Chapter 5 - The Woman He Underestimated
The meeting took place inside an abandoned ferry terminal under full police surveillance.
Elena wore a wire.
Dante hated every second of it.
“You stay behind the marked line,” Callahan told him.
“If Luca touches her—”
“My officers handle it.”
Dante looked toward Elena.
She approached him.
“You promised.”
“I remember.”
“No private revenge.”
“I remember.”
“And you don’t interfere.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“That part I dislike.”
Elena almost smiled.
“Good.”
She walked into the terminal.
Luca waited beneath an old departure board.
“You survived.”
Elena stopped twenty feet away.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Where’s the evidence?”
Luca held up a flash drive.
“Vescari has accounts, names, recordings. Enough to bury half his network.”
“And you?”
“I leave.”
Elena laughed once.
“You tried to kill me.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You shattered my car window and forced me off a bridge.”
Luca shrugged.
“Business.”
“No.”
Elena stepped closer.
“That’s the lie men like you use when you’re too cowardly to call cruelty what it is.”
Luca’s smile vanished.
Behind surveillance glass, Dante watched.
Marco whispered, “She’s good.”
Dante didn’t take his eyes off her.
“She always was.”
Luca said, “Your husband didn’t appreciate you.”
“That doesn’t make you innocent.”
“He ignored every warning you gave him.”
“And you counted on it.”
Luca smiled again.
There.
The admission they needed.
“You knew he wouldn’t believe me,” Elena said.
“I knew Dante.”
“You sent the message pretending to be Marco.”
“Yes.”
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“You forced me off the road.”
Luca hesitated.
Elena waited.
Finally:
“I needed you gone.”
Callahan quietly signaled his officers.
But Luca suddenly glanced toward the ceiling.
Something had changed.
He knew.
“You’re wearing a wire.”
Elena didn’t move.
Luca stepped backward.
Police emerged.
“Luca Ferrante! Stay where you are!”
Luca ran.
Dante moved instinctively.
Callahan grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
Officers pursued Luca through the terminal.
Thirty seconds later, a voice came over the radio.
“Suspect in custody.”
Dante exhaled.
Elena emerged.
He crossed the room toward her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
He looked her over anyway.
She touched his chest.
“Dante.”
He stopped.
“I’m okay.”
He nodded.
Callahan approached carrying the flash drive.
“If this contains what he claims, Vescari is finished.”
Dante looked at Luca being escorted away.
Luca stared back.
“You’re weak now, Dante.”
Dante said nothing.
Luca smiled.
“She made you weak.”
Elena’s hand tightened around Dante’s.
Dante finally answered.
“No.”
He looked at his wife.
“She made me realize where I already was.”
May you like
Luca was taken away.
For once, Dante did not follow.
