Chapter 5 – THE TRAITOR IN THE VAULT

Dante stared at the page, his dark eyes moving rapidly over his father’s cruel, precise handwriting.

“No,” Dante whispered, the word tearing from his throat. “He told me it was a Marcello ledger. He told me Pietro was a friend.”

“He lied!” I backed up against the cold steel of the safety deposit boxes. “He killed them. He murdered my parents, and he forced my grandfather to run for his life with that book as insurance!”

Dante looked at me. The ruthless mafia boss was gone. In his place was a man watching his entire reality shatter.

“Nora, I swear to God, I didn’t know.”

Before I could answer, the heavy steel door of the vault room violently swung open.

Four men in tactical gear stepped inside, raising suppressed automatic weapons.

But it wasn’t the Marcello family.

Walking behind them, wearing an immaculate charcoal suit and leaning on a silver cane, was Salvatore Gallo.

And standing right beside him was Paul. My restaurant manager.

“Paul?” I gasped, the shock freezing my lungs.

Paul wouldn’t look at me. He stared at his expensive new shoes, sweating profusely.

“He’s been on my payroll since you started at La Cattedrale,” Salvatore said smoothly, his voice devoid of the fake affection he had shown in the restaurant. “He was instructed to make your life just difficult enough that you would eventually break and come to me for help.”

The old man looked at Dante.

“Give me the ledger, son.”

Dante slowly closed the black book. He didn’t hand it over.

He stepped directly in front of me, shielding my body entirely with his own.

“You ordered the hit on her parents,” Dante said, his voice terrifyingly calm.

“Thomas Rossi was a police informant,” Salvatore said dismissively. “He was going to expose the docks. It was business. Pietro was foolish to steal the book instead of accepting the tragedy.”

“Business?” Dante’s jaw locked. “You made me protect her. You made me believe I was honoring a debt.”

“I made you locate the leverage,” Salvatore corrected. “I knew Pietro would hide it where only his granddaughter could find it. You were the bait, Dante. You charmed her. You made her trust you.”

I felt a sob rip through my chest.

Dante hadn’t cared about me. It was all a manipulation.

But when I looked at Dante’s back, I saw his hands clench into fists.

“You used me,” Dante whispered.

“You are my son. You are a tool of this family,” Salvatore said coldly. “Now, hand over the book, and my men will dispose of the girl. The boy at the estate will follow shortly.”

“NO!” I screamed, fighting to push past Dante, desperate to get to Leo.

Dante caught me with one arm, holding me firmly behind him.

With his other hand, he pulled his gun from his holster.

But he didn’t aim it at the guards.

He aimed it directly at his father’s chest.

“The girl and the boy leave with me,” Dante stated, the safety clicking off. “Or I put a bullet in your heart, Papa.”

Salvatore laughed. A dry, rasping sound.

“You won’t shoot your own blood for a waitress.”

“Watch me.”

Salvatore’s eyes narrowed. He flicked his fingers.

The guards raised their weapons.

“Don’t do it, Dante,” Paul begged, finally looking up. “They have orders to shoot.”

Dante didn’t hesitate. He grabbed my hand, squeezing it with absolute, desperate promise.

“When I move, you run,” Dante whispered over his shoulder.

Then, Dante fired.

Not at his father. He shot out the massive fluorescent light panel above them.

The vault plunged into pitch blackness.

Automatic gunfire erupted in the dark. The deafening sound tore through the steel room.

Dante shoved me toward the doorway. “Run, Nora!”

I scrambled through the dark, hitting the hallway.

But as I reached the elevator, I heard a sickening thud behind me.

And a sharp, agonized groan that belonged to Dante.

TITLE: The Safe House And The Confession

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