Chapter 11 - Nolan’s Real Partner
Sofia stared at the phone.
“Luca?”
Bianca spoke quickly.
“Nolan reports to him.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Bianca’s voice cracked.
“I introduced them.”
Dante closed his eyes.
I felt something colder than fear settle over me.
Every step Nolan had taken.
Meeting me.
Isolating me.
Forging documents.
Buying West Fulton.
It had led back to Luca.
“Why?”
I asked.
Luca answered himself.
“Because my father built an empire and then decided morality mattered after he already won.”
Dante said nothing.
“You want revenge?”
Sofia asked.
“I want ownership.”
“Of what?”
“Everything he pretends is legitimate.”
Dante’s expression barely moved.
But I could see the wound.
Luca continued.
“West Fulton proves where the foundation money came from.”
“Old bribes.”
“Political deals.”
“Smuggling routes.”
“Dad built respectability on buried history.”
“So you abused Evelyn to expose him?”
Dante asked.
Luca laughed.
“I never told Nolan to hurt her.”
I flinched.
That sentence was familiar.
The excuse of men who created monsters and then blamed them for biting.
“You knew what he was.”
I said.
Silence.
“You researched me.”
“You chose me.”
“You handed him my life.”
“And now you want to pretend bruises weren’t part of the plan because you didn’t personally make them?”
Luca didn’t respond.
My voice stopped shaking.
“You’re just Nolan with better vocabulary.”
Sofia looked at me.
Dante almost smiled.
Luca’s tone hardened.
“Midnight.”
“West Fulton.”
“Bring Evelyn.”
The line disconnected.
Marco looked at Dante.
“We’re not taking her.”
I stood.
“Yes, we are.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
I faced him.
“You promised me choices.”
“This isn’t a choice.”
“It is mine.”
“Luca may kill you.”
“Nolan might have done that eventually anyway.”
The room fell quiet.
I continued.
“I spent two years surviving by making myself smaller.”
“I’m done.”
“If the vault is mine, I decide whether it opens.”
Dante studied me for a long moment.
Then he reached inside his jacket.
He placed a small recording device on the table.
“If you go, you wear this.”
Marco protested.
Dante ignored him.
“We do this Evelyn’s way.”
For the first time, I realized something fundamental had changed.
I wasn’t hiding behind Dante Moretti anymore.
He was standing beside me.
May you like
And midnight was less than four hours away.
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