Chapter 3 - THE SAFEHOUSE CONSPIRACY
Dante took Ruby to a heavily fortified estate high in the cliffs overlooking Lake Michigan. It was a fortress of glass, steel, and armed guards.
For the first twenty-four hours, Ruby felt like a caged bird. She paced the Italian marble floors, her mind racing. She thought of Evelyn at the bakery, of Lena, of the simple life she had fought so hard to build after her ex-fiancé had tried to erase her.
"You're doing it again," a voice said from the doorway.
She turned to see Dante. He had discarded his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves, revealing thick, muscular forearms covered in old, faded scars. He carried a silver tray with a single, warm cup of chamomile tea.
"Doing what?" she asked.
"Occupying space without apologizing," Dante said, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "It's a good quality. Most people shrink when they enter my house."
"I'm too angry to shrink," Ruby said, taking the tea. Her fingers brushed his, and a jolt of pure electricity shot up her arm. "My life is in those bakery boxes, Dante. I have dough rising. I have customers who expect me."
"And you have an assassin group called the Red Hand tracking your phone," Dante countered, his tone turning serious. "My tech team intercepted their comms. They know you were at the tower. They are watching Sweet Haven."
Ruby’s breath hitched. "Evelyn... Lena..."
"I've already placed them under twenty-four-hour protection. They are safe," Dante assured her, stepping closer. The scent of rain, expensive cedarwood, and gunpowder clung to him. "But you aren't. We need to open that bag, Ruby. Every seam, every lining."
Together, they sat at a massive mahogany table. With a small pocket knife, Dante carefully sliced open the false bottom of her father's old leather satchel.
Inside lay a single, tarnished brass key with a coordinate code engraved on the shaft, alongside a faded photograph of a young Lorenzo Moretti standing next to Ruby’s father, both of them smiling.
May you like
But there was something else—a handwritten letter from Thomas Castellano, addressed to Dante.
“Lorenzo, if your boy is reading this, it means we both failed to outrun the shadow. The key opens the vault beneath the old Saint Jude’s orphanage. But beware—the traitor isn't outside your house. He sits at your table.”
