CHAPTER 5 The Plan Was Always Her #3
Dante went still.
Mercer continued.
“Higher than projected.”
The unseen voice asked, “Then succession remains viable?”
“Yes.”
“And the mother?”
Mercer paused.
“Unnecessary after transfer.”
The room became silent.
Sofia felt her body go cold.
Unnecessary.
After transfer.
Dante did not move.
He seemed almost calm.
That terrified Luca.
And Sofia.
She whispered, “They were going to kill me.”
Dante looked at the screen.
“Yes.”
“And take Matteo.”
“Yes.”
Her knees weakened.
He caught her again.
This time his expression was no longer controlled.
There was murder in his eyes.
Luca stopped the video.
But the file continued.
Another timestamp appeared.
Recent.
Three days ago.
Sofia stared.
The same examination room.
Empty.
Then Mercer entered.
He faced the camera.
“Phase two begins when S-17 returns to M-04.”
Silence.
Dante’s head turned slowly.
“What?”
The recording continued.
“The reunion must occur before extraction.”
Sofia’s blood turned to ice.
Reunion.
Returns to M-04.
Her and Dante.
The hidden message.
The photograph.
The threat.
Everything.
Sofia whispered, “They wanted you to find me.”
Dante stared at the screen.
“Yes.”
The realization spread through the room.
Three years of hiding.
Three years of searching.
And suddenly one hospital record appears.
Suddenly Dante finds Sofia.
Suddenly someone photographs Matteo.
Suddenly the trail leads back to the estate.
It had not been coincidence.
It had been orchestration.
“They gave you my location.”
Sofia said.
Dante’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Luca answered quietly.
“Because they needed you together.”
Sofia looked at him.
“For what?”
No one knew.
Then the video resumed.
Mercer looked toward someone off camera.
“The Don will believe he is protecting them.”
Dante’s eyes became black.
Mercer smiled.
“That is precisely what brings the heir where we need him.”
The video ended.
Silence.
Sofia stared at the black screen.
The Moretti estate.
The castle.
The fortress.
The place Dante believed safest.
They had wanted Matteo here.
All along.
Dante turned toward Luca.
“Evacuate the estate.”
Luca’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“Now.”
“Where?”
“Secure site seven.”
Sofia looked at him.
“What is site seven?”
“Somewhere they do not know.”
“You hope.”
Dante looked at her.
“Yes.”
The honesty frightened her.
Luca moved toward the door.
Then the entire estate shook.
A deep explosion thundered from somewhere below.
Glass rattled.
Matteo woke screaming.
Sofia ran to him.
Dante drew his gun.
Another explosion.
Closer.
Alarms began screaming throughout the mansion.
Red lights flashed.
Luca grabbed his phone.
“North gate breach!”
Dante looked at Sofia.
“Take Matteo.”
She did.
“What’s happening?”
His eyes became cold.
“The extraction.”
Sofia felt terror seize her.
Dante moved toward the door.
She grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He turned.
“Do not leave us.”
For one second, everything stopped.
The Don.
The runaway bride.
Their son crying between them.
Dante looked at her hand gripping him.
Then at her face.
“I won’t.”
He took Matteo from her with one arm and kept his gun in the other.
Sofia stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping my promise.”
They moved together.
Down a concealed corridor behind Dante’s bedroom.
Luca led.
Security followed.
Another explosion shook the walls.
Matteo buried his face against Dante’s neck.
“Scared.”
Dante tightened his hold.
“I know.”
“Mama?”
“Right here.”
Sofia kept one hand on Matteo’s back as they ran.
The passage descended beneath the mansion.
Stone.
Concrete.
Emergency lights.
Then Luca stopped suddenly.
“What?”
Dante demanded.
Luca looked at the security panel.
His face changed.
“Site seven access is locked.”
“Override.”
“I can’t.”
Dante stepped forward.
A message appeared on the screen.
**WELCOME HOME, M-04.**
Sofia froze.
Another line appeared.
**brING THE HEIR TO THE CHAPEL.**
Then:
**OR S-17 DIES FIRST.**
Dante stared at it.
Sofia felt his body change beside her.
They knew exactly where they were.
They controlled the system.
They controlled the escape route.
And they were no longer hiding what they wanted.
Matteo.
Sofia looked at Dante.
“What do we do?”
For perhaps the first time since she had met him, Dante Moretti did not have an immediate answer.
Then his eyes shifted toward her.
Something terrifyingly calm settled over his face.
“We stop playing their game.”
“How?”
He handed Matteo back to Sofia.
Then removed his phone and smashed it beneath his heel.
Luca stared.
“Boss?”
“No network.”
Dante removed the tracker from his watch and crushed it too.
“Manual routes only.”
Luca understood.
Dante turned toward Sofia.
“They planned the marriage.”
His voice was quiet.
“They planned your disappearance.”
Another alarm echoed above them.
“They planned me finding you.”
He looked at Matteo.
“They planned us bringing him here.”
Then Dante’s eyes met hers.
“But they made one mistake.”
“What?”
“They planned for the man I was three years ago.”
Sofia held her son tighter.
“And who are you now?”
Dante stepped closer.
“A father.”
His gaze hardened.
“And fathers are much harder to control than Dons.”