Chapter 12 - The GodfatherDominic Rizzo entered the chapel without a weapon.
He did not need one.
Men with badges followed him.
Real badges.
Corrupt loyalties.
Dante remained beside Elena.
Rizzo smiled.
“My godson.”
“Senator.”
“You’ve caused quite a mess.”
“Family tradition.”
Rizzo laughed.
“You sound like your mother.”
Dante’s eyes hardened.
“Don’t.”
Rizzo looked toward Marisol.
“You’ve been inconvenient for a very long time.”
Marisol stood.
“So have you.”
Rizzo sighed.
“Give me the tape.”
“No.”
“Then people die.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Starting with?”
Rizzo looked at Elena.
Dante moved between them.
Interesting.
Rizzo noticed too.
“So that’s what changed.”
“What?”
“You finally found something you’re afraid to lose.”
Dante’s face revealed nothing.
But Elena knew.
Rizzo continued.
“Your father had the same weakness.”
“My mother?”
“You.”
That landed harder than Dante expected.
“Salvatore did terrible things because he believed leaving you a kingdom justified them.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
“No?”
“He did terrible things because he chose to.”
Rizzo’s smile faded.
“You’ve become sentimental.”
“No.”
Dante looked at Elena.
Then Marisol.
Then back at his godfather.
“I’ve become tired of dead men making excuses.”
Rizzo’s agents raised their guns.
Then another voice came from the rear entrance.
“Federal agents!”
Rebecca Shaw entered with an FBI tactical team.
Rizzo turned.
His expression changed for the first time.
Rebecca held up a warrant.
“Senator Dominic Rizzo, you are under arrest.”
Rizzo laughed.
“You have no idea who you’re touching.”
Rebecca smiled.
“That sentence usually sounds better before the handcuffs.”
The corrupt agents surrendered.
Rizzo did not.
He grabbed Marisol.
A concealed pistol appeared.
Dante drew.
Rizzo pressed the weapon against Marisol’s head.
“Put it down.”
Dante did.
“Good boy.”
Elena watched her mother.
Marisol was frightened.
But calm.
Rizzo backed toward the side door.
Then Sophia’s voice came unexpectedly from behind Rebecca.
“Grandma?”
Elena spun.
Sophia had arrived with a protective detail after refusing to remain at the estate.
“Sophia!”
The child saw the gun.
Her expression changed.
Rizzo looked toward her.
That distraction lasted less than a second.
Marisol drove her heel into his foot.
Dante moved.
The gun fired.
Marisol fell.
Elena screamed.
Dante struck Rizzo and sent the pistol across the floor.
Federal agents pinned the senator.
Elena dropped beside her mother.
“Mama.”
Blood spread across Marisol’s shoulder.
“I’m okay.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’ve done it before.”
Even then, Marisol tried to smile.
Sophia approached, crying.
Elena pulled her close.
Dante stood over Rizzo.
The senator looked up.
“You think this ends with me?”
“Yes.”
“You’re still a criminal.”
Dante nodded.
“Yes.”
That answer confused him.
Rizzo expected denial.
Dante offered none.
Rebecca approached.
Dante handed her his gun.
“And when this is finished?”
Rebecca understood.
“We’ll talk.”
“No deal.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not asking for one.”
Dante looked at Elena.
“If I committed crimes, I answer for them.”
Rizzo laughed from the floor.
“You’ll go to prison.”
Dante looked down.
“Maybe.”
“You’ll lose her.”
Dante’s gaze moved to Elena.
She said nothing.
He looked back at Rizzo.
“People aren’t possessions.”
For perhaps the first time, Dante Moretti truly understood that.
Later, at the hospital, Marisol survived surgery.
Sophia slept curled against Elena.
Dante stood by the window.
Elena approached.
“You’re turning yourself in.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Years?”
“Possibly.”
She looked down.
“What happens to the estate?”
“Sold.”
“The businesses?”
“Legitimate ones go into independent management.”
“And everyone who works for you?”
“Severance. Pensions.”
Elena looked surprised.
“You planned all that today?”
“I’ve been planning it since Blackwater.”
She studied him.
Then asked the question he had been avoiding.
“And Isabella?”
Dante looked through the hospital glass.
His former fiancée sat beside Leo.
“I don’t know.”
Elena nodded.
Then Dante’s phone rang.
Isabella.
He answered.
“Dante.”
Her voice shook.
“Leo is gone.”
Dante turned toward the waiting room.
The chair beside Isabella was empty.
On it lay the stolen gold bird.
May you like
And beneath the bird was a note.
ONE MORE DEBT. COME ALONE.
