Chapter 3 - The Photograph on Dante’s Desk
Elena avoided Dante for forty-eight hours.
She volunteered for every dirty job in the garage.
Brakes.
Transmissions.
Exhaust.
Anything that kept her beneath a vehicle when he appeared.
Tony noticed.
“You hiding from somebody?”
“No.”
“Boss walked in ten minutes ago and you crawled under a Buick that doesn’t even need repairs.”
Elena tightened a perfectly good bolt.
“Coincidence.”
Tony leaned down.
“You’re weird, Eli.”
“Thank you.”
Upstairs, Dante was having his own problem.
Luca entered carrying another folder.
This one was thicker.
“We found something.”
Dante looked up.
“On Ross?”
“Maybe.”
Luca dropped a photograph onto the desk.
Dante stared at it.
The woman in the photograph had long dark hair and wore an elegant evening dress.
Beautiful.
Composed.
Unmistakable eyes.
Eyes Dante had been looking into for seven months.
“Elena Russo,” Luca said.
Dante picked up the photograph.
“Missing seven months.”
“Same week Eli Ross appeared in Chicago.”
Dante said nothing.
“Daughter of Anthony Russo.”
“I know who her father is.”
“She disappeared the night before her engagement to Marco Bellini was supposed to be announced.”
Dante slowly looked up.
“Bellini?”
“Yes.”
The room went cold.
Marco Bellini and Dante Moretti had been enemies for years.
Not openly enough for war.
But close.
Luca continued.
“Marco has been searching everywhere.”
Dante looked again at the photograph.
Then at the garage through the glass.
Far below, Eli stood beneath fluorescent lights with a wrench in one hand.
“Boss…”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“What?”
“I think your mechanic is the woman Marco Bellini has been hunting.”
Dante stood.
“Bring Eli upstairs.”
Luca hesitated.
“You want guards?”
Dante looked at him.
“No.”
Five minutes later, Elena entered.
She saw the photograph immediately.
Everything inside her stopped.
Dante stood behind the desk.
“Close the door.”
She did.
This time, he did not ask her to sit.
He held up the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Elena said nothing.
“Answer me.”
Her voice came out quietly.
“Elena Russo.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“And who are you?”
Silence.
“Elena.”
Luca looked away.
Dante stared at her as though she had become a stranger in front of him.
“Seven months.”
“I can explain.”
“Seven months in my garage.”
“I needed somewhere Marco wouldn’t search.”
“You used my name as protection without telling me.”
“I worked for you.”
“You lied to me every day.”
“I had to.”
Dante stepped around the desk.
“You had to?”
“Yes.”
“You couldn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t know you.”
“You knew enough to hide in my organization.”
“Because Marco is afraid of you.”
Dante stopped.
There it was.
The real reason.
Elena continued.
“He controls people. Police. Drivers. Security companies. My father gave him access to everything.”
“So you came to me.”
“I came to a garage.”
“A garage with my name on the building.”
“Yes.”
“Because you knew Bellini wouldn’t walk through my doors.”
Elena lifted her chin.
“Yes.”
Dante looked furious.
But beneath the anger was something worse.
Hurt.
He lowered his voice.
“The kitchen.”
Elena’s stomach twisted.
“Dante—”
“Did you know what I was thinking?”
“Yes.”
“And you let me believe—”
“I didn’t let you believe anything.”
“You kissed me back.”
“I know.”
Luca quietly moved toward the door.
Dante snapped, “Stay.”
Luca stopped.
Elena took off the Cubs cap.
Her short dark hair had grown enough to fall across her forehead.
Then she removed Gabriel’s jacket.
“I never planned for any of this.”
Dante’s voice was flat.
“What exactly did you plan?”
“To survive.”
That silenced him.
Elena stepped closer.
“My father made a deal. Marco wanted the marriage because combining the families gave him access to shipping contracts, political connections, and property.”
“Did your father know you were afraid of him?”
“Yes.”
“And still agreed?”
“Yes.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“What did Bellini do?”
Elena hesitated.
“Nothing to me.”
“Yet.”
She nodded.
“But I saw what he did to people who embarrassed him. Employees. Drivers. A girlfriend before me.”
Dante’s eyes sharpened.
“What girlfriend?”
“I don’t know her name. She disappeared after trying to leave him.”
Luca and Dante exchanged a look.
Dante asked, “Why didn’t you go to police?”
Elena laughed without humor.
“Which officer? The one at my father’s Christmas party or the one Marco takes golfing?”
Silence.
Dante walked toward the window.
Then Elena asked the question she had been afraid to ask.
“What happens now?”
Dante didn’t turn.
“You leave.”
Her chest tightened.
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Dante—”
“You wanted protection. You got seven months.”
She stared at his back.
“I understand.”
She put the cap on again.
Then walked toward the door.
Her hand touched the handle.
Dante said, “Elena.”
She stopped.
It was the first time he had used her real name.
“Where will you go?”
“I don’t know.”
He finally turned.
For a moment, anger vanished.
Only concern remained.
Then Luca’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Yeah?”
His expression changed.
“How many?”
Dante turned.
“What?”
Luca ended the call.
“Three Bellini cars just stopped outside the garage.”
Elena went pale.
Dante’s eyes moved to the security cameras.
Black SUVs.
Men exiting.
And standing between them—
Marco Bellini.
Dante slowly buttoned his jacket.
“Well.”
He looked at Elena.
May you like
“Apparently you’re not leaving tonight.”
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