The Sister Who Named Her Price

Chapter 09 - The Sister Who Named Her Price

Alessandra Salvatore arrived at the hotel wearing cream trousers, a camel coat, and no visible concern that her uncle had offered to buy a fortune she had not known existed.

She was thirty-six, six years younger than Dante, with the same gray eyes and none of his stillness.

She kissed her brother on both cheeks.

“You look tired.”

“You asked Enzo for three hundred million dollars.”

“I had jet lag.”

Elena decided immediately that she did not trust her.

Alessandra saw the judgment and smiled.

“You must be Elena.”

“Elena Reyes.”

“I know.”

“That makes one of us.”

Dante closed the conference room door.

“Why did Enzo call you?”

“Because he is eighty percent arrogance and twenty percent panic.”

“He is not panicking.”

“He offered me two hundred million dollars in the first sentence.”

Alessandra removed her coat.

“That is panic in an expensive suit.”

Sofia entered from the adjoining room.

Alessandra’s expression changed.

“You look like Miguel.”

Sofia stiffened.

“You knew my husband?”

“No.”

“Then don’t say things like that.”

Alessandra nodded.

“Fair.”

Elena noticed.

Another Salvatore capable of taking correction.

Perhaps it was genetic and merely required adulthood to activate.

Dante placed Vivien’s phone on the table.

“Enzo plans to kill Sofia and Elena so your estate acquires the Reyes shares.”

Alessandra read the message.

Her humor disappeared.

“Then my uncle has become less subtle.”

“He was never subtle,” Dante said.

“He used to be better at punctuation.”

“Elena.”

“What?”

Dante looked at her.

“Nothing.”

She almost smiled.

Alessandra kept reading.

“Who else has this?”

“Federal investigators have a copy.”

“Good.”

That answer surprised Dante.

“You are not concerned?”

“I am not planning to murder anyone.”

“You asked him for three hundred million.”

“I wanted to see whether he could get it.”

“Can he?”

Alessandra looked at him.

“Yes.”

The room went still.

“Where?” Dante asked.

“Accounts tied to the south port.”

Dante’s face hardened.

“You knew about those?”

“For eight months.”

“And said nothing.”

“I did not know who I could trust.”

“You could trust me.”

Alessandra laughed.

Not cruelly.

Sadly.

“Could I?”

Dante stared at her.

She continued.

“When Dad died, you vanished for six months and left me with lawyers, creditors, investigators and Uncle Enzo visiting twice a week pretending to comfort me.”

“I was in federal negotiations.”

“I know where you were.”

“Then why—”

“Because you did not call me.”

Dante stopped.

Alessandra’s voice softened.

“You keep thinking protection is a service you perform from a distance.”

Elena looked at him.

He did not need the help.

He felt it.

Alessandra turned to Sofia.

“Enzo contacted me eight months ago about selling the port property.”

“Why?”

“He said he controlled enough votes.”

“But he didn’t.”

“No. Which is how I learned someone else existed.”

“Us,” Elena said.

“Yes.”

“You researched my mother.”

“I researched the Reyes trust.”

“Same difference.”

Alessandra accepted that.

“I discovered Sofia’s name four months ago.”

Dante stepped closer.

“Did you tell Enzo?”

“No.”

“Daniel?”

“No.”

“Then how did they find out?”

Alessandra looked toward Vivien.

Vivien had changed out of the wedding gown into hotel clothes Sofia found for her.

She shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

Alessandra took out her phone.

“I can get Enzo to meet me.”

“No,” Dante said.

“Yes.”

“No.”

She smiled without warmth.

“You don’t own the family talent for bad decisions.”

Dante’s jaw tightened.

Elena intervened.

“What would you offer him?”

“My thirty percent.”

“You cannot sell without legal review.”

“He does not care about legal review. He wants voting control before the city hearing next month.”

Sofia sat down.

“What happens at the hearing?”

Alessandra answered.

“Rezoning. If approved, the port land triples in value.”

Elena understood the timing.

Her audit at the Vale Foundation had not randomly uncovered laundering.

The money had been preparing for the port deal.

The wedding had not randomly brought everyone into the same room.

Daniel wanted Dante visible beside Elena to pressure Enzo.

Everybody had been moving pieces.

Except Elena.

She was tired of being a piece.

“Tomorrow night,” she said. “We go to pier seventeen.”

Dante shook his head.

“No.”

“You agreed I make my decisions.”

“And I told you self-defense was an exception.”

“That does not apply to telling me where I can go.”

“It applies to preventing you from walking into a planned execution.”

Elena folded her arms.

“What is your plan?”

Dante looked at the maps.

“Fake certificates. Tracking dye. Federal tactical team outside the perimeter.”

“And Marcus?”

“We get him out.”

“How?”

“Without you.”

“No.”

“Elena.”

“If Daniel knows I am the future owner if Mom dies, I am leverage. He expects me.”

“Exactly.”

“If I am absent, he suspects a trap.”

Dante looked at Alessandra.

She shrugged.

“She’s right.”

“I did not ask.”

“That has been your problem all day.”

Dante exhaled slowly.

Elena almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

They spent the afternoon building the plan.

Not Dante’s plan.

Everyone’s.

Sofia would remain at a secure federal site.

Vivien would approach first carrying the false certificates.

Elena would follow.

Dante would remain within sight but not beside her.

Alessandra would call Enzo from another location and tell him the shares were real.

Federal agents would wait until Marcus was physically located before moving.

At seven, an investigator arrived with news.

The original flash drive from Vivien’s bouquet had been examined.

The financial records were genuine.

There was more.

A hidden folder contained photographs.

Not of Elena.

Not of Marcus.

Alessandra.

Meeting Daniel Mercer in Geneva four months earlier.

Dante stared at his sister.

She did not look surprised.

Elena’s stomach tightened.

“You said you never told Daniel about us.”

“I didn’t.”

“You met him.”

“Yes.”

Dante’s voice turned cold.

“Why?”

Alessandra looked at her brother.

“Because I hired him.”

The room fell silent.

“To do what?” Dante asked.

“To find Uncle Enzo.”

Vivien stood.

“My brother has worked for you?”

“He did.”

“When?”

“For six months.”

“And then?”

Alessandra’s expression darkened.

“Then he discovered how much money Enzo would pay him to switch sides.”

Vivien shook her head.

“That is not what happened.”

Alessandra looked at her.

“What happened?”

Vivien’s face had gone white.

“Daniel did not switch sides for money.”

“Then why?”

Vivien swallowed.

“Because Enzo told him who killed our mother.”

Alessandra frowned.

Elena felt another door opening into another old room.

“Who?”

Vivien looked at Dante.

“My mother died in a car accident when I was six.”

Dante went still.

Vivien’s voice dropped.

“Enzo says it wasn’t an accident.”

Elena looked between them.

Vivien continued.

“He says Antonio Salvatore ordered it.”

Dante’s father.

“And Daniel believes him?” Elena asked.

Vivien shook her head.

“No.”

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Her eyes stayed on Dante.

“He believes Dante was in the car that caused the crash.”