Chapter 6 - THE MAN DANTE TRUSTED
Dante ordered every Moretti guard off active duty before they reached the estate.
Nobody went home.
Nobody was permitted to leave.
Phones were collected.
Weapons were logged.
The security building became a locked room full of angry men who had spent years believing loyalty was the one question nobody would ask them.
Brielle stood behind the glass wall of Dante's office and watched Nico Vescari enter.
He was smaller than she expected.
Mid-forties.
Gray beginning at his temples.
A tailored navy suit.
The face of a man who could sit beside you in church and be trusted with the collection plate.
He looked through the glass and found Brielle immediately.
He smiled.
She disliked him before he spoke.
Dante stood behind his desk.
Luca remained near the door.
Rosa had taken Sofia to another wing of the estate.
"Sit down, Nico."
Nico did not sit.
"You locked down my entire department."
"Yes."
"Because Halpern turned?"
"Because Halpern tried to shoot my daughter in my kitchen."
Nico looked genuinely disturbed.
"He was one of mine for eight years."
"I know."
"Then you know I want answers too."
Dante placed Celeste's recorder on the desk.
Nico's eyes touched it for half a second.
Brielle noticed.
Dante noticed her noticing.
"Celeste called you before she died."
Nico's expression remained steady.
"She called me many times."
"Twelve minutes before the crash."
Nico nodded slowly.
"She asked me to delay you."
"Why?"
"She didn't say."
"You told me that three years ago."
"Because it's still true."
Dante leaned forward.
"Where was she going?"
"I don't know."
"Who was she meeting?"
"I don't know."
"What was Bellweather?"
For the first time, Nico's composure shifted.
Not much.
Enough.
"A protection initiative."
"How do you know?"
"I handled foundation security."
"Did you know Elena Dawson?"
Nico looked through the glass at Brielle.
"I knew of her."
Brielle opened the office door.
Dante did not stop her.
"Did you know Mara?"
Nico studied her face.
"No."
"She's alive."
That time, he blinked.
It was almost nothing.
Brielle felt it like a confession.
"You knew."
"I did not."
"You reacted."
"You just told me a girl believed dead for eleven years is alive."
"Most people look surprised."
"What did I look?"
"Afraid."
Nico smiled faintly.
"You have an interesting imagination."
Brielle stepped closer.
"Men keep telling me that right before evidence proves I was paying attention."
Luca glanced at Dante.
Dante's face remained unreadable.
"Nico, where were you today at 3:40 p.m.?"
"Here."
"Prove it."
Nico's mouth tightened.
"Check your cameras."
"We did."
"Then why are we having this conversation?"
Dante slid a photograph across the desk.
It showed Nico in the estate's west garage at 3:38 p.m.
Beside him stood Eric Halpern.
The man who had later tried to kill them in the kitchen.
Nico looked at the image.
"He reported a vehicle tracking problem."
"What problem?"
"A missing transponder."
"Which vehicle?"
"Your mother's sedan."
Dante went still.
Brielle felt the meaning land.
Rosa's sedan had been the one scheduled to carry her and Sofia into the city that morning.
They had changed cars at the last minute because Sofia spilled juice on the back seat.
If someone had been tracking the sedan, they would have expected Rosa and Sofia somewhere else.
Yet the attackers found them on foot after lunch.
That required updated information.
"Who knew they changed cars?"
Dante asked.
Nico's eyes narrowed.
"Household staff."
"Security."
"You."
"Luca."
"Me."
Brielle added one more.
"Clara."
Nico looked at her.
"The nanny?"
"Halpern threatened her son."
"I heard."
"Did you know he was hurting her?"
"No."
"You're head of security and knew nothing about one of your men threatening the woman who raises Dante's daughter?"
Nico's smile disappeared.
"I manage sixty-three employees."
"Then maybe you manage paper better than people."
Dante's eyes flicked toward Brielle.
He had heard her say something similar before.
Nico turned to him.
"You're allowing a waitress with a head injury to interrogate me?"
Brielle answered before Dante could.
"The waitress with a head injury noticed your man before your sixty-two other employees did."
Luca definitely smiled that time.
Dante did not bother hiding his.
Nico's face hardened.
"This is absurd."
Dante's expression became cold again.
"Give Luca your phone."
Nico stared at him.
"Excuse me?"
"Your phone."
"No."
The room changed.
Luca moved away from the door.
Nico realized what his refusal had done.
"It contains personal material."
Dante held out his hand.
"So does mine."
"You don't understand."
"Then explain while Luca copies it."
Nico took one step backward.
Luca drew his weapon.
"Don't make this interesting."
Nico looked at Dante for a long moment.
Then he slowly reached into his jacket.
Brielle saw his elbow angle too far outward.
"Gun."
Luca moved.
Nico did not draw a gun.
He drew a small silver device and smashed his thumb against the center.
Every monitor in the office went black.
An alarm screamed from the security building.
Then the windows shattered inward.
Brielle hit the floor.
Dante dragged the desk chair over her as bullets tore through the glass wall.
Luca fired toward the courtyard.
Nico sprinted through the side door.
"He's running."
Dante jumped over the desk.
Brielle caught his sleeve.
"The shooter wants you chasing him."
Dante stopped.
Another burst of gunfire chewed into the outer wall.
Luca shouted.
"She's right."
Dante's face twisted with fury.
"Seal the estate."
The alarm changed tone.
Red lights flashed.
Brielle crawled toward the recorder.
A bullet had cracked its screen but not destroyed it.
Her hand landed on Nico's chair.
Something had fallen beneath it.
A folded photograph.
She opened it.
Mara looked back at her.
This photo was different from the one at Bluebird.
Mara stood beside Nico.
The image was dated seven months earlier.
Nico had one hand on her shoulder.
Mara was not restrained.
She was smiling.
Brielle felt sick.
Dante returned to her side.
She handed him the photograph.
"He lied."
Dante looked at the image.
His expression became dangerous.
"Yes."
The gunfire outside stopped.
Luca listened to his earpiece.
"Shooter gone."
"Nico?"
"West gate opened remotely."
Dante looked at the dead monitors.
"He had a route prepared."
Brielle stared at Mara's smiling face.
"Why is she smiling?"
Nobody answered.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She had forgotten she still carried the temporary phone Dante gave her.
One message appeared from an unknown number.
Brielle opened it.
Mara's face filled the screen in a live video call.
Brielle nearly dropped the phone.
"Mara?"
The woman on screen looked older than the photographs and more exhausted than the recording.
But she was alive.
Absolutely alive.
"Bri."
Brielle's legs went weak.
"Where are you?"
Mara looked over her shoulder.
"I don't have long."
"Nico has been keeping me hidden."
Brielle stared at the photograph in Dante's hand.
"Are you with him?"
Mara's face tightened.
"Not the way you think."
"Then tell me what to think."
"Think about why the one man who knew Celeste was investigating Bellweather was allowed to control every camera around her husband for three years."
Dante leaned closer to the phone.
"Mara, where is Nico?"
Mara's eyes shifted toward him.
Something close to hatred entered her face.
"You don't get to ask me questions yet."
"Fine."
Dante lowered his voice.
"Then tell your sister how to stay alive."
Mara looked at Brielle again.
"The brass key from Bluebird opens locker 3179 at Union Station."
"Go before midnight."
"Do not bring anyone with a Moretti tattoo."
Luca muttered something impolite.
Mara continued.
"Inside is what Mom died trying to protect."
Brielle's heart hammered.
"The ledger?"
Mara shook her head.
"Worse."
The video glitched.
"Mara, wait."
"Bri, if you see Nico, don't let Dante kill him."
"Why?"
Mara's image froze for half a second.
Then her final words came through.
"Because Nico didn't kill Mom."
The call ended.
Dante stared at the black screen.
Brielle looked at him.
"Who did?"
Before he could answer, Rosa screamed from the hallway.
They ran.
Sofia's bedroom door stood open.
Clara was unconscious on the floor.
The window had been forced.
Sofia was gone.
May you like
On the child's pillow lay one crushed yellow flower.
