Chapter 5 - THE SECOND TARGET
The hospital was not burning.
By the time Dante’s SUV reached St. Catherine’s, Grant had already confirmed that the smoke came from a parking structure two blocks away. Three vehicles had caught fire almost simultaneously, creating enough chaos to draw police and emergency crews away from the hospital entrance.
It was another diversion.
Grant met them at the underground medical bay.
His gaze dropped to the blood on Dante’s shirt.
“What happened?”
“Caleb Vale happened.”
“You caught him?”
“He is being taken to one of our secure locations.”
Grant looked toward Mara.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Then both of you need to hear this.”
They entered a private conference room near Ava’s new suite. Dr. Reeve cleaned and bandaged the cut along Dante’s ribs while Grant placed a building diagram on the table.
“At the exact moment those vehicles caught fire, someone tried to enter the original pediatric floor using a hospital administrator’s badge.”
“Who?” Dante asked.
“A man dressed as an orderly. He escaped before my team could identify him.”
“Was he looking for Ava?”
“He went directly to her old room.”
Mara folded her arms against the cold.
“Lorenzo still thought she was there.”
“Or wanted us to believe he did,” Grant said.
Dante stood as soon as Dr. Reeve finished.
“Question Caleb.”
Caleb Vale was twenty-nine, expensively educated, and visibly terrified now that the adrenaline had faded. He sat at a metal table in a windowless room inside a secured property owned by Dante.
One wrist was handcuffed to the chair.
His cheek had begun to swell where Dante had struck him.
Dante remained standing.
Mara and Grant watched from the other side of a one-way mirror.
“You poisoned Ava,” Dante said.
Caleb shook his head.
“I switched the glass. That’s all.”
“That is poisoning her.”
“I was told it would make her sleep. Lorenzo said no permanent harm.”
Dante planted both hands on the table.
“She is six years old.”
“I didn’t know it was for her until the last minute.”
“Who was it supposed to be for?”
Caleb looked away.
Dante pulled out a chair and sat across from him.
The quiet movement frightened Caleb more than shouting would have.
“Listen carefully,” Dante said. “Your uncle has abandoned you. He emptied his office, disappeared during the blackout, and sent two men to Mara’s apartment. When his plan fails, every piece of evidence will lead back to you.”
Caleb swallowed.
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“He already did.”
Dante placed photographs on the table.
The counterfeit account in Mara’s name.
The money found with Bellamy.
The altered camera footage.
The equipment recovered from the garage van.
Every document contained Caleb’s electronic signature.
His face drained of color.
“I didn’t authorize those.”
“Then tell me who did.”
Caleb’s breathing became shallow.
“Lorenzo controlled everything.”
“Why Ava?”
“She was the trigger.”
Dante’s expression did not change, but Mara saw his shoulders become rigid.
Caleb continued rapidly.
“The sedative was measured carefully. Lorenzo said Ava would collapse but recover. You would carry her to the service elevator because it was the fastest route to the garage. Bellamy was supposed to keep the front hallway crowded.”
“The blue compound marked my hand.”
“So the garage team would identify which vehicle you entered.”
“What was supposed to happen next?”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“The ambulance escort would be redirected beneath the lower bridge.”
“And?”
“A collision. A fuel fire. It would look like an accident caused by reckless driving.”
Mara felt the room tilt beneath her.
The same method used against Elena.
Confusion.
A vehicle.
A fatal accident blamed on weather or speed.
“Ava would be in the ambulance,” Dante said.
“No. Dr. Reeve was supposed to insist on stabilizing her before transport. Lorenzo studied his emergency procedures. He believed you would leave first to secure the route.”
“He gambled with my daughter’s life.”
“He said the dose was safe.”
Dante stood.
Caleb recoiled.
Grant entered the interrogation room before Dante could reach across the table.
“Who else is involved?” Grant asked.
Caleb stared at the floor.
“Bellamy handled the restaurant. I handled the security system. Lorenzo controlled the legal side.”
“What legal side?”
“If Dante died, Ava’s trust would activate.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“I named my sister, Sofia, as guardian.”
Caleb gave a sickly smile.
“You did seven years ago.”
“What does that mean?”
“Lorenzo replaced the guardianship documents after Elena died. The version stored with the court names him as temporary trustee if both parents are deceased or medically incapacitated.”
“That document requires my signature.”
“He has your signature.”
“Forged.”
“Not exactly.”
Caleb lifted his eyes.
“He included the authorization page in the restructuring papers you signed after the federal investigation three years ago. You thought you were approving changes to overseas holdings.”
Dante’s face darkened with the realization of how thoroughly Lorenzo had abused his trust.
“With control of Ava’s trust,” Caleb continued, “he could transfer voting rights over nearly every legitimate Moretti company. Shipping. Construction. Real estate. He didn’t only want your criminal network. He wanted the entire empire.”
Grant leaned toward him.
“Who is helping him inside Dante’s security team?”
Caleb hesitated.
Dante placed one photograph in front of him.
Ava smiling beside her birthday cake.
“Look at her.”
Caleb did not.
“Look at the child you drugged.”
His gaze dropped to the photograph.
“If Lorenzo reaches her again,” Dante said, “whatever happens afterward belongs to you.”
Caleb’s eyes filled with panic.
“Silas Ward.”
Grant went still.
Silas was his deputy.
He had worked for Dante for nine years.
“He disconnected the hospital generator,” Caleb said. “He gave Lorenzo the medical-floor access badge. He also installed the transmitter in the music box.”
“Where is Silas now?” Grant asked.
“He was ordered to stay close to Ava.”
Grant touched his earpiece.
“Ward’s position.”
There was no response.
He repeated the request.
One of his men finally answered.
“Sir, Ward left the secure floor four minutes ago. He said you ordered him to inspect the west stairwell.”
“I gave no such order.”
Grant ran from the room.
Dante followed.
Mara remained behind only long enough to ask Caleb one final question.
“The ring. The two-headed eagle. Why was your uncle’s man wearing it?”
Caleb stared at her.
“It belonged to an organization Lorenzo created inside the Moretti companies. People loyal to him instead of Dante.”
“My father had the same ring.”
“Then your father wasn’t one of them.”
“What do you mean?”
Caleb’s voice dropped.
“The ring taken from Thomas Ellis was used as proof that he had been eliminated.”
Mara stopped breathing.
“Was my father murdered?”
“I don’t know. Lorenzo never said exactly what happened. But he kept that ring in his safe for years.”
An alarm sounded from the corridor.
Mara ran.
When she reached Ava’s medical suite, the door was open.
Dr. Reeve lay unconscious beside the bed, blood at his temple.
Grant was checking the bathroom.
Dante stood in the center of the room, staring at the empty mattress.
Ava was gone.
On the floor lay one of the pink paper flowers from her birthday table.
Dante bent and picked it up.
His hands were trembling.
Grant’s men searched every level of the hospital.
The security footage showed Silas Ward pushing a laundry cart through a restricted elevator less than three minutes before the alarm.
The cart was found abandoned near the loading bay.
Inside were Ava’s hospital bracelet and a folded note.
Dante opened it.
A child’s handwriting covered the front.
MARA, I DROPPED THE FLOWER LIKE YOU SAID.
On the back, written in black ink, was a message from Lorenzo.
BRING THOMAS ELLIS’S KEY TO THE OLD LAKE HOUSE.
COME WITHOUT POLICE OR AVA FINISHES WHAT ELENA STARTED.
Mara stared at the note.
Before Ava fell asleep, Mara had told her an old game from childhood: if she ever became separated from her father, she should leave behind something bright at every doorway.
Ava had listened.
May you like
Ava had remembered.
And now the six-year-old girl was leaving them a trail.
