Chapter 5
Dante.
That was the boss’s name.
I learned it from the way everyone looked at him when Marco spoke.
Not fear alone.
Grief.
Rage.
Recognition.
Dante took the phone from Matteo.
His voice was quiet.
“What did you bury, Marco?”
Silence.
Then the man on the phone breathed once.
“Dante.”
My mother whispered, “Please.”
Dante ignored her.
“What did you bury?”
Marco laughed softly.
“You always were dramatic about Sofia.”
Dante’s hand tightened around the phone.
I saw the dragon tattoo move across his knuckles.
Nico began fussing.
I bounced him gently without thinking.
He calmed again.
Dante watched that, and pain crossed his face.
Marco continued.
“The waitress is nobody. Elaine should have handled it.”
I looked at my mother.
Handled me.
Like I was evidence.
Like I was a problem.
Dante said, “You knew.”
“Of course I knew.”
“You knew Sofia had a twin.”
“And you didn’t need another ghost.”
Dante’s voice changed.
“What happened the night Sofia died?”
My mother whispered, “Marco, don’t.”
Marco’s laugh disappeared.
“Ask Elaine. She helped clean up enough.”
My mother collapsed into a chair.
I stepped back from her.
“What did he mean?”
She sobbed.
“I didn’t kill Sofia.”
Dante ended the call.
The restaurant was silent.
Then he looked at Matteo.
“Find Marco.”
Matteo nodded and left with two guards.
My mother reached for me.
“Mara, listen to me.”
I held Nico tighter.
“No. You listen. I walked through life thinking I was nobody. Thinking I had no family. Thinking the only truth you ever gave me was to run from dragons.”
She cried harder.
“I kept you safe.”
“You kept me blind.”
Dante came around the bar and stopped a few feet away.
“Marco is my older brother,” he said. “He wanted my seat. Sofia knew something. She died before she could tell me.”
My voice shook.
“And now?”
“Now you are what he feared would return.”
The front window suddenly cracked.
A bullet hole appeared in the glass.
No one screamed.
Dante moved faster than thought.
He pulled me, Nico, and my mother behind the bar.
“Stay down,” he ordered.
For the first time, I understood.
May you like
My mother had not invented the danger.
She had only lied about where it came from.
