Chapter 9 - THE SEAL THAT HELD A DEAD WOMAN'S VOICE
Dante had twenty-three minutes before midnight.
And somewhere beyond the mansion gates, a three-year-old girl was being held by a woman he had trusted for nearly two decades.
Elena stood in front of him, shaking.
"Please bring her home."
Dante took her hands.
"I will."
"Don't promise unless you mean it."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"I mean it."
Then he turned to Marco.
"Get every available team moving."
Marco nodded.
"Where?"
"Margaret's old property in Connecticut."
"How do you know she's there?"
Dante held up the bronze seal.
"Because she wants something she believes is hidden inside this."
He examined the seal beneath a desk lamp.
The hawk's wings were engraved with remarkable precision.
Four ounces of bronze.
A family heirloom.
And perhaps a secret compartment.
Dante noticed a tiny seam beneath the bird's left wing.
He pressed it.
Nothing.
He twisted the base.
Still nothing.
Then he remembered his mother.
When he was a child, she used to tell him that every hawk returned home by following the sun.
He turned the seal toward the east.
A tiny spring released.
The base opened.
Inside was a narrow cylinder containing a miniature audio cassette.
Marco stared.
"That's been there for thirty years?"
Dante carefully removed it.
"Apparently."
They found an old recorder in the storage room.
The cassette hissed.
Then a woman's voice filled the study.
Dante's mother.
Antonio, if you're listening, I know what Victor has done.
Dante closed his eyes.
He had not heard her voice in thirty years.
It was softer than he remembered.
Warmer.
Gabriella came to me. She was terrified. Victor threatened to kill her if she exposed his financial network.
A pause.
I helped her hide the evidence.
Another voice entered the recording.
Margaret Bell.
You shouldn't have gotten involved, Maria.
Dante opened his eyes.
His mother answered.
Someone has to stop him.
Margaret's voice hardened.
Victor doesn't forgive betrayal.
Then came a sound.
A struggle.
A crash.
His mother screamed.
The recording stopped.
Dante stared at the machine.
For years, he had imagined his mother's final moments.
Now he had heard them.
But the cassette did not prove she died that night.
It proved Margaret had threatened her.
And that was enough to make Dante's next decision.
He put the cassette in his pocket.
"Marco, trace Margaret's phone."
"Already done."
"Location?"
"An abandoned lakeside property outside Hartford."
Dante looked at the clock.
11:43 p.m.
Seventeen minutes.
He called Margaret.
"I have the seal."
"Good."
"Let me hear Sophia."
A pause.
Then a tiny voice.
"Uncle Dante?"
His chest tightened.
"Hey, little miss."
"I'm scared."
"I know, sweetheart."
"Mr. Whiskers isn't here."
Dante swallowed.
"I'll bring him."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Margaret returned to the line.
"Midnight. Come alone."
The call ended.
Dante looked at Marco.
"Nobody approaches the house until Sophia is clear."
Marco nodded.
"And you?"
Dante checked his weapon.
"I'm going to bring our girl home."
Elena heard the words.
Our girl.
She looked at him, startled.
But Dante was already moving.
At 11:58, his car stopped outside the lakeside property.
A single light burned inside.
He stepped out carrying the seal.
Margaret stood on the porch.
Sophia was beside her, wrapped in a blanket.
Dante's heart clenched.
"Let her go."
Margaret smiled.
"First, the seal."
Dante held it up.
"Here."
Margaret extended her hand.
He approached slowly.
Then Sophia looked at him.
Her little face was wet with tears.
"Uncle Dante?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"The angry man is here."
Dante stopped.
"What angry man?"
Sophia pointed toward the darkness behind the house.
"Miss Isabella's daddy."
A voice emerged from the shadows.
"She's a very observant child."
Victor Costa stepped into the light.
He held a pistol.
And beside him stood Luca Moretti, his wrists bound.
May you like
Victor smiled.
"Now, Dante, let's discuss which one of them gets to live."
