Chapter 5 - THE NAME IN THE OLD FILE
Adrian Voss had worked for the Moretti family during Dante's childhood.
He had managed private security, arranged travel, and maintained the records that protected the family from outside threats. After Dante's father died, Voss disappeared. The family was told he had moved overseas.
Now his name had appeared beside Victor's.
Dante asked Marco to bring the old personnel files.
They arrived in three boxes.
For hours, Dante reviewed them. He found payment records, travel logs, and handwritten notes from his father. One page contained a reference to a private arrangement involving a tailor, a listening device, and an unnamed intermediary.
The date was twenty years earlier.
Dante read it again.
His father had suspected that someone inside the family was leaking information. He had never identified the person.
A note at the bottom read:
Trust the quiet ones. They notice what the loud ones miss.
Dante looked toward the library doorway.
Lily was sitting on the rug with Elena, matching colored blocks into small groups.
He wondered whether his father had once been thinking about someone like her.
Marco entered.
“We found Voss's current address. He is staying in a hotel near the river.”
“Bring him in.”
“Victor?”
“Keep him separate.”
Marco nodded.
Before he left, Dante asked, “Did Victor say anything?”
“He asked whether Lily was safe.”
Dante looked up.
“What?”
“He asked twice. He said the child shouldn't be involved.”
Dante leaned back.
It could have been concern. It could have been a way to find out where she was.
“Don't tell him anything.”
That evening, Dante visited the protected residence. It was a quiet apartment in a building owned by a family trust, with a doorman, private entrance, and a small garden.
Elena inspected every room.
“It's too much,” she said.
“It's temporary.”
“I don't want charity.”
“It's protection. You can decide what happens after this is over.”
Lily ran toward the window.
“There are birds!”
Dante smiled.
“I thought you might like that.”
Elena turned to him.
“Why are you doing all this?”
He took a moment to answer.
“Because your daughter saved my life in a way my security team couldn't. Because someone is threatening her. And because I should have noticed you both long before this happened.”
Elena's expression softened, but she did not answer.
Before leaving, Dante handed her a card with his private number.
“If anything feels wrong, call me. Any hour.”
After he left, Elena placed the card in a drawer.
She did not want to depend on a man like Dante Moretti.
But when Lily asked whether he would visit again, Elena found herself saying, “I think so.”
Across the city, Marco brought Adrian Voss into a private room.
Voss was older than Dante remembered, with silver hair and a narrow scar near his chin.
“You've grown up,” Voss said.
Dante stood opposite him.
“You haven't changed.”
Voss smiled.
“Your father used to say the same thing.”
Dante placed the old file on the table.
“Why did you come back?”
Voss glanced at the papers.
“Because your organization has become predictable. Victor understood that. You didn't.”
“Who ordered the device?”
Voss said nothing.
Dante leaned forward.
“Was it you?”
Voss's smile faded.
“No. I only helped arrange the delivery.”
“Then who?”
May you like
Voss looked directly at him.
“Someone your father trusted more than he trusted me.”
