Chapter 5: The Photograph
Glass rained across the marble.
Guests screamed somewhere beyond the sealed ballroom doors.
Dante grabbed Elena and pulled her behind the engagement table as another window shattered.
“Stay down!””
Marcus moved toward the nearest wall.
“Boss!””
“I know!””
Another crack.
Then silence.
Dante waited.
His breathing was steady.
Elena's wasn't.
She clutched the sleeve of his tuxedo.
“Are they coming?””
Dante looked at her.
“Not if I can stop them.””
Anthony crouched beside them.
Victoria was on the opposite side of the table, frozen beneath the falling white petals from the damaged floral arrangement.
Dante noticed her.
“Victoria!””
She didn't respond.
“Get down!””
Anthony reached across and pulled her behind the table.
She landed beside him.
For a moment, the two stared at each other.
Then Anthony whispered, “You should've told him.””
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“I was trying to protect him.””
“You were protecting yourself.””
“I was scared.””
“So was I.””
Dante looked between them.
“What exactly happened three years ago?””
Anthony's face hardened.
“I was investigating one of Dad's old accounts.””
Dante frowned.
“Our father?””
Anthony nodded.
“Money was disappearing. Not millions.””
“How much?””
“Enough to make someone nervous.””
Dante stared at him.
“Who?””
Anthony looked at Victoria.
“Her father.””
Victoria shut her eyes.
Dante's expression changed.
“My future father-in-law?””
“He wasn't just a businessman,” Anthony said.
“He handled money for the family before you took over.””
Dante looked at Victoria.
“You knew.””
She whispered, “I knew my father had secrets.””
“You knew he was involved with my family.””
“I knew he had done things he wouldn't tell me about.””
Anthony shook his head.
“He told her I was going to expose him.””
Dante's voice became colder.
“And then?””
Anthony looked down.
“I was ambushed.””
“By who?””
“Men wearing our family's colors.””
Dante went still.
“Someone framed us.””
Anthony nodded.
“They wanted everyone to believe you ordered my death.””
Elena slowly raised her head.
“Why?””
Anthony looked at her.
“Because whoever controlled that story controlled Dante.””
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“Who?””
Anthony didn't answer.
Instead, he pointed at the photograph.
“That man.””
Dante looked down.
Anthony tapped the image.
“He showed up after the ambush.””
“Who is he?””
“I never got his name.””
Dante stared at the face.
Then something clicked.
The suit.
The ring.
The watch.
He recognized the watch.
His own.
Dante pulled his sleeve back.
The watch on his wrist was identical.
Anthony noticed.
“That's the problem.””
Dante frowned.
“What?””
“The watch.””
Anthony took the photograph.
“Look closely.””
Dante did.
The photograph showed the double's wrist.
A small silver mark sat beneath the watch face.
Dante touched his own watch.
There was the same mark.
Elena whispered, “Maybe that's how they copied him.””
Anthony looked at her.
“No.””
“What?””
“They didn't copy Dante.””
Anthony turned to his brother.
“They copied the man who taught Dante everything.””
Dante's face tightened.
“Our father?””
Anthony nodded.
“He had a twin.””
Silence.
Victoria looked confused.
Dante stared at him.
“Our father never had a twin.””
“He did.””
“You're lying.””
“I wish I were.””
Anthony reached inside his jacket again.
This time he removed an old document.
Dante took it.
A birth certificate.
Two names.
One mother.
Two sons.
One was listed as Dante's father.
The other had been blacked out.
Dante's voice dropped.
“Who is this?””
Anthony looked toward the ballroom doors.
“That's what I was trying to find out when they came for me.””
A faint metallic click came from the hallway.
Marcus looked up.
“Someone's coming.””
Anthony stood.
“Not someone.””
The doors began shaking.
Dante grabbed Elena.
“Back wall. Now.””
Victoria remained frozen.
Dante shouted, “Move!””
She ran.
The ballroom doors burst open.
Three armed men rushed inside.
Marcus fired first.
The lights flickered.
Guests screamed outside.
Dante shoved Elena behind a marble column.
Anthony disappeared through a side corridor.
Victoria followed him.
Dante saw them vanish.
“Victoria!””
She stopped.
Anthony grabbed her arm.
“Don't!””
Dante's eyes narrowed.
Then he heard a voice behind him.
“Boss.””
Dante turned.
One of his own security men stood there, weapon raised.
But the man wasn't aiming at the intruders.
He was aiming directly at Dante.
May you like
“You shouldn't have found out.””
The trigger began to move.
