70. Dante
DANTE
“Iknow I briefly explained your connection to Angelo last night, but let me back up a bit.”
“Fine. I’ll listen, but just know I’m going to have a lot of questions.” Rose seems to be handling this a lot better than expected, considering her reaction last night. Maybe she just needed some time to rest and process everything.
If she is going to take over as head of the family, this is the kind of mental strength she’ll need. But secretly, I hope she wants to disappear with me instead. It’s selfish, but I want her to myself and safe from danger. And in this life, danger is the only guarantee.
Here goes nothing. All I can do is lay everything out for Rose and go from there. If this is going to work out between us, I need to be honest with her, finally.
“This all started a little over a year ago when Angelo was diagnosed with cancer. He hid his illness from me and everyone else for a while until I figured out something was wrong and followed him.”
“So I’m not the only one you follow? Interesting.” Rose’s snark makes me smile because I’d rather have her witty banter than silence.
“Yes, well, that is my…specialty within the organization. I’m a shadow.
But I’ll explain more about that later. So, after Angelo found out his diagnosis, he started getting his affairs in order for who would take over after his death.
He always had a Will, but he wanted to review it one last time just to be sure everything was correct and up to date.
“During the meeting with his lawyer, Angelo explained what was going on with his health, which prompted his lawyer to give him a letter he had been holding in his safe for over thirty years. That letter was the one from Liliana. The one where she confessed to having you and explained what she had done in order to protect you. She gave it to Angelo’s lawyer with instructions to share it only with him if the family was in trouble.
And with his cancer diagnosis and no heir to the organization with me leaving, his lawyer made the decision to finally share the letter with Angelo. ”
“You say ‘heir’ like Angelo is some kind of royalty.”
“Well, in his line of work, he is considered the king, so to speak.”
“So what? He’s some kind of criminal overlord?
You keep saying ‘the organization’ and ‘the family’.
That’s giving very old Mafia vibes. Are you trying to tell me that Angelo, my supposed grandfather, is the head of the Mafia?
” Rose adds the last part with a soft laugh, as if the thought of it being true is preposterous.
“Yes.”
“Uh, yes what, Dante?”
“Yes, Angelo is the head of the Mafia. But we prefer to use the term organization now. Angelo has worked hard over the past thirty years to make his business endeavors legitimate. As much as possible, that is. Regardless, he is still given the respect someone in his position has earned. And even though the less-than-legal side of the business still partially exists in the shadows, he has been trying to do the right thing ever since…ever since Lily was murdered. He blames himself for her death even though he didn’t pull the trigger.
She was killed because of her connection to him as the heir to his empire. ”
“I still don’t understand what all this has to do with me.”
“Well, in Angelo’s world, my world, the only person respected enough to take over the business without a turf war from rival families is a blood relative.”
“Why can’t he just let you take over? You said he raised you like a son and you have been working for him your entire life. Surely, people would be okay with you taking over.”
“I didn’t want to take over. I actually wanted out of the organization. But typically the only way out is death. However, I made a deal with Angelo he couldn’t refuse. In exchange for my release from the organization, my freedom, I would find you and deliver you to him.”
Rose doesn’t blink. I don’t think she is going to respond until she lets out a laugh.
It’s slightly unhinged, and she can barely speak through her fit of giggles as she tries to compose herself.
I think she has officially lost it. I’m not sure what is so funny about what I just explained.
If anything, I expected her to be hurt or angry with me for using her for my own gain, but no, she is laughing.
“Oh my god, Dante,” Rose wheezes out, still trying to contain her outburst.
“Rose, are you okay? What is so funny?”
“You. This. Everything. I feel like I’m being punked.” Still giggling, she continues, gesturing around her apartment. “Where are the hidden cameras? Clearly, this whole thing is a fucking joke!”
At first, I’m worried she knows I have cameras hidden in her loft.
Then I realize she isn’t referring to my actual hidden cameras, but as if this is some kind of elaborate prank being pulled on her and a camera and television crew is going to pop out from somewhere.
Well, my love, you are not going to be laughing when I tell you about the actual hidden cameras.
Maybe I’ll save that bit of information for another time when she has calmed down from her apparent hysteria.
“This isn’t a joke, Belladonna,” I say, trying to calm her and convey the seriousness of the matter.
“Don’t! Don’t you dare call me that, Dante! And why do you call me that? You and your precious nicknames. Was it so you didn’t accidentally call me Violetta or something ridiculous?”
“Belladonna is actually a name commonly used to refer to Atropa bella-donna, which is a flower. That flower is also known as deadly nightshade because it is poisonous. It felt fitting, beautiful but deadly, just like you. I figured you would cause my demise one way or another. Either by controlling my life or my heart. Turns out, you control both. Loving you is like a poison I never want the antidote for.”
Rose isn’t laughing anymore. In fact, her tears from laughter have now morphed into tears of pain. Pain is the last thing I ever want to cause her. I would take her anger over her pain any day.
“I need you to leave, Dante.”
“I can’t leave you. The men who came for you last night won’t stop until they find you. And since they know where you live, it’s not safe here.”
“How do you know that they know where I live?”
“I’ve seen them here before.”
“Okay, well, the building has security and requires a code to get in. So I just won’t leave the building.”
“No, they know which unit is yours. They have been at your door before. You have even spoken to one of them.” I’m trying to convey the danger without tipping my hand and explaining that I watched as her food was delivered by one of them, and that I know all of this because I have cameras set up in her house.
Her hidden camera joke from before will no longer be funny.
“How is that possible? This building has some of the best security in the city?”
“They have their ways.”
“Dante, I thought you were past secrets and lies and would answer whatever questions I had. Or was that just another lie?” Okay, that one hurt a little.
“Fine. I will tell you, but I need you to understand that everything I have done and will do is for your safety and protection.”
“Okay, you are starting to really freak me out, Dante. Tell me right now how you know.”
“Do you remember when you came back here after your motel room was trashed?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, that night you ordered food to be delivered.”
“How do you know that?”
“And when the delivery person arrived, it wasn’t your normal deliveryman. And he didn’t just leave your food outside your door like they usually do.”
“I swear to God, Dante, if you don’t tell me everything right now, I will make good on my threat to call the police. I might as well call the FBI at this point too. There is no possible way you could know all of that.”
“The man who delivered your food that night is a part of a secret underground organization. They are a less-than-legal operation that loosely reports to the government. They usually hire mercenaries to avoid having any individuals being consistently connected to their dealings. They are the biggest rival to the ‘old Mafia,’ as you put it. Their role is to eliminate the Mafia, by any means necessary.”
“Okay, let’s say I believe everything you are telling me, however far-fetched it may sound. That explains who that man was but not how you knew he was here.”
“As I said before, I have been watching you. That includes after we met in person for the first time at my house.”
“Watching me, how exactly?”
“Well, at times I would follow you in person.” I’m trying to drag out the next bit of information because I don’t know how she is going to react to finding out I have cameras…well, everywhere.
“And the other times? Surely, you haven’t been following me twenty-four seven.”
“The other times I would watch you on cameras.” I pause, not sure how much more I want to say, but I know I have to come clean.
“Okay. Like CCTV cameras? I know there are cameras everywhere in this city, and I’m sure with how secure my building is, they have security cameras throughout.”
“Yes, I have gained access to those types of cameras and use them at times when you aren’t in range of any of my…other surveillance devices.”
“Dante, just say it. At this point, you don’t have anything to lose. Tell me everything.”
She’s wrong. I do have something to lose, everything to lose really…her. She is my everything, and I will do anything to keep her.
“When I started this job all those months ago, I did what I would normally do in this type of surveillance and information gathering portion of the operation. I placed my own devices in places where existing cameras don’t have access.”
“Such as?”
“Such as your vehicle. And your apartment. This apartment. I also had some at your office with Franklin & Sons. I enjoyed watching you the day you stormed into that conference room and quit. If I hadn’t already known I wanted you before, that would have sealed it for me.”
“Stop. Stop talking. That is a wild invasion of privacy, Dante! My car? My apartment? Oh my God! Do you watch me in the bathroom? My bedroom? Holy shit, Dante, that is really unhinged! So you’re telling me, when we ‘met’”—she adds air quotes around the word “met” since technically, I already knew her—“you had been watching me in public and private for almost a year? How do you ever expect me to trust you ever again?”
“It was for your own safety. And no, I didn’t put any cameras in your bathroom.”
“And my bedroom?” Rose is not going to like this answer.
“Yes. There is one small camera in your bedroom. But I would only access it if I didn’t see you on any of the other camera feeds and just needed to visually identify your location.
For safety,” I quickly add, but I think I’m just digging myself a bigger hole at this point.
She is not going to like knowing I also have a GPS tracker on her phone and car. And on her person.
“For fuck’s sake, Dante. My safety? Is that everything? The cameras in my car and home and previous office? Nothing else?”
“There is one other thing. Well, two really.”
“What now?”
“Technically, I have cameras in my home, but those were always going to be there, whether or not you ended up staying at the property.”
“Okay, that’s one. What’s the second thing?
” Rose is handling this information a lot better than I expected, actually.
Her tone has normalized. She hasn’t thrown anything at me or asked me to leave…
I mean, I wouldn’t leave, but she could always ask.
I would just decline the request. Maybe the GPS tracker won’t be too much for her.
“The second thing is that I installed GPS tracking software on your vehicle…and your cell phone. Again, I only accessed your location if I couldn’t locate you through other means or if I thought your safety was in question.
” There, I think that’s everything, minus the tracker directly on her, but I don’t want her trying to remove that just yet.
Well, I’ll also have to tell her I have access to her emails, bank accounts, and search history, but I feel like at this point that should just be assumed. Right?
“Wait. How accurate is the GPS tracking?”
“Very accurate. I can pinpoint your location within a few feet. Why? Would you like me to show you?” Maybe she is intrigued by my surveillance now?
“No, you psychopath! Is that how you found Luc and me at the diner that one night when I wasn’t answering your calls?”
Okay, she’s shouting again. Not the best news, but I can salvage this.
“I was worried something had happened to you. I had been away in the city all day and couldn’t locate you on my home camera feeds, and your car was parked in my driveway.
I was concerned someone had found you and taken you.
And then when you weren’t answering my calls, I panicked. ”
“Wait, the cameras at your house! Can you pull up the feeds now? On your phone or something? Can you see if Luc made it out alive? Or what happened to him after we left? I can’t believe I didn’t ask before.
I need to know if he is alive. I have to know what happened.
Please, Dante, for me, do this one thing!
” Her pleas break my heart because I already know the answer to her questions, and she isn’t going to like it.