Chapter 2 - The Name Dante HatedOlivia did not get into Dante’s car.
She made that clear immediately.
“You investigated me without permission, dragged my manager into it, sent armed men to my workplace, and now you expect me to climb into your SUV?”
Dante stood beside the curb.
“No.”
“Good.”
“I expect you to decide whether you want the truth.”
That stopped her.
Orion sat between them.
Dante glanced toward Belladonna.
“Not here.”
Olivia hated that he was right.
Ten minutes later, they were seated in a private dining room at the rear of the restaurant.
The doors remained open.
Olivia had insisted.
Rocco waited in the corridor.
Samuel remained near the entrance.
Orion lay at Olivia’s feet.
Dante placed a leather folder on the table.
“Your father worked for Moretti Consolidated.”
Olivia stared at him.
“My father worked corporate security.”
“He did.”
“So?”
“For us.”
She laughed once.
“You expect me to believe my father worked for the Mafia?”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“My legitimate companies employed more than six thousand people even then.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“No.”
At least he did not insult her by pretending.
Dante opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph.
Olivia reached for it.
Her hand froze.
Daniel Marshall stood outside a brownstone, seven years younger than Olivia remembered him at the end.
Beside him was Dante.
Younger too.
Less guarded.
At Daniel’s feet sat a black puppy with oversized paws.
Olivia stared.
“No.”
Orion lifted his head.
She looked at the dog.
Then back at the photograph.
A small white mark showed beneath the puppy’s left ear.
Olivia knelt.
“Orion?”
The dog leaned toward her.
She moved the fur aside.
A faint pale scar crossed the skin.
Olivia sat back hard.
“Oh my God.”
A memory opened.
Her father’s apartment in Queens.
A black puppy chasing one of her sneakers.
Daniel laughing while Olivia complained about dog hair on her college sweatshirt.
“What did Dad call him?”
Her own voice from eight years earlier came back.
Orion. Like the hunter.
She stared at Dante.
“I met him.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Your father raised him for his first year.”
Olivia looked down at Orion.
“That’s why…”
“Probably.”
“He remembered me?”
Dante’s gaze softened.
“Dogs remember more than people give them credit for.”
Olivia stood.
“You said my father died working for you.”
Dante’s expression closed again.
“Daniel disappeared after eighteen million dollars vanished from a Moretti Consolidated reserve account.”
Olivia turned slowly.
“No.”
“Three days later, information about one of our cash-transfer routes was leaked.”
“I don’t care about your criminal business.”
“It matters because two men were nearly killed.”
“Nearly?”
“Yes.”
Olivia folded her arms.
“Was my father accused?”
“By everyone.”
“Including you.”
Dante did not answer.
That was answer enough.
“You thought he stole from you.”
“Yes.”
“And betrayed you.”
“Yes.”
Olivia’s eyes burned.
“My father couldn’t steal eighteen dollars without feeling guilty.”
“People believed many things about Daniel.”
“You knew him?”
“For twelve years.”
“And you still believed it.”
Dante looked away.
That hurt her more than she expected.
“What happened the night he died?”
“We tracked him to a warehouse in Red Hook.”
“You chased him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
Olivia searched his face.
“Did your men?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“A fire started before we entered.”
“And you just accepted that?”
“There was a body.”
Olivia felt sick.
“His?”
“The remains were identified through dental records.”
“Then why are you acting like he might not have been a thief?”
Dante slid another document across the table.
A transaction report.
Eighteen million dollars had left the reserve account at 2:14 a.m.
Daniel’s access credentials had been used.
Olivia almost pushed it away.
Then she noticed something.
“My father was in Albany that week.”
Dante looked at her sharply.
“What?”
“He called me from a hotel.”
“You’re certain?”
“It was my twenty-first birthday.”
Dante became completely still.
“When?”
“November seventeenth.”
He looked down at the report.
The transfer date was November seventeenth.
Dante reached for his phone.
Olivia said, “You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“You investigated him.”
“Apparently not well enough.”
For the first time, anger appeared in his voice.
Not at her.
At himself.
The private dining-room door opened.
Samuel stepped inside.
“Boss.”
Dante looked up.
“What?”
“There’s a problem.”
Samuel handed him a tablet.
Security footage filled the screen.
Olivia recognized her apartment building.
Her front door was open.
Two men were walking out carrying boxes.
She stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“What the hell is that?”
Rocco appeared behind Samuel.
“We checked because someone accessed your employee file last night.”
“My apartment?”
Dante’s voice hardened.
“When was this?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Olivia grabbed her coat.
Dante caught her wrist.
She glared.
He released it immediately.
“Don’t go there alone.”
“It’s my home.”
“That’s precisely why.”
“I don’t need you protecting me.”
“No.”
Dante stood.
“But whoever is searching your apartment knew who you were before my men reached the restaurant this morning.”
Olivia’s anger faltered.
Dante looked toward the tablet again.
“They weren’t reacting to my investigation.”
May you like
He met her eyes.
“They were already watching you.”
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