Chapter 6 - The Last Betrayal
Bellini’s was closed when they arrived.
Police waited two blocks away.
Victor had demanded Dante come alone.
Naturally, Dante ignored the demand.
Cara entered through the kitchen beside him.
“Stay behind me.”
“You’ve said that four times.”
“And you’ve ignored me four times.”
They reached the dining room.
Victor stood near the bar.
Cara’s former manager sat tied to a chair.
Victor looked at Dante.
“You should be dead.”
Dante stopped.
“I get that frequently.”
Victor laughed nervously.
Then he saw Cara.
“You.”
Cara held Dante’s gaze for a second before looking at Victor.
“You should’ve spoken more quietly.”
Victor’s face twisted.
“You destroyed everything.”
“No. You tried to murder someone.”
“He would have destroyed us eventually!”
Dante spoke calmly.
“Why?”
Victor looked at him.
“Because Vanessa wanted out.”
“She could have left.”
“She wanted the money.”
There it was.
Dante’s expression hardened.
Victor continued.
“She thought you’d never give her control of the companies.”
“So you decided to kill me.”
“She loved me.”
A voice came from behind him.
“No, Victor.”
Vanessa stepped from the corridor.
Everyone froze.
Victor turned.
“Vanessa?”
She looked exhausted.
“You idiot.”
His expression collapsed.
“You said—”
“I said what you needed to hear.”
Cara understood first.
“You were using him.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“You really are annoyingly observant.”
Victor stared at Vanessa.
“You promised we’d leave together.”
Vanessa laughed.
“With what money? You’re broke.”
Victor looked devastated.
Dante’s voice cut through the room.
“So the plan was mine.”
Vanessa smiled.
“The businesses. The properties. Everything.”
“You would never inherit control.”
“No. But I’d inherit enough to disappear.”
Sirens grew louder outside.
Vanessa looked toward the windows.
Dante said, “It’s finished.”
This time, it truly was.
Police entered moments later.
Victor surrendered when he realized Vanessa had betrayed him too.
Vanessa was arrested based on the recordings, Cara’s statement, physical evidence from the sabotaged vehicle, and Victor’s eventual confession.
As officers led Vanessa past Cara, she stopped.
“You think he’ll protect you?”
Cara didn’t answer.
Vanessa smiled bitterly.
“Women like us don’t belong in Dante Moretti’s world.”
Dante stepped beside Cara.
“No.”
Vanessa looked at him.
He continued.
“You never belonged in mine.”
Vanessa was taken outside.
Cara exhaled.
Her former manager was freed.
He looked at her.
“Cara…”
She raised a hand.
“If you’re about to offer me my job back, don’t.”
He closed his mouth.
Dante glanced at her.
“You quit?”
“I was fired.”
“Technicality.”
Outside, dawn was beginning to break.
Cara stood beside Dante beneath the restaurant awning.
“So.”
“So?” he asked.
“You’re alive.”
“Apparently.”
“Your wife is arrested.”
“Yes.”
“Victor is arrested.”
“Yes.”
“My sister is currently being guarded by men who probably frighten her neighbors.”
“Definitely.”
Cara smiled.
“Then I guess we’re done.”
She started walking.
Dante caught her hand.
Not hard.
Just enough to stop her.
Cara looked down at his tattooed fingers around hers.
Then up at him.
“What?”
Dante hesitated.
For perhaps the first time in his life, Dante Moretti looked uncertain.
“Dinner.”
Cara blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“Have dinner with me.”
“You nearly died forty-eight hours ago.”
“I’m aware.”
“Your wife tried to murder you.”
“Also aware.”
“And now you’re asking out the waitress who dragged you from a cliff?”
Dante’s mouth curved slightly.
“When you say it like that, it sounds complicated.”
“It is complicated.”
“Is that a no?”
Cara studied him.
Then smiled.
“It’s a maybe.”
Dante released her hand.
May you like
“I can work with maybe.”
---
