6. Dante

Chapter 6

Dante

I sat in a meeting listening to the briefings from the newly appointed lawyer.

“The trial will proceed, but now that Attorney Leone’s daughter has been caught in the middle of it, we’re hoping a testimony from her can reveal something that’ll give us the upper hand. Or perhaps maybe some extra information her father might have left her in his final minutes? There is no doubt sooner or later she will be subpoenaed as a witness but as to what she will say or not say, no one knows.”

He paused then.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Are you in any way close to her? I heard you had a somewhat personal relationship with Marco Leone so perhaps this could be enough to talk his daughter into revealing any inside information to us?”

My heart sank.

“My relationship was with her father. As you can imagine, due to what has happened since, she wants nothing to do with me.”

“Mmm,” he said. “Is there any way we can convince her? Right now, we’re on somewhat solid ground, but it still doesn’t guarantee a win. We need irrefutable evidence. What about the informant that he’d been waiting for at the restaurant? Any news on that?”

“My men are working on tracing him.”

“Alright. We’ll get to work building our defense for the next hearing so please keep us updated in the meantime.”

“Of course.” We parted company then, but I didn’t feel any hope at all in the wake of his departure. And that, I realized, had to be one of the great things I would miss about Marco Leone. He was rare. Not only was he a wonderfully talented attorney, but someone I completely trusted. He represented me with all of his heart. As if he was my protector. Almost a father, I dare say.

If only I had listened to him. That tiny lapse without security was all they needed to take him out.

My chest felt heavy with sorrow at his sudden passing. I hadn’t shed a tear for the man that meant so much to me. It would be a weakness that could be exploited. I felt alone. More alone than I had since I met the man more than a decade earlier.

I could still recall how we first met. It was after my indictment and the court’s subsequent assignment of a lawyer who didn’t give a damn whatsoever about me. I had already accepted that the justice system was going to crush me in its jaws and my life of freedom was practically over, but then Marco Leone came out of nowhere and gave me new hope.

I came from a brutal world where everyone was out to get you and I had been distrustful of him, but his kind eyes and pure smile made me question my initial distrust of him. Then he bailed me out and brought me to his home. No one had been able to do that given the evidence that had been stacked against me. But he had, and from then on, I was fully converted. He was the real deal.

His daughter on the other hand …

From the start, it was hate at first sight for her. She eyed me haughtily and probably regarded me as a lowly criminal, but I was fine with that because it made it easier to curb my strong desire for her. I was indebted to her father, and the last thing I wanted to do was betray him by hooking up with his daughter.

I thought back to that night when I had covered her mouth with mine. I believed it would be the end of my interaction with her, but life sure had a way of bringing back loose ends you hoped would stay that way forever. And in the most gruesome way.

I recalled my conversation with her at the cemetery and the terrible pain in her eyes. She blamed me. I knew it would be nearly impossible to reach her. But whether she could help me or not, my number one priority from now on was to ensure she was safe and taken care of in every imaginable way. Marco had given up his life for her so I would not let the sacrifice be for nothing.

Zola didn’t know it, but I was now her guardian.