Chapter 5
The church looked different without flowers.
Three years earlier, hundreds of candles had illuminated the aisle while Serena walked toward Dante in white.
Now only moonlight entered through stained glass.
Dante came alone.
At least, that was what Arthur was supposed to believe.
Marco’s people were positioned three blocks away.
Serena had demanded to come.
Dante refused.
Their first real argument as husband and wife lasted twenty minutes.
“You don’t get to protect me by lying to me,” Dante told her.
Her expression changed when she understood the irony.
“That was cruel.”
“It was accurate.”
She finally agreed to remain at the safe house.
Now Dante walked down the church aisle.
Arthur sat in the first pew.
“You came.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I taught you never to walk into an obvious trap.”
“You also taught me obvious traps sometimes hide unobvious opportunities.”
Arthur smiled.
“Your father would be proud.”
“Don’t speak about him.”
Arthur’s smile faded.
Dante sat opposite him.
“What do you want?”
Arthur placed a leather folder between them.
“Vincent Romano gone.”
“That makes two of us.”
“And afterward?”
“Depends.”
“On?”
“Whether I kill you before or after him.”
Arthur chuckled.
“I always appreciated your sense of humor.”
“I’m not joking.”
Arthur opened the folder.
Documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Names.
Decades of corruption.
“What is this?”
“Insurance.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
Dante examined several pages.
Arthur had documented crimes committed by both families.
Some predated Dante’s leadership.
Others could destroy judges, officials, businessmen.
“You’ve been planning this for years.”
“Twenty-seven.”
Dante stared.
“Since my father was alive?”
“Your father was brilliant. But he made one mistake.”
“What?”
“He believed loyalty was inherited.”
Arthur leaned back.
“I spent my life advising powerful men while remaining the servant in the room.”
“So this is about pride?”
“Legacy.”
Arthur’s voice sharpened.
“Men like your father and Vincent built kingdoms because of their names. Men like me built those kingdoms for them.”
Dante finally saw him clearly.
Arthur didn’t want money.
He wanted history rewritten with himself at its center.
“You manipulated Vincent.”
“Yes.”
“You convinced him I was vulnerable.”
“Yes.”
“You encouraged my divorce.”
Arthur smiled.
“That part was easier than expected.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“You knew Serena loved me?”
“I suspected.”
“And you knew why she avoided me?”
“Eventually.”
“Yet you let me believe she despised me.”
“Emotion makes leaders weak.”
Dante stood.
“No, Arthur.”
He looked down at the old lawyer.
“Isolation makes them weak.”
For the first time, Arthur’s confidence flickered.
Dante continued.
“You made the same mistake Vincent made.”
“And what mistake is that?”
“You assumed Serena was leverage.”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“She isn’t.”
Dante leaned closer.
“She’s my partner.”
A sound came from the rear of the church.
Arthur smiled.
“You shouldn’t have said that.”
Dante turned.
Vincent Romano emerged from the darkness.
Armed men followed him.
Dante looked back at Arthur.
“You invited him too.”
Arthur stood.
“I told you. Opportunity.”
Vincent approached.
“You betrayed me, Arthur.”
Arthur smiled.
“I betrayed everyone.”
Vincent raised his gun.
Then church doors slammed open.
Marco’s men entered.
Arthur’s smile vanished.
Dante looked at him.
“I didn’t come alone.”
Chaos erupted.
But before anyone fired, a woman’s voice echoed from the balcony.
“Enough!”
Everyone looked up.
Serena stood above them.
Dante’s face darkened.
She had ignored him.
Of course she had.
Serena held a phone.
“Everything Arthur gave us is already copied.”
Arthur went pale.
She continued.
“And if anyone fires a weapon, those files go to federal investigators and every major newspaper in Chicago.”
Silence.
Vincent stared at his daughter.
“You wouldn’t.”
Serena looked down at him.
“You murdered Daniel.”
Vincent’s face changed.
“Serena—”
“You murdered my best friend because you were afraid I might choose my own life.”
“That boy was going to take you away.”
“You mean free me.”
“I protected you.”
“No.”
Serena’s voice cracked.
“You owned me.”
Dante watched her.
This was no longer the frightened woman from the penthouse.
Serena was finally speaking every truth she had buried.
Vincent lowered his weapon slightly.
“You are my daughter.”
“And Dante is my husband.”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“You choose him over blood?”
Serena answered quietly.
“I choose the person who never forced me to choose.”
Dante felt the words deep in his chest.
Arthur suddenly reached beneath his jacket.
Dante saw it.
“Serena!”
Arthur fired toward the balcony.
Dante moved.
Marco moved faster.
A shot struck the railing.
Serena ducked.
Dante charged Arthur.
The two men collided.
Arthur’s weapon slid across the stone floor.
Vincent’s men raised theirs.
Marco’s men responded.
For one terrifying second, everyone stood on the edge of massacre.
Then police sirens sounded outside.
Arthur stared toward the doors.
Dante looked up at Serena.
She held the phone.
“I scheduled a message,” she explained.
Arthur’s face twisted.
“You called the police?”
“Not exactly.”
Outside, vehicles surrounded the church.
Federal agents.
Arthur had forgotten something.
Serena was a Romano.
She understood leverage too.
Arthur ran toward a side door.
Dante caught him.
Arthur struggled.
“You have no idea what you’re doing!”
Dante pinned him against the wall.
“No.”
Then he looked toward Serena.
“But she does.”
Agents entered.
Vincent’s men dropped their weapons.
Arthur stared at Dante.
“You think this ends with me?”
Dante said nothing.
Arthur smiled.
“There’s one file Serena hasn’t seen.”
Serena descended the stairs.
“What file?”
Arthur looked directly at her.
“The truth about why Dante’s father died.”
Dante froze.
His father had died twelve years earlier.
Heart attack.
Arthur smiled.
May you like
“At least, that’s what everyone told you.”
And suddenly the war Dante thought he understood became something else entirely.
