Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN IN THE GRAY COAT
Rachel Moore was found in a small town north of the city.
She had been living under a different name and working at a legal aid office. When Marco reached her, she refused to speak until Dante agreed to meet her without his men.
He agreed.
I went with him because Sophia refused to let me leave her.
We drove to a quiet café near the train station. Dante sat with his back to the wall. Rachel arrived wearing a gray coat and carrying a canvas bag.
She looked first at Dante, then at me.
“Where's Sophia?”
“Safe,” Dante said.
Rachel exhaled. “Thank God.”
“Tell me where Isabella is.”
“I don't know her exact location.”
Dante's jaw tightened. “You helped her disappear.”
“I helped her survive.”
“From whom?”
Rachel looked at him.
“Salvatore.”
Dante leaned forward.
“Isabella found financial records showing that Salvatore was diverting money from the family companies. He had been using security contracts to move funds and had access to the household schedules. She confronted him. He threatened to make it look as though you were abusing her and that Sophia was unsafe in your home.”
Dante went pale.
“He told her I would lose custody?”
“He told her he could make the entire organization believe you were unstable. He had planted messages, altered reports, and paid people to repeat stories. Isabella was afraid that if she came to you, you would confront him before she had proof.”
“So she left.”
“She planned to take Sophia. But Salvatore arrived before she could. Isabella hid the child and left alone, hoping she could draw him away.”
Dante closed his eyes.
“Why didn't she contact me?”
“She tried. Her phone was monitored. The first message she sent was intercepted. She sent a second one through a courier, but the courier disappeared.”
Dante looked toward the window.
“Is she alive?”
Rachel hesitated.
“I believe so.”
“Where?”
“I have a location, but I need to know that Salvatore can't reach her.”
Dante's voice was cold. “He won't.”
Rachel shook her head.
“You say that as if you can simply order the danger away. Salvatore knows your security procedures. He knows your people. He knows where you keep your daughter.”
Dante did not argue.
“What do you need?”
“Proof that the evidence is secure. And a guarantee that Isabella won't be dragged into a public fight.”
Dante nodded. “I can do that.”
Rachel reached into her bag and placed a small envelope on the table.
“Isabella left this with me. She asked me to give it to you if Sophia ever started speaking again.”
Dante opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Isabella holding Sophia as a baby. On the back, she had written:
When she is ready, tell her I never stopped coming back.
Dante's hand trembled.
I looked away.
Rachel stood.
“I'll arrange contact. But you need to understand something. Isabella may not come back just because you ask.”
“I know.”
“She left because she believed she was protecting your daughter.”
“I know.”
“And she may be angry with you.”
Dante folded the photograph carefully.
“She has every right.”
When we returned to the car, he sat without speaking for several minutes.
I finally asked, “Are you okay?”
“No.”
It was the first honest answer he had given me about himself.
“She thought I was the danger,” he said.
“She was frightened. Someone was manipulating what she knew.”
“I should have seen it.”
“You were being lied to too.”
He looked at me. “Does that make it better?”
“No.”
He nodded.
In the back seat, Sophia held the photograph against her chest.
“Mommy,” she whispered.
Dante looked at her in the mirror.
“We're going to see her soon.”
Sophia looked out the window.
“Promise?”
Dante swallowed.
“I promise I'll do everything I can.”
May you like
This time, he did not promise what he could not control.
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