued.
“Elena made me promise I would disappear if anyone came looking.”
“You abandoned her.”
“No, Dante.”
The woman’s voice lost its amusement.
“I stayed close enough to watch.”
Lena spoke.
“You’ve been watching me?”
Silence.
Then Isabella whispered, “Hello, little Lina.”
Nobody had called Lena that since her mother died.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Where is Leo?”
“Safe.”
“Why take him?”
“Because someone else was coming.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“Who?”
“The same man who killed Gabriel.”
“Victor Valenti is dead.”
Isabella laughed.
“No.”
Dante stopped breathing.
“He died six years ago.”
“You buried the wrong body.”
Matteo muttered a curse.
Isabella continued.
“Elena discovered it before her accident.”
Lena’s face changed.
“My mother’s accident?”
“It wasn’t an accident.”
The room seemed to disappear around Lena.
“Who killed her?”
“Victor.”
Dante closed his eyes.
Isabella said, “And now he knows Gabriel’s daughter is alive.”
Lena whispered, “Why does he care?”
“Because of page eighty-eight.”
“I don’t have it.”
“I know.”
“Then where is it?”
Isabella became quiet.
“In something Elena gave you when you were eight years old.”
Lena searched her memory.
Bracelets.
Books.
A necklace.
Birthday gifts.
Nothing.
“What?”
“You’ll remember.”
Dante slammed one hand against the dresser.
“Enough games. Where is Leo?”
“Come alone.”
“No.”
“Then you won’t see him.”
Dante’s eyes became black.
Isabella gave an address.
An abandoned church in Queens.
Midnight.
The call ended.
Dante immediately turned to Matteo.
“Surround the block.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“I’ll appear alone.”
Lena stepped forward.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She is my godmother.”
“She abducted my son.”
“To save him.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Neither do you.”
Dante turned on her.
“This is not a negotiation.”
Lena stepped closer.
“I’m Gabriel’s daughter.”
The words silenced him.
For the first time she said them aloud.
“I’m the daughter your brother asked you to protect.”
Dante stared at her.
Lena’s voice shook, but she did not back down.
“So either you let me help, or I follow you anyway.”
Dante closed his eyes.
When he opened them, he saw Gabriel.
Not physically.
In her defiance.
In the stubborn tilt of her chin.
In the refusal to abandon someone she loved.
He almost laughed bitterly.
“Definitely his daughter.”
Lena stared.
“Was that supposed to be a compliment?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Matteo actually smiled.
Dante grabbed his coat.
“Stay behind me.”
Lena nodded.
“Fine.”
“And if I tell you to run?”
“I’ll consider it.”
Dante looked toward the ceiling.
“Gabriel, you owe me.”
Two hours later, they reached the abandoned church.
Dante entered first.
Lena followed.
Candles burned near the altar.
A woman stood beneath a ruined stained-glass window.
Silver-blonde hair.
Long black coat.
And in her arms slept baby Leo.
Lena stopped.
Isabella looked at her.
For several seconds, neither woman moved.
Then Isabella began to cry.
“Elena’s eyes.”
Lena’s throat tightened.
“You knew my mother.”
“I loved her.”
Leo woke.
He saw Lena.
Instantly, he reached for her.
Lena hurried forward.
Isabella handed him over.
Leo buried his face against Lena’s neck.
Relief nearly dropped her to her knees.
Dante stepped toward Isabella.
“Explain.”
Isabella looked at him.
“You still wear Gabriel’s dragon.”
Dante’s hand went to his neck.
“I wear mine.”
“No.”
Isabella shook her head.
“That tattoo was not originally yours.”
Lena looked between them.
Dante’s expression hardened.
“What are you talking about?”
Isabella whispered, “Gabriel designed that dragon.”
Dante froze.
“And the five stars?”
“One for every family he planned to destroy from the inside.”
Dante stared.
Isabella continued.
“But you never knew the sixth mark.”
“What sixth mark?”
Isabella pointed toward the lower part of the tattoo hidden beneath Dante’s shirt.
“A small letter E beneath the dragon’s tail.”
Dante slowly opened his shirt farther.
Lena stepped closer.
There it was.
A tiny E.
Dante had seen it thousands of times.
He had believed it was part of the design.
Isabella looked at Lena.
“E for Elena.”
Lena began to cry.
Isabella’s next words changed everything.
“Gabriel gave Dante that tattoo design the night before he died because he knew he would not survive.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“He never told me that.”
“He expected you to figure it out.”
A sound came from the darkness behind the altar.
A gun being cocked.
Dante shoved Lena and Leo down.
A man stepped from the shadows.
Gray-haired.
Elegant.
Smiling.
Victor Valenti.
Very much alive.
“Touching reunion,” he said.
May you like
Then he aimed directly at Lena.
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