Chapter 5 - The Brother Behind the DoorThe safe house had been compromised.
That was impossible until it happened.
Dante stood in the dark warehouse with one hand around his phone and the other wrapped around my wrist.
Julian’s voice came through clearly.
“You should have left the nurse on the sidewalk.”
Dante’s tone became deadly calm.
“Where is Luca?”
“With family.”
“You are family.”
“That was always your mistake. You confuse blood with loyalty.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“What do you want?”
Julian laughed softly.
“The drive.”
“No.”
A sound came through the phone.
Luca grunting.
Dante’s expression changed by half an inch.
But I felt his fingers tighten around mine.
Julian said, “You have thirty minutes.”
“Location.”
“Old Moretti clinic.”
The line disconnected.
Dante immediately turned to Marco.
“How?”
Marco looked furious.
“Safe house security was clean.”
“Obviously not.”
“We changed routes twice.”
“Then somebody tracked the medical equipment.”
I spoke.
“The monitor.”
Both men looked at me.
“Luca’s cardiac monitor uploads data remotely.”
Marco swore.
“The cellular transmitter.”
“If Julian knew the device model, he could potentially track its network connection.”
Dante looked at me.
“You said this at the hospital?”
“No one asked.”
Marco was already calling Dr. Bell.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
My stomach twisted.
Dante noticed.
“She knows how to protect herself.”
“That’s easy to say when you’re not the nurse.”
His eyes softened briefly.
Then they were hard again.
“We move.”
Anthony survived the warehouse attack.
Two men stayed with him until an ambulance under Moretti control arrived.
The rest of us headed to the old clinic.
Dante insisted I remain in the armored SUV.
I did not argue this time.
Not because I was afraid.
Because he was right.
I was a nurse, not a soldier.
The old Moretti clinic had once belonged to Dante’s mother.
A free community facility, he told me during the drive.
After her death, Victor had closed it.
Dante had planned to renovate it.
Now Julian was using it to hold his brother.
When we arrived, Dante looked at me.
“Stay here.”
“I will.”
He paused.
“You sound too agreeable.”
“I know when I’m useful and when I’m not.”
That seemed to surprise him.
“Lock the doors.”
“Go get Luca.”
He got out.
For ten minutes, I waited.
Longest ten minutes of my life.
Then the rear door opened.
I nearly screamed.
Dr. Bell climbed inside.
Her hair was loose.
One sleeve torn.
“Drive.”
“What happened?”
“Julian grabbed Luca. I hid in the laundry room.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Just bruised.”
“Where is Luca?”
She pointed toward the clinic.
“Inside.”
“Dante’s already there.”
Her face changed.
“No.”
“What?”
“It’s a trap.”
The clinic windows exploded.
I ducked.
Gunfire cracked outside.
Dr. Bell screamed.
I dragged her down.
“Stay below the windows!”
The driver hit the gas.
Our SUV moved backward.
Then stopped sharply.
Another car blocked us.
Marco appeared outside, pounding the side.
“Open!”
I unlocked the door.
He climbed in.
“Dante’s inside.”
“Then get him!”
“We can’t. Julian sealed the rear corridor.”
Dr. Bell leaned forward.
“There’s an old ambulance entrance.”
Marco stared at her.
“You know where?”
“I worked here fifteen years ago.”
Seconds later, we were moving.
Around the block.
Through an alley.
The ambulance entrance had been chained.
Marco’s SUV hit it once.
The chain broke.
Dante would later be furious.
At the time, I was impressed.
We entered from the rear.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Marco handed me a small flashlight.
“Stay behind me.”
We moved room to room.
Then I heard coughing.
“Dante!”
No answer.
I heard it again.
Left side.
I opened a door.
Dante was on the floor beside Luca.
He had covered his brother with his own body when part of the ceiling collapsed.
“Help me!”
Marco lifted the debris.
Dr. Bell checked Luca.
I checked Dante.
“You’re bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
“It is absolutely yours.”
A cut near his shoulder had soaked through his shirt.
“Later.”
“That is what every stubborn male patient says five minutes before making my job harder.”
Even then, he looked amused.
We got Luca out.
Julian was gone.
So was the flash drive.
At first, I did not understand.
Then Dante checked his inside pocket.
Empty.
“He took it.”
Marco looked around.
“How?”
Dante’s face darkened.
“The explosion. Someone got close.”
Luca opened his eyes.
“No.”
We turned.
He coughed.
“Wrong drive.”
Dante stared.
“What?”
Luca almost smiled.
“I swapped it.”
“With what?”
“Wedding photos.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
Dante stared at his brother.
“You nearly died and you’re smiling?”
“Imagine Julian’s face when he opens four hundred photos of Aunt Rosa’s wedding.”
Even Marco laughed.
But Luca’s smile disappeared quickly.
“The real drive is still at the estate.”
Dante froze.
“Where?”
Luca looked at him.
“Your father’s chapel.”
The estate had a small private chapel at the rear of the property.
Dante’s father had built it for his wife.
Only family used it.
Luca explained between breaths that he had hidden a duplicate drive inside their mother’s old Bible before his attack.
“Why make two copies?”
“Because you taught me redundancy.”
Dante looked almost proud.
Then my phone vibrated.
One percent battery.
A text message from an unknown number.
I opened it.
A photograph.
My apartment.
Inside.
My framed nursing graduation photo placed on my bed.
Under it, a message.
YOU SAVED THE WRONG BROTHER.
My blood turned cold.
Dante took the phone from my hand.
Read it.
His face became terrifying.
Then another message arrived.
THIS ENDS WHERE IT STARTED.
ST. ALDEN.
MIDNIGHT.
BRING THE DRIVE.
OR THE NURSE’S CAREER WILL BE THE LEAST THING WE BURY.
Dante looked at me.
“No.”
I already knew what he meant.
“You’re not going.”
“They’re asking for me.”
“They’re asking for leverage.”
“They framed me for Carver.”
“I’ll clear your name.”
“How?”
“I have lawyers.”
“This is bigger than lawyers.”
He stepped closer.
“And bigger than you.”
“No.”
My own voice surprised me.
Dante went still.
“They watched nurses. Manipulated patients. Faked deaths. Killed Carver. Tried to kill Luca. If we keep running, they choose the next victim.”
His face hardened.
“You are not responsible for stopping them.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“But I am responsible for deciding what kind of person I am when I know.”
Silence.
Dr. Bell watched us from across the room.
Luca smiled faintly.
“She’s worse than you.”
Dante ignored him.
“You could die.”
“So could you.”
“That’s different.”
“Because?”
“Because I’m used to it.”
The answer came too fast.
Something inside me shifted.
Not pity.
Something deeper.
I lowered my voice.
“That doesn’t make your life worth less.”
Dante stared at me.
For the first time, every wall in his expression disappeared.
Only for a second.
Then his phone rang.
Marco answered it.
His face changed.
“Boss.”
“What now?”
“The chapel alarm.”
Dante turned.
“What?”
“Someone is inside the estate.”
We all went silent.
Luca whispered, “The drive.”
Dante looked toward the door.
Then back at me.
The trap at St. Alden suddenly did not matter.
May you like
Because Julian had figured out where the real evidence was.
And he was already there.
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