Chapter 11 - The Man She Thought She KnewDante didn't die.
The bullet struck his vest.
But he went down hard enough to make Cora think otherwise.
She dropped beside him.
"Dante."
He coughed.
"I'm fine."
"You are not fine."
"I'm alive."
Elena disappeared through a side corridor.
Victor chased her.
Cora stayed with Dante.
He ripped open his jacket.
A bruise was already spreading across his chest.
"She shot you."
"Yes."
"Your security chief."
"Yes."
"How are you so calm?"
"I'm not."
He looked at her.
"I'm furious."
The abandoned church trembled with distant gunfire.
Dante pushed himself up.
"We have to leave."
"No."
He stared.
"She knows something."
Cora held up the letter.
"Your father."
Dante took it.
Read it.
His face changed.
"She was there."
"Where?"
"The night your father died."
Cora looked at him.
"Elena?"
Dante nodded.
"She was one of the last people to see him alive."
"And she protected you."
"For years."
"Why?"
He folded the letter.
"I don't know."
They escaped through the crypt.
The tunnel beneath the church led to an old parking garage.
Victor was waiting.
Alone.
"Where's Elena?"
Victor shook his head.
"Gone."
Dante looked at him.
"You knew."
Victor didn't answer.
"You knew she was working against me."
"I suspected."
"You should have told me."
"I tried."
"When?"
"Every time she told you to trust her."
Dante stared.
Victor continued.
"She wasn't protecting you."
"What was she doing?"
"Controlling you."
Cora felt a chill.
"Why?"
Victor looked at her.
"Because of your father."
"What about him?"
"He discovered Elena had been secretly working for Lucien."
Dante's face hardened.
"Why would she?"
Victor answered.
"Because she was Lucien's daughter."
Silence.
Cora stared.
Dante's expression broke for the first time.
"That's impossible."
"Lucien had several children."
"Elena was never one of them."
"Not publicly."
Victor took out a photograph.
A young Lucien.
A young woman.
And beside them, a little girl.
Elena.
Cora looked at the photograph.
"Then why protect you?"
Victor's voice dropped.
"Because Lucien ordered her to."
Dante stepped closer.
"For what?"
Victor hesitated.
"To keep you alive until you found the ledger."
"Why?"
"Because Lucien wanted you to become exactly what he was."
Cora felt sick.
"The ledger was bait."
Victor nodded.
"Lucien knew Dante would eventually find it."
"And Elena was steering me toward it."
"Yes."
Dante looked away.
Cora touched his arm.
He didn't move.
For several seconds he stood completely still.
Then he looked at her.
"Everyone I trusted lied to me."
Cora's voice was soft.
"I didn't."
His eyes met hers.
"No."
He breathed.
"You didn't."
The space between them disappeared.
He touched her face.
Not possessively.
Carefully.
As though she might disappear too.
Cora leaned into his hand.
Then she kissed him.
It was brief.
Desperate.
Terrifyingly gentle.
When they separated, Dante rested his forehead against hers.
"I can't do this."
"What?"
"Wanting you."
Her heart stopped.
"Why?"
"Because everyone I love becomes a target."
Cora whispered.
"Maybe that's not your decision."
Before he could respond, Victor's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
The voice on the other end spoke for several seconds.
Victor looked at Cora.
Then Dante.
"We found the ledger."
Dante frowned.
"Where?"
Victor swallowed.
"Your penthouse."
Cora's blood went cold.
"That means..."
"The intruder is already inside."
Dante grabbed his gun.
They ran.
But when they reached the penthouse, the door was open.
Inside, every light was on.
The apartment had been searched.
Drawers overturned.
Glass broken.
The bedroom destroyed.
Then Cora saw the dining table.
A black envelope waited there.
Her name was written on it.
CORA DAVIS
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Dante asleep.
Taken from inside his own bedroom.
May you like
On the back were six words.
You should have killed him in the alley.
