Chapter 11 - The Girl in the BallroomDante heard another burst of gunfire from downstairs.
He ran toward the staircase with Matteo beside him.
“Where are they keeping Sophie?” he demanded into his radio.
No answer.
“Rossi, respond!”
Static.
Then a guard's voice crackled through.
“Boss, the west corridor is compromised. We've lost communication with the upper floor.”
Dante stopped at the landing.
Below him, the ballroom doors stood open. Light spilled across the marble floor, illuminating overturned chairs and abandoned glasses. Guests had been herded into one corner under the watchful eyes of armed men.
At the center of the room stood Carlo Bellini.
His suit remained immaculate.
His silver ring caught the light.
And beside him, holding a pistol, stood Silas Vane.
Dante's gaze immediately searched the crowd.
He found Elena first.
Two men held her near a marble column. Her face was pale, and her hands were tied in front of her.
Then he saw Sophie.
She sat on a chair beside the grand piano, her star-shaped pillow missing, her small hands gripping the edge of the seat.
Bruno was nowhere in sight.
Dante felt a cold fury rise through him.
Carlo lifted his glass.
“You came.”
“Let them go.”
“After we finish our conversation.”
“You've taken a child hostage.”
Carlo looked almost disappointed.
“I've protected this family for thirty years. Don't pretend you understand what sacrifice means.”
“Your sacrifices have always been paid for with other people's lives.”
Silas gave a short laugh.
“Your father said something similar. It didn't help him.”
Dante moved forward.
A dozen weapons immediately turned toward him.
Matteo caught his arm and whispered, “He's trying to make you angry. Don't give him what he wants.”
Dante stopped.
Carlo noticed the movement.
Then his expression changed.
For one brief moment, he seemed to recognize the man standing beside Dante.
“No,” Carlo whispered.
Matteo stepped into the light.
“Hello, Carlo.”
The older man's glass slipped from his fingers and shattered against the floor.
The sound silenced the ballroom.
“You're dead,” Carlo said.
“I was supposed to be.”
Carlo recovered quickly, but Dante saw the fear behind his eyes.
“You should have stayed away.”
“You should have buried our father yourself,” Matteo replied. “Then perhaps you'd have had the courage to look me in the eye.”
Silas raised his pistol.
“Enough family reunions.”
He pointed toward Dante.
“Give us the key.”
Dante kept his hands visible.
“What key?”
“The one that opens the original archive cabinet. We know Rafael left it behind.”
Matteo shifted beside him.
Dante understood.
The key was their only leverage.
“Release Sophie and Elena.”
Silas shook his head.
“You're negotiating from the wrong position.”
He gestured toward Sophie.
One of his men seized the little girl's arm.
She flinched, but she didn't scream.
Dante's hands curled into fists.
“Touch her again, and you'll wish you'd died twenty years ago.”
The man released Sophie.
Carlo walked toward Dante.
“You have a choice. Give us the key, sign the transfer agreement, and leave this city with your brother. Or refuse, and everyone in this room pays for your stubbornness.”
Dante studied the faces surrounding him.
Some belonged to his own guards.
Others belonged to Silas's men.
A few were guests who had arrived expecting champagne and business opportunities, only to discover that they had become witnesses to a criminal takeover.
He looked at Sophie.
She was staring at the floor.
Then her eyes rose to his.
She lifted one finger and tapped it against the wooden chair.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Dante understood immediately.
The signal.
The same one the intruder had used through the wall.
But Sophie wasn't asking him to open anything.
She was telling him something.
She glanced toward the piano.
Dante followed her eyes.
Beneath the instrument, partly hidden behind a velvet curtain, lay Bruno's black leather collar.
A section of the curtain moved.
The enormous Cane Corso emerged silently.
His body was low, his eyes fixed on the man standing nearest Sophie.
Dante didn't move.
Carlo continued speaking, unaware of what was happening behind him.
“Sign the papers, Dante. Your father made the same mistake you are making now. He believed loyalty was something people possessed naturally.”
Dante looked directly at him.
“No. My father believed loyalty was something people earned.”
Carlo's expression hardened.
Dante smiled faintly.
“And you've just proved that you never deserved his.”
He dropped the archive key.
It struck the marble floor and slid beneath the nearest table.
Every gun in the ballroom shifted toward it.
For one second, Carlo's men looked away from Dante.
That was all Bruno needed.
The dog exploded out of the shadows.
He slammed into the armed man beside Sophie, sending the man's pistol skidding across the floor. Sophie slipped from the chair and ran toward Elena.
The ballroom erupted into chaos.
Guests screamed.
Chairs toppled.
Dante drew his weapon and fired into the chandelier above Silas's men. Glass rained down, forcing them to scatter.
Matteo dragged Elena behind a marble pillar.
Dante charged toward Sophie.
Bruno reached her first, placing his massive body between the girl and the nearest gunman.
Then a second shot rang out.
Dante turned.
Carlo stood beside the grand piano, his pistol aimed directly at Sophie.
His face was twisted with rage.
“You should have stayed in your room, little girl.”
Dante raised his own weapon.
“Carlo!”
The older man looked toward him.
And smiled.
“Choose,” he whispered. “The key, or the child.”
A gunshot shattered the silence.
But the bullet didn't come from Dante's weapon.
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It came from somewhere behind Carlo.
And the man who had controlled the Moretti family for thirty years suddenly dropped his gun.
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