Chapter 2 - THE BOY DANTE CHOSE
Nobody finished the barbecue.
Guests left in small groups.
Nobody needed to be told.
The children went inside with Dante’s oldest bodyguard, Frank Morelli.
Frank had been twenty-four the summer Gabriel died.
He was fifty-two now.
He had worked for Dante longer than almost anyone.
When Clara saw him standing near the terrace doors, she looked away.
Dante noticed.
So did Frank.
That mattered.
Javier refused to enter the house at first.
He paced near the pool with both hands locked behind his head.
Clara stood twenty feet away.
Neither looked like husband and wife.
They looked like two people standing on opposite sides of a grave.
Dante approached.
“Inside.”
Javier laughed.
“You giving orders now?”
“Yes.”
“And if I say no?”
Dante looked at him.
Javier stopped pretending.
They went inside.
The family library had thick walls.
Dante chose it because Leo and Mia were on the opposite side of the estate.
He did not want his children hearing adults turn dead children into arguments.
Clara remained standing.
Javier sat.
Dante stayed near the fireplace.
“Start.”
Clara told them about Emilio’s final night.
He had been sick for months.
Too weak to intimidate anyone.
That irritated him.
He hated needing help.
Clara had gone to the hospital because Javier refused.
“He hadn’t spoken to his father in almost a year,” she said.
Javier looked toward the window.
Dante knew why.
Emilio had been cruel to Javier until the day age finally made him physically incapable of it.
Javier had never completely escaped him.
Clara continued.
Emilio asked whether Javier still hated Dante.
She answered yes.
Then Emilio laughed.
“He said Javier hated the wrong man.”
Javier’s eyes shifted.
Clara told Emilio she did not understand.
So he gave her the story.
The Romano family had been staying at the lake house.
Gabriel was nine.
Javier was thirteen.
Gabriel was frightened of deep water.
Emilio hated that.
He believed fear became permanent if fathers allowed children to keep it.
That night, after most of the family went inside, he brought both boys to the dock.
Dante followed when he realized what Emilio intended.
Dante remembered.
Rain in the distance.
The lake black beneath the evening sky.
Emilio telling Gabriel to jump.
The boy refusing.
Dante telling his uncle to stop.
Then Vittorio Romano arrived.
Dante’s father.
Boss of the family then.
Everything became harder after that.
Clara looked toward Dante.
“Emilio said Vittorio told him not to back down in front of the boys.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
Javier stared at him.
“You never told me Grandpa was there.”
Dante did not answer.
Clara continued.
Emilio forced Gabriel onto the end of the dock.
He told the boy to swim to the buoy and back.
Gabriel cried.
Javier argued.
Emilio slapped Javier and ordered him to stay out of it.
Then Gabriel jumped.
Not because he became brave.
Because his father frightened him more than the water.
Javier stood.
“I remember that.”
His voice had changed.
He pressed both hands against the table.
“I remember him screaming.”
Dante closed his eyes.
So did he.
Gabriel made it halfway to the buoy.
Then panicked.
Javier jumped in.
Emilio shouted at him to stop helping.
Dante moved toward the dock.
Vittorio grabbed his arm.
“He said let them figure it out,” Dante whispered.
Clara looked at him.
Javier stared.
“What happened next?”
Dante remembered fragments.
Javier reaching Gabriel.
Both boys struggling.
Emilio yelling.
Vittorio holding Dante back for several seconds that felt like years.
Then Dante hit his own father.
Hard enough to break free.
He jumped.
The water was cold.
He saw two heads.
Then one.
He reached Javier first.
That much he remembered.
Javier’s face twisted.
“You chose me.”
Dante looked at him.
“I reached you.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
“You brought me back.”
“Yes.”
“And Gabriel?”
Dante’s voice lowered.
“I went back.”
Javier’s eyes filled.
“Too late.”
Clara stepped forward.
“Emilio said you had both boys within reach.”
Dante turned.
“What?”
“He said you looked at Javier.”
Clara’s voice shook.
“Then at Gabriel.”
“He said you pulled Javier away first.”
Dante stared.
“That isn’t how I remember it.”
Javier laughed bitterly.
“Of course it isn’t.”
Dante moved toward him.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Javier.”
“You spent twenty-eight years acting like you saved me from my father.”
“I did.”
“You saved me because you let my brother die.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“That is not what happened.”
“Then what happened?”
Silence.
Dante did not know.
That was the problem.
He remembered water.
Screaming.
Javier’s shirt in his fist.
Then Gabriel already too far away.
Clara looked toward Frank.
The bodyguard had remained by the door.
“Tell them.”
Dante turned.
Frank’s face went still.
Javier looked at him.
“What does she mean?”
Frank hesitated.
Dante stepped closer.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“How much did you see?”
Frank looked toward Javier.
“More than your father ever told you.”
Javier’s expression changed.
Clara whispered:
“Frank.”
He nodded.
Then looked at Dante.
“When you dragged Javier onto the dock, Gabriel wasn’t dead.”
Dante stared.
“What?”
“He was still in the water.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Frank’s voice became heavier.
“You went back in.”
“You pulled him out.”
Dante stopped breathing.
Javier looked between them.
“I pulled Gabriel out?”
Frank nodded.
Dante’s face drained.
He had no memory of that.
Frank continued.
“Gabriel was alive when you put him on the dock.”
Javier whispered:
“No.”
Frank looked at him.
“He was coughing.”
The room went completely silent.
Dante took one step backward.
For twenty-eight years he believed Gabriel had drowned before he could reach him.
Frank destroyed that belief with one sentence.
Javier’s voice shook.
“Then why did he die?”
Frank looked toward Dante.
May you like
Then toward the closed library door.
“Because after Dante got him out, Emilio stopped anyone from calling for help.”
