Chapter 9 - The Grave Without a Body
Mara did not tell Dante.
That was her first mistake.
Her second was believing she could slip away from men who made surveillance a profession.
She waited until the others were arguing over the salvage route at a private dock.
Then she took Henry’s truck.
She reached the Vale family cemetery twenty-five minutes later.
Dante was waiting beside the gate.
Mara stopped the truck.
He opened the passenger door.
“Move.”
She stared.
“How?”
“Ring.”
She looked down.
“Tracker?”
“Security chip.”
“You tracked me.”
“You disappeared.”
“You put a tracker on me.”
“I put a protection transponder in every family ring.”
“I am not your family.”
Dante’s expression shifted.
“No.”
The answer sounded different now.
Almost disappointed.
Mara looked away.
“They threatened Roman.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Same message.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew you’d do exactly this.”
She gripped the steering wheel.
“You don’t get to decide what I can handle.”
“And you don’t get to walk into cemeteries alone while a criminal syndicate hunts you.”
“I’m not helpless.”
“I know.”
“Then act like it.”
Dante stared.
“I’m trying to act like losing you would matter.”
Mara stopped breathing.
The words hung between them.
Not a declaration.
Not quite.
Something more dangerous.
She looked away first.
“Get in.”
Dante did.
They drove toward the Vale mausoleum.
Adrian’s empty grave lay nearby.
The stone still carried his name.
ADRIAN LORENZO VALE.
1978–1995.
Mara looked at the dates.
“You visited?”
Dante stood beside the headstone.
“Every year.”
“Even after taking over the company?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“That I was sorry.”
“For what?”
“Being alive.”
Mara looked at him.
Dante didn’t.
She understood something then.
Power had not erased the wound.
Money had not touched it.
Every empire Dante built had been constructed around an absence.
A dead brother who was never dead.
Mara reached toward his hand.
Then stopped herself.
Dante noticed anyway.
He said nothing.
Inside the mausoleum waited a package.
No person.
No trap.
Just a black box.
Dante opened it.
Roman’s hospital ID bracelet.
And another object.
A wedding ring.
Mara frowned.
Dante picked it up.
His face changed.
“Mother’s.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
A note sat beneath it.
YOUR FAMILY LIED TO YOU BEFORE.
ASK WHAT ELSE THEY BURIED.
Mara looked around.
“Sebastian wants us distracted.”
“Probably.”
“Then why here?”
Dante studied the mausoleum walls.
Family names.
Dates.
One plaque had no first name.
Only:
INFANT VALE
Mara frowned.
“Who was that?”
Dante stared.
“I don’t know.”
A sound came from behind them.
Adrian.
“Your sister.”
Dante turned.
“What?”
Adrian approached slowly.
“Our sister.”
Dante stared.
“Mother had another child?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After I disappeared.”
“Why don’t I remember?”
“She was sent away during the pregnancy.”
Dante’s anger rose again.
“Why?”
“Sebastian.”
Mara folded her arms.
“This family really needs a group calendar.”
Neither man smiled.
Adrian continued.
“The baby didn’t die.”
Dante stared.
“Of course.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Of course she didn’t.”
“Her name is Sofia.”
“Where is she?”
Adrian looked at Mara.
“That’s the problem.”
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Sofia Crane.”
Dante stopped.
“No.”
Adrian nodded.
“Sebastian raised her.”
“Why?”
“Leverage.”
Dante shook his head.
“My father would never allow it.”
“He didn’t know she survived.”
“Mother?”
“She knew.”
Dante looked furious.
“Everyone knew except me.”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“I didn’t know until five years ago.”
Mara watched them.
Two brothers shaped by different versions of the same lies.
One had been forced into exile.
The other forced into ignorance.
Sebastian had divided them without needing to kill either.
Dante looked at Adrian.
“Where is Sofia now?”
“On Sebastian’s salvage vessel.”
Mara understood.
“As insurance.”
“Yes.”
Dante stepped toward Adrian.
“And you didn’t mention this before?”
“I was trying to get her out.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Because that worked so well the last twenty-two years.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Mara stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both looked at her.
“You two can destroy each other after we stop Sebastian.”
Neither argued.
Progress.
They returned to the dock.
Evelyn was there.
Mara walked straight past her.
Her mother caught her arm gently.
“Mara.”
She pulled free.
“Not now.”
“I may not get another chance.”
Mara stopped.
That sentence frightened her.
She turned.
Evelyn held something.
A small stuffed rabbit.
Old.
Faded.
One ear missing.
Mara recognized it.
She had slept with it as a child.
“Where did you get that?”
“I kept it.”
Mara’s throat tightened.
“You kept my toy.”
“For twenty-two years.”
“But not me.”
Evelyn flinched.
Mara immediately regretted it.
Not enough to apologize.
Evelyn whispered, “I watched every birthday I could.”
Mara stared.
“From where?”
“Across streets. Cafés. Parking lots.”
“That isn’t being my mother.”
“No.”
“Then don’t make it sound romantic.”
“I’m not.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“It was cowardice sometimes.”
That surprised Mara.
“I told myself I stayed away because you were safer.”
Evelyn looked down.
“Sometimes I stayed away because I was ashamed.”
Mara’s anger shifted.
Not gone.
Changed.
“I don’t know what to do with you.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
Mara looked at the rabbit.
“Keep it.”
Evelyn nodded.
“For now.”
Those two words mattered.
For now.
They boarded Dante’s fastest vessel before midnight.
Cape Meridian lay four hours east.
Adrian traveled with them.
Henry remained ashore, reluctantly coordinating evidence releases.
Luca handled security.
The sea roughened after two hours.
Mara stood on the bridge studying sonar maps.
Dante joined her.
“Can we reach Belladonna before Sebastian?”
“Maybe.”
“Comforting.”
“You prefer lies?”
He gave her a look.
She smiled faintly.
Dante noticed.
“Better.”
“What?”
“You smiling.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Too late.”
Mara’s pulse changed.
She looked back at the sonar.
“You flirt during hostage situations?”
“I’m adaptable.”
She laughed.
For real this time.
Then felt guilty.
Her father was injured.
Roman threatened.
A sister Dante never knew aboard an enemy ship.
Yet laughter came anyway.
Life refusing to wait for permission.
Dante’s hand rested beside hers on the console.
Not touching.
Close.
Mara looked at it.
The ring on her finger caught the bridge light.
“What happens after?”
Dante’s voice quieted.
“After what?”
“This.”
“If we survive?”
“Yes.”
“I stop Sebastian.”
“And the company?”
“Depends what survives.”
“And me?”
He turned.
“What about you?”
“What happens to your protection?”
Dante looked at the ring.
“That depends.”
“On?”
“You.”
Her breath caught.
Before she could answer, the sonar operator shouted.
“Contact!”
A vessel appeared eight miles ahead.
Sebastian’s salvage ship.
Then another contact appeared behind it.
Smaller.
Fast.
Adrian looked at the screen.
“That’s not ours.”
Luca checked the radar identification.
“No transponder.”
Mara stared.
The unidentified boat was heading directly toward them.
Dante ordered evasive movement.
Too late.
The smaller vessel opened fire.
Glass exploded across the bridge.
Alarms screamed.
Mara dropped.
Dante covered her.
Luca fired back through the shattered side window.
Adrian shouted.
“That’s not Sebastian!”
Dante looked at him.
“Then who?”
Adrian’s face changed.
“The people Sebastian works for.”
Mara’s stomach dropped.
Sebastian was not the top of the chain.
A radio transmission cut through the bridge.
A woman’s voice.
Calm.
Older.
American.
“Dante Vale.”
Dante picked up the receiver.
“Identify yourself.”
The woman laughed softly.
Then said one sentence.
“Ask Evelyn who really founded North Crown.”
May you like
Every eye turned toward Mara’s mother.
Evelyn went white.
