Page 71 of Code Name: Dante

I followed her in and saw Gram lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by beeping monitors and IV lines. But her eyes were open, alert. When she saw me, she reached out one fragile hand.

“Little bird,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t.” Tears streaked down her cheeks as I took her hand, careful of the IV. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who pushed too hard.”

She shook her head. “No. You deserved to know. I’ve carried these secrets for so long…” Her voice trembled. “Vincent…helped us. He protected your mom and you. I still couldn’t forgive what his father and grandfather did.” She closed her eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“How could I explain that the grandson of the man who destroyed our family became our salvation?” Her fingers tightened weakly around mine. “When Summer came to me that night, terrified and pregnant, she told me I had to accept help from the Castellanos, and if I didn’t, they’d kill her.”

“Who would?”

“The Mazzeos. Vincent made sure they never found her.” She shifted her body then winced.

“We don’t need to talk about this now, Gram. You need to rest.”

Her eyes closed, and her breathing evened out. Listening to the monitors attached to her beeping steadily, I processed what she’d said. All these years, I’d imagined my mother abandoning me for a more exciting life. Instead, she’d been hiding, protected by the very family I’d been taught to hate.

I leaned forward, resting my head on the bed rail, and cried harder than I ever had before.

“Miss?” I raised my head, looking up at a nurse beside me. “I need to check a few things.”

I stood. “Of course. Do I need to leave?”

“You’re okay, but you might be more comfortable in the other chair.”

I moved to the opposite side of the bed, sitting down, then leaning against the bigger chair. My eyes drifted closed; I was too exhausted to keep them open.

I slept fitfully with troubled dreams filled with shadowy threats. Alessandro’s voice called my name but from somewhere I couldn’t reach.

25

DANTE

The Great Sacandaga Lake compound loomed before us, shadows lengthening across its grounds as evening approached. We’d been searching for two hours, but found nothing—no trace of my sister, no sign of Summer or my mother. Even the front door that had slammed in my face earlier now stood ajar, the house beyond it eerily empty.

“Nothing,” Tank reported, emerging from one of the lakeside cabins. “Place is completely cleared out. Whoever was here knew we’d be back.”

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. “Keep looking. Get Tex involved—maybe he can find something in the overheads that we missed in the security feeds.”

My phone buzzed with a message from Admiral, saying that Barbara was stable and had been taken to a regular room for observation. I needed to get to the hospital, to see Lark. The way we’d left things…if I didn’t talk to her soon, I might lose her forever.

“I have to go,” I told Tank. “Keep me updated.”

The drive to Gloversville Hospital seemed endless as my mind replayed Lark’s last words to me. “Just stay away.” The pain in her voice had been unbearable, but I understood. Everything that had happened—her grandmother’s collapse, the secrets we’d unearthed—it was all connected to my family’s legacy.

When I finally walked intothe hospital, a stern-faced woman sitting behind a desk stopped me.

“Sir, who are you here to see?”

“Barbara Gregory. She was brought in?—”

“I’m sorry, but Mrs. Gregory already has too many visitors. You’ll have to wait until someone leaves.”

“How many visitors?” I demanded, struggling to keep my voice level.

“With the two men who just went up, six.” She gave me a look that suggested she’d dealt with difficult people before. “Hospital policy is very clear about this. If you intend to be belligerent, I’ll have to call security.”

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