Page 63 of Blood Vows

Elena frowned. “You think he was protecting me?”

“I think the note, the key, the ledger, and the hiding places—all of it points in that direction,” Dante said.

“Then why didn't he tell me about any of this?” she asked.

“Maybe telling you would've put you in more danger,” he said. She hated that possibility because it made sense.

Dante squeezed her hand. “Get dressed.” This time, his voice was gentler when he gave that order. “Then we figure out who the fourth man is.”

They were downstairs twenty minutes later. Elena wore another set of clothes Isabella had sent over for her. Dante had coffee, but she didn't. Her stomach was too unsettled. The photographs were spread across the kitchen island and on Dante’s laptop. He'd printed copies because apparently staring at them on three different electronic devices wasn't enough.

Elena leaned over the first photo. Her father was easy to recognize. He was younger and thinner, and his dark hair still untouched by gray, but his eyes were still the same. Vincenzo Hale stood beside him, and Dr. Vale was on the opposite side. Then there was a fourth man, but his face had been cut from every photograph. Someone had physically removed him from the original pictures.

“Why remove him?” Elena asked.

Dante stood across from her. “Because his identity matters.”

“Or someone hated him,” she countered.

“Could be both,” he said with a shrug. She moved on to the next photograph. They were the same men, but they were in a different room. The red ledger appeared again.

“Look,” she said.

Dante came around the island to study the photo more closely. “What about it?”

She pointed to the photo. “My father’s ring.”

A large ring sat on his right hand. Dante leaned closer to look at it. “Is that your family crest?”

“Yes,” she breathed. It’s the Romano crest.” Her gaze moved to Hale. He wore one too, but the design was different. Then she looked at Vale and spotted another ring.

Her pulse jumped. “Dante.”

“I see it too,” he said. There were three men, and three different rings. Elena looked at the fourth man. His hands were visible even though his face wasn't, and a ring sat on his finger.

“Four families,” she whispered. Dante went still beside her.

Four families. One empire. Sealed in blood.

Elena enlarged the image. The fourth ring bore some kind of symbol, but it was hard to make out. It looked like a crown, maybe. Or— “Is that a C?” she asked.

Dante leaned closer, and his entire body stiffened. Elena looked at him. “What do you see?” she asked. He didn't answer. “Dante.”

“I've seen that ring before.”

Her stomach dropped. “Where?”

He straightened. “On Luca’s father,” he said. “He wore that same ring.”

Elena stared at him. “No, it can’t be.”

“I’m not saying that's him,” Dante insisted.

“But it’s a Camorra ring,” she said.

“Yes.” She looked back at the photograph and the four families represented by the men standing there—Romano, Hale, Vale, Camorra.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed. “This is bigger than we imagined.” Dante was already reaching for his phone, and Elena caught his arm. “Wait.”