Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO SLEPT BESIDE THE ENEMY
Bethany's mother had been dating Dante's supposedly dead uncle.
For eleven months.
Eleven months of Sunday dinners.
Eleven months of flowers left on the kitchen counter.
Eleven months of a charming doctor who always remembered Bethany's birthday.
Bethany gripped the edge of the table.
"Calvin is Salvatore?"
Marco nodded.
"Same facial structure. Same fingerprints from an old criminal record. Different name."
Bethany closed her eyes.
"Mom trusted him."
Dante looked toward the window.
"Salvatore was always good at making people trust him."
"What does he want?"
"Something Lorraine took years ago."
Bethany opened her eyes.
"What?"
Dante hesitated.
"Evidence."
"Of what?"
"My father's crimes."
She stared at him.
"Your father?"
Dante nodded slowly.
"Vittorio was responsible for things I spent years trying to undo. Salvatore helped him."
Bethany swallowed.
"And my mother?"
"She may have witnessed something."
Before she could ask another question, her phone buzzed.
A video message.
Unknown number.
Bethany pressed play.
Lorraine sat in a metal chair beneath fluorescent lights.
Her wrists were tied.
Her face was pale.
But she was alive.
"Bethany," she whispered. "Baby, don't come."
Someone stepped behind her.
Dr. Calvin Reed.
Salvatore Moretti.
The man who had brought birthday cakes and kissed Lorraine's cheek.
Now his expression was cold.
"Hello, sweetheart."
Bethany's stomach turned.
"You monster."
Salvatore smiled.
"Family reunions are emotional."
Dante stepped into view of the phone.
"What do you want?"
Salvatore's smile faded.
"The original hospital ledger."
Dante frowned.
"What ledger?"
"The one Lorraine stole from Vittorio."
Bethany looked at her mother's terrified face.
"I don't know anything about a ledger."
Salvatore leaned closer to the camera.
"Of course you don't. Your mother has always been talented at hiding things from you."
He pulled a small silver necklace from his pocket.
Bethany recognized it immediately.
Her childhood necklace.
A tiny heart-shaped pendant.
She'd lost it when she was thirteen.
Salvatore held it toward the camera.
"The ledger isn't paper anymore."
Dante went still.
"What did you do?"
Salvatore smiled.
"Vittorio was clever enough to preserve everything digitally."
Bethany stared at the pendant.
Then remembered something.
When she was little, her mother used to tell her never to lose the necklace.
Not because it was valuable.
Because it was important.
Salvatore looked directly into the camera.
"Bring me Bethany, and I'll tell you where the real records are."
Dante's voice turned icy.
"You're not getting her."
Salvatore laughed.
"Then perhaps I should explain why she's worth so much."
He leaned toward Lorraine.
"Tell your daughter what happened the night she was born."
Lorraine began crying.
"Please, Salvatore."
"Tell her."
Bethany held her breath.
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
May you like
Then whispered the truth that shattered everything.
"Bethany, you were never Vittorio Moretti's daughter."
