Chapter 13 - The Man Who Was Buried With Carmela
The Return of the Dead
I stared at the photograph.
“That's impossible.”
Dante didn't speak.
His hands had gone completely still.
Salvatore had been standing beside an older man.
The man had white hair.
A scar over his left eye.
Carmela's father.
Giovanni Falcone.
He had supposedly died before Carmela.
A closed-casket funeral.
Sixteen years earlier.
Dante whispered:
“I buried him.”
Matteo shook his head.
“No.”
Dante looked at him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know.”
The phone rang again.
Salvatore's voice came through.
“You always were sentimental, Dante.”
Dante answered.
“Where are the children?”
“At the house where Carmela learned to lie.”
“The blue house.”
“Yes.”
Dante stood.
“You want me alone.”
“I want you afraid.”
“You already failed.”
Salvatore laughed.
“No, nephew.”
His voice became softer.
“I haven't even shown you what Carmela did.”
The line went dead.
Dante looked at me.
“You're coming.”
“No.”
“You're coming.”
“I won't put Sophia at risk.”
“You aren't.”
He stepped closer.
“She asked you to walk beside the lonely man.”
I stared at him.
“She knew this day would come.”
The blue house was surrounded by men.
Dante entered alone.
I followed with Matteo through the back.
We found the children in the basement.
Sophia wasn't crying.
Adrian wasn't either.
They were sitting beside each other.
Salvatore stood behind them.
Giovanni Falcone sat in a wheelchair nearby.
And Daniel was there.
Alive.
The bullet to his shoulder had been a distraction.
Dante stared.
“It's over.”
Salvatore smiled.
“No.”
He pointed to Giovanni.
“Tell him.”
Giovanni looked at Dante.
“Carmela didn't die in the ambush.”
Dante stopped.
“She survived.”
I felt sick.
“What?”
Giovanni continued.
“She called me.”
“Then why didn't you save her?”
“Because I was the one who ordered her killed.”
Dante's eyes became murderous.
Giovanni continued.
“She had evidence against our family.”
Dante drew his gun.
Salvatore shook his head.
“You'll kill him?”
Dante said nothing.
Salvatore laughed.
“Then you'll never know.”
“Know what?”
“Why Carmela trusted Rosa.”
I stepped forward.
Giovanni looked at me.
“She knew the children needed someone outside the family.”
My voice trembled.
“So she chose me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were the only woman who looked at her without knowing her name.”
I remembered the diner.
Her tears.
Her hands.
Her whisper.
Keep my babies safe.
I covered my mouth.
Dante turned toward Giovanni.
“What happened to Carmela?”
Giovanni looked down.
“She died protecting the twins.”
“Then who has been calling me?”
Nobody answered.
Then Sophia smiled.
“Mommy.”
Dante turned.
Sophia pointed behind him.
A woman stood in the doorway.
White dress.
Dark hair.
A scar beside her eyebrow.
Dante stopped breathing.
I couldn't breathe.
May you like
The woman whispered:
“Hello, Dante.”
