Chapter 7 - The Lawyer Who Wasn't Dead
Jonathan Reed was alive.
He had been living under another name in a small coastal town.
When Dante found him, the old lawyer did not resist.
“I knew this day would come.”
Dante placed the DNA report on the table.
“You knew Emma was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Sophia was mine.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you hide her?”
Jonathan looked at Emma.
“To save her.”
Emma's voice was bitter.
“You destroyed my life.”
Jonathan accepted the accusation.
“I know.”
He explained that Dante's father had discovered an internal conspiracy.
Several advisers were secretly working with Victor Valenti.
Jonathan believed exposing them too quickly would trigger a massacre.
So he created a false story.
Emma was separated from Dante.
Derek was brought into her life.
The pregnancy was hidden.
Sophia was protected.
But then everything went wrong.
Dante was poisoned.
Emma disappeared.
Victor returned.
Jonathan had lost control of the plan.
“Who was the traitor inside Dante's family?” Emma asked.
Jonathan looked at Dante.
“Your brother.”
Dante's face hardened.
“I don't have a brother.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“Not by blood.”
He handed Dante a file.
Inside was the name of the man who had been beside Dante since childhood.
His most trusted lieutenant.
His closest friend.
The man Dante had ordered to protect Emma three years earlier.
Marco.
Emma remembered him.
He had been the last person she saw before leaving Dante.
Jonathan's final words were quiet.
“He was the one who told me Dante didn't want you.”
Emma stared.
May you like
The person who had destroyed her relationship with Dante had never been Derek.
It had been the man Dante trusted most.
