Chapter 11 - THE FATHER WHO WAS HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
My biological father was not a Moretti.
Not a Cavallo.
Not anyone dangerous.
He was a schoolteacher in Kentucky named Daniel Hayes.
Alive.
Married.
Sixty-one.
And completely unaware I existed.
My mother had met him during a summer teaching program.
They dated briefly.
Then she returned home.
Before she could tell Daniel she was pregnant, Frank Cavallo began threatening the family.
Gabriel offered protection.
Caroline eventually let everyone believe Gabriel was my father because a Moretti connection made Frank cautious.
Grandma cried.
“I promised her.”
“I know.”
“I thought protecting you meant keeping it buried.”
“Apparently everyone did.”
I was angry.
But also relieved.
My family tree had stopped trying to marry me to relatives.
Progress.
Daniel answered the phone himself.
I didn’t know what to say.
So I said:
“Hi. My name is Daisy Bennett. I think you knew my mother, Caroline.”
Silence.
Then:
“Caroline Bennett?”
My heart stopped.
“Yes.”
His voice changed.
“I loved her.”
I cried.
He did too.
We agreed to meet later.
Not immediately.
I had enough emotional emergencies for one week.
Then Vincent found me sitting on the inn porch at midnight.
He handed me peach tea.
“No wine?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Coward.”
“I remember your proposal.”
“Fair.”
He sat beside me.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then:
“So.”
“So.”
“We’re definitely not related.”
“Apparently.”
“Good.”
I looked at him.
He looked at me.
My heart did something inconvenient.
“No.”
He smiled.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
“What did my face say?”
“Bad decisions.”
“That seems judgmental.”
“You brought a diamond ring to my house after one drunken night.”
“It was a key.”
“You enjoyed the misunderstanding.”
“A little.”
I laughed.
Then became serious.
“What happens now?”
“Victor.”
“Right.”
The actual danger.
Sofia’s recovered list contained dozens of names tied to Cavallo corruption.
But one page was missing.
The page naming the Moretti insider.
Vincent’s father, Dominic.
If Victor had that page, he could use it to blackmail Vincent publicly.
Then Sofia corrected us.
“Dominic wasn’t the insider.”
Vincent stared.
“You said he was.”
“I said Caroline believed he was.”
“What changed?”
“Before Caroline died, she told me she was wrong.”
“Then who?”
Sofia shook her head.
“She wouldn’t say.”
We searched the safe-deposit box again.
Nothing.
Then I noticed Grandpa’s old bankbook.
One transaction had initials.
M.B.
Vincent went still.
“What?”
“Marco Bellini.”
His security chief.
I laughed.
“That’s impossible.”
Vincent did not.
Marco had served the Moretti family for twenty years.
His father served Anthony before him.
M.B. could be Marco.
Or his father, Michael Bellini.
Then Marco entered the room.
He saw the bankbook.
And stopped.
Vincent looked at him.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
Marco’s expression changed.
“I can’t.”
My stomach dropped.
Vincent stood.
“You worked for Cavallo?”
“No.”
“My father did.”
Silence.
Marco continued:
“And he left me something before he died.”
“What?”
“The missing page.”
Vincent stared.
“Where is it?”
Marco reached inside his jacket.
Every person in the room froze.
He slowly removed an envelope.
“I’ve carried it for eleven years.”
Vincent’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“Why?”
“Because Anthony ordered me not to open it until Daisy Bennett wore the ring.”
Everyone looked at me.
The stupid diamond ring again.
Marco handed me the envelope.
My name was written across it.
I opened it.
Inside was the missing page.
One name.
Not Dominic.
Not Marco.
Not Sofia.
VICTOR CAVALLO.
Beside it:
FEDERAL INFORMANT.
I stared.
Victor wasn’t simply the crime boss hunting the ledger.
He had been working with the government for decades.
And suddenly his obsession with retrieving every copy made terrifying sense.
May you like
The ledger didn’t only expose crimes.
It exposed the government deal that had protected him from prosecution.
