Chapter 6 - The Uncle Behind Both Funerals

Dante reached inside his coat.

Antonio raised a hand.

“No.”

Victor smiled.

“He always was dramatic.”

Dante’s voice was flat.

“You died thirteen years ago.”

Victor leaned on his cane.

“So did your father.”

Robert looked exhausted.

Grace stared at Victor.

“This is the man who took my baby.”

Victor looked at her.

“You should be grateful.”

Antonio moved between them.

“Do not speak to her.”

Victor laughed softly.

“Thirty years and you still pretend this began with love.”

Dante looked at his father.

“Explain.”

Antonio’s shoulders dropped.

“Victor worked with Thomas Blake.”

“For money?”

“For power.”

Victor corrected him.

“For survival.”

Dante ignored him.

Antonio continued.

“Thomas controlled the shipping routes. Victor controlled men. I wanted neither.”

Dante laughed bitterly.

“You ran Moretti Logistics for twenty years.”

“After they trapped me.”

Victor tapped his cane.

“You benefited.”

Antonio turned.

“And paid for it every day.”

Dante’s eyes remained on his father.

“Why fake your death?”

Antonio looked at him.

“Because Victor discovered I had collected evidence.”

“What evidence?”

“Everything.”

Robert spoke for the first time.

“Payments.”

Dante looked at him.

Robert continued.

“Judges. Police. customs officials. Port inspectors.”

Marina stared at her father.

“You were part of it.”

Robert nodded.

“For years.”

Grace looked sick.

Antonio continued.

“I planned to give the records to federal investigators.”

Dante’s expression changed.

“What stopped you?”

“Your car.”

Dante frowned.

Antonio looked at Victor.

“The night of the crash, Victor arranged for me to be followed.”

Victor shrugged.

“I arranged for you to be warned.”

“You cut the brake line.”

Victor smiled.

“No. That was Robert.”

Marina stared at her father.

Robert looked away.

Dante stepped toward him.

Robert whispered:

“I was told Antonio had the ledger.”

Grace covered her mouth.

Antonio said:

“The car went through the barrier.”

Dante stared.

“You survived.”

“Barely.”

“Who pulled you out?”

Robert answered.

“I did.”

Dante looked at him.

Antonio nodded.

“He realized what he had done.”

Robert’s voice shook.

“I thought he was dead.”

“So you saved him.”

“Yes.”

“Then hid him.”

Robert looked at Victor.

“Victor wanted proof Antonio was dead.”

Antonio continued.

“So Robert gave him proof.”

“A body?”

Frank whispered.

Robert nodded.

“A man Victor had already killed.”

Silence.

Dante looked at his father.

“You let me identify ashes that were not yours.”

Antonio looked broken.

“If Victor knew I lived, you would have been next.”

Dante stepped closer.

“So you protected me by making me think you were dead.”

“Yes.”

“That seems to be the family tradition.”

Grace looked at the floor.

Antonio flinched.

Dante turned toward Victor.

“And your death?”

Victor smiled.

“Necessary.”

“Why?”

“Because Antonio was not the only one collecting leverage.”

Dante looked at Robert.

“The marriage.”

Robert nodded.

Victor’s smile widened.

“Finally.”

Marina went pale.

Dante’s voice became colder.

“You planned our engagement.”

“I encouraged proximity.”

“For what?”

Victor pointed toward Dante.

“You control Moretti Logistics.”

Then Marina.

“She controls the Blake voting shares after Robert dies.”

Robert’s face twisted.

“She was never supposed to.”

Victor ignored him.

“The marriage would merge two empires without a public transaction.”

Dante stared.

“And the trust documents.”

“Yes.”

“Signed by my father after his funeral.”

Victor looked at Antonio.

Antonio said nothing.

Dante understood.

“You signed them.”

Antonio’s face tightened.

“Yes.”

Grace stared at him.

“Why?”

Antonio looked at Dante.

“Because Victor had photographs of you.”

Dante laughed once.

“All of you keep saying you did everything for me.”

Antonio’s eyes filled.

“I believed he would kill you.”

Victor tapped the floor with his cane.

“And yet here he is.”

Dante turned.

“You separated my parents.”

Victor nodded.

“You stole me from Grace.”

“Yes.”

“You lied to my father.”

“Yes.”

“You staged your own death.”

“Yes.”

“And you spent thirty years planning a marriage to complete Thomas Blake’s original deal.”

Victor smiled faintly.

“Not his deal.”

Dante frowned.

“Mine.”

Victor walked toward the desk.

He opened a drawer.

Removed a black ledger.

Frank inhaled.

Antonio’s face changed.

“You found it.”

Victor held it up.

“The original accounts.”

Robert stepped back.

Victor looked at Dante.

“This can destroy every surviving name tied to both families.”

Dante stared.

“What do you want?”

Victor looked toward Marina.

“The wedding.”

Marina’s face drained.

Victor smiled.

“You marry her.”

Dante said nothing.

“You sign the consolidation agreement.”

Still nothing.

“Then the ledger disappears forever.”

Dante looked at Marina.

She shook her head.

“No.”

Victor ignored her.

“You keep the empire. She keeps hers. Everyone lives.”

Dante looked at Grace.

Then Antonio.

Then Frank.

Then Robert.

His voice was quiet.

“And if I refuse?”

Victor smiled.

“Your father goes to prison.”

Antonio’s expression did not change.

“Robert too.”

Robert closed his eyes.

“Marina loses everything.”

She stared at him.

“And your mother learns what Antonio did after he believed she was dead.”

Grace looked toward Antonio.

The room shifted.

Dante noticed.

“What did he do?”

Victor opened the ledger.

Antonio whispered:

“Dante.”

Dante raised a hand.

“What did my father do?”

Victor smiled.

“He found the man who took you from the hospital.”

Grace stared at Antonio.

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Victor turned one page.

“And had him killed.”