Chapter 5 - THE DEAD MAN’S SONS
Dante Moretti died in a warehouse explosion four years before the twins were born.
At least that was the official story.
Alexander flew to Germany the next morning.
He did not come to my apartment.
He sent one message:
I’m in Frankfurt. I will meet only if you want.
I stared at the screen.
Then replied:
Hotel lobby. 6 p.m.
He arrived alone.
That surprised me.
No guards visible.
No Marco.
No black convoy.
He looked exhausted.
“What do you know about Dante?” I asked.
His face hardened.
“Not enough, apparently.”
I showed him Sophia’s confession.
He read it twice.
“My mother told her the twins were Dante’s?”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
Alexander looked toward the window.
Dante’s body had never been recovered intact.
DNA identification had been partial.
The explosion destroyed almost everything.
Alexander had believed his brother dead because Salvatore’s old associates confirmed it.
But Elena had insisted on a closed funeral.
Another detail everyone accepted because grief made questions feel cruel.
“Do you think Dante is alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“Would your mother know?”
“Yes.”
We called Elena together.
She refused video.
Alexander’s voice turned cold.
“Is Dante alive?”
Silence.
“Mother.”
Finally:
“Yes.”
Alexander’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He disappeared after the explosion.”
“Why fake his death?”
“To protect him.”
“There’s that word again.”
Elena snapped:
“You have no idea what was happening then.”
“Tell me.”
“Dante betrayed the family.”
Alexander went still.
“He planned to turn evidence over to federal authorities.”
Claire watched the pain move across his face.
Dante had been his hero growing up.
“He wanted out.”
“Yes.”
“And Father tried to kill him.”
Elena said nothing.
Alexander closed his eyes.
That was answer enough.
“What do Sophia’s twins have to do with him?”
Elena’s voice weakened.
“Dante returned to Chicago eighteen months ago.”
Alexander stared.
“And you never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He begged me not to.”
“Did he sleep with Sophia?”
“Yes.”
Sophia had been in love with Dante before Alexander ever knew her.
The childhood sweetheart story was incomplete.
Sophia and Dante had hidden their relationship because Salvatore would never approve.
When Dante resurfaced, they found each other again.
The twins were his.
Alexander leaned back.
Everything rearranged.
The IVF contract.
The supposed donor arrangement.
The affair.
Sophia had used Alexander as camouflage.
And Elena helped.
“Why make me believe they were mine?”
“Because Dante needed to remain dead.”
Claire felt sick.
“So Alexander was used as cover.”
“Yes.”
Elena whispered:
“And I thought Claire would stay if she believed the babies were simply family responsibility.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You thought I would raise children I believed were proof my husband betrayed me?”
“I underestimated you.”
“No.”
I looked at Alexander.
“You underestimated what betrayal does.”
He said nothing.
Then Elena added:
“There is another reason I kept Dante hidden.”
Alexander’s eyes hardened.
“What?”
“He has proof your father ordered the murder of Claire’s father.”
The world went silent.
May you like
My father had died in a boating accident when I was sixteen.
Or so I had always believed.
