Chapter 10 - The Price of the Truth
James smiled.
“You people make betrayal look exhausting.”
Dante moved in front of Ruby.
Matteo pressed one hand to his bleeding side.
Thomas shouted.
“James!”
James raised the gun.
“Stay where you are.”
Evelyn knelt beside Matteo.
The wound looked bad.
Bianca stared at James.
“How did you get free?”
James grinned.
“You still think everyone guarding you belongs to Dante.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
A Moretti guard stepped from the shadows behind James.
Vittorio Kane.
The man who had shot Evelyn twelve years earlier.
Evelyn froze.
“That’s him.”
Dante looked at Vittorio.
“You.”
Vittorio’s scar beside his ear caught the red emergency light.
“Boss.”
Dante’s voice became ice.
“How long?”
“Since Salvatore.”
“Even after he died?”
“Orders continue.”
“From whom?”
Vittorio looked toward Bianca.
Everyone turned.
Bianca went still.
James laughed.
Dante stared at his mother.
Bianca whispered, “No.”
Vittorio raised his weapon.
“Not her.”
James looked annoyed.
Vittorio smiled.
“Me.”
Dante’s brow furrowed.
Vittorio continued.
“Your father was useful. James was useful. Bianca was useful.”
James turned.
“What are you doing?”
Vittorio shot him.
The bullet struck James in the leg.
He collapsed screaming.
Vittorio picked up the evidence case.
Ruby stared.
“You manipulated all of them.”
Vittorio smiled.
“Someone had to.”
Dante’s face tightened.
“What do you want?”
“The same thing every empire wants.”
“Money?”
“Continuity.”
Vittorio backed toward the tunnel.
“Salvatore understood power. You became sentimental.”
Dante glanced at Ruby.
Vittorio saw.
“There.”
He smiled.
“That.”
Ruby felt cold.
“You think love makes him weak.”
“Love makes everyone predictable.”
Dante said, “You attacked my home.”
“Yes.”
“Used James.”
“Yes.”
“Tried to kill Evelyn.”
“Years ago.”
“You failed.”
Vittorio shrugged.
“Temporary inconvenience.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
Ruby had never seen her mother look like that.
“You took twelve years from me.”
Vittorio looked at her.
“No. Fear took twelve years from you.”
Evelyn flinched.
Ruby stepped forward.
Dante caught her wrist.
Vittorio smiled.
“Predictable.”
Ruby looked at Dante’s hand.
Then at him.
He released her.
Vittorio’s smile faded slightly.
Ruby continued.
“You’re wrong.”
“About?”
“You think people only act to protect what they love.”
Vittorio tilted his head.
Ruby looked at the evidence case.
“Sometimes they choose what is right even when it costs what they love.”
Vittorio laughed.
“That sounds very noble.”
Ruby shrugged.
“I’m not noble.”
She reached into her coat.
Everyone tensed.
Ruby pulled out her phone.
“I’m practical.”
Vittorio frowned.
Ruby held up the screen.
A transfer bar.
94%.
Dante stared.
“When did you—”
“When the vault opened.”
Ruby looked at Vittorio.
“I photographed and uploaded every index page.”
Vittorio’s face changed.
Ruby smiled faintly.
“The evidence is already leaving the building.”
He raised his gun toward her.
Dante moved.
Gunfire exploded.
Ruby dropped.
Dante tackled Vittorio.
The evidence case fell.
Thomas dragged Ruby behind the vault wall.
Matteo, bleeding badly, kicked the gun away.
Bianca struck Vittorio with her cane.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Dante pulled her back.
“That’s enough.”
Bianca was shaking.
Vittorio lay unconscious.
James groaned nearby.
The transfer bar reached 100%.
Ruby looked at Dante.
“I sent it to three attorneys.”
He stared at her.
“And a reporter.”
His eyebrows rose.
“One reporter.”
“Which one?”
“Claire Weston.”
Dante swore.
Ruby almost smiled.
Claire was known for refusing pressure from anyone.
Including Moretti pressure.
Dante looked impressed despite himself.
“Good choice.”
Matteo collapsed.
Everything changed.
Evelyn shouted for help.
Dante called emergency services.
Matteo looked at his brother.
“Don’t let them take it.”
Dante crouched beside him.
“They won’t.”
“I mean the truth.”
Dante’s face shifted.
“I know.”
Matteo gripped his sleeve.
“I hated you before I met you.”
Dante looked at him.
“Reasonable.”
Matteo laughed weakly.
“You make jokes?”
“Rarely.”
“Keep it rare.”
Blood spread.
Ruby pressed cloth to the wound.
“Stay awake.”
Matteo looked at her.
“He loves you.”
Ruby’s eyes burned.
“This is a bad time.”
“He does.”
Dante glared.
“Stop talking.”
Matteo smiled.
“Definitely brothers.”
Sirens approached.
Police.
Ambulances.
Federal vehicles.
Claire Weston had moved fast.
By noon, St. Agnes Cemetery was surrounded.
By evening, James Gallagher was under federal arrest.
Vittorio Kane was in custody.
Matteo survived surgery.
Thomas was detained for questioning.
Bianca retained counsel.
Evelyn entered protective custody voluntarily.
And Dante—
Dante was summoned before the Moretti council.
Ruby learned about it from Maria.
“He leaves tonight.”
Ruby found him in the study.
The same room where everything had begun.
The contract lay on the desk.
Her ring beside it.
Dante stood near the fireplace.
“You weren’t going to tell me.”
“I thought you had enough.”
Ruby laughed softly.
“That sentence should be illegal in this family.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
“What happens at the council?”
“They decide whether I remain head of the organization.”
“And if they remove you?”
“I leave.”
“Just like that?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“There will be consequences.”
“What kind?”
He did not answer.
Ruby walked to the desk.
She touched the contract.
“You could complete this.”
“Yes.”
“Take Gallagher.”
“Yes.”
“Preserve your position?”
“Possibly.”
Ruby looked at him.
“Will you?”
“No.”
No hesitation.
Something tightened in her chest.
“Why?”
Dante looked at her.
“Because I would rather lose everything I built than keep anything I took from you.”
Ruby looked away.
Too much.
Too soon.
She picked up her ring.
Dante’s breath changed.
Ruby noticed.
She did not put it on.
She placed it in her pocket.
“I’m not ready.”
“I know.”
“I may never be.”
“I know.”
“And you’re not allowed to disappear because you think that is noble.”
Dante almost smiled.
“What am I allowed to do?”
“Tell me the truth.”
He nodded.
“Then here it is.”
He stepped closer.
“I love you.”
Ruby’s heart stopped.
Dante continued before she could answer.
“I loved you before I understood that what I was doing to you made that love unworthy.”
Ruby’s eyes filled.
“I am not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I am asking you to believe that whatever happens tonight, I will not use that contract.”
Ruby stared at him.
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
“Promises from you have a poor record.”
His face tightened.
“You’re right.”
He picked up the contract.
Then placed it in her hands.
“Then you decide what happens to it.”
Ruby looked down.
Twenty pages.
Six months.
A marriage reduced to clauses.
She looked at the fireplace.
Then at Dante.
Before she could move, the study doors opened.
Bianca stood there.
Her face was pale.
“The council is not meeting to remove you.”
Dante frowned.
“Then why?”
Bianca swallowed.
“To sentence you.”
Ruby’s blood ran cold.
May you like
Dante went still.
Bianca whispered, “And they already voted.”
