Page 29 of Blood Vows

She glared at him as Marco typed the name into his laptop. “What kind of relationship did he have with your father?”

Elena hesitated. “They were close.”

“How close?” Dante asked.

“My father trusted him,” she said.

“That’s not what I asked,” Dante said.

She looked at him, and Dante waited her out. “He was like an uncle to me.”

“Is he still alive?” Dante asked.

“I think so,” she said.

“You think so?” he asked.

“He disappeared after my father died,” she admitted. Dante exchanged a look with Marco. Hale was a loose thread.

“What do you mean disappeared?” Marco asked.

“There was no funeral, no forwarding address, no calls—nothing,” Elena said.

Dante’s instincts lit up. “When was the last time you saw him?”

“The night before my father died.”

The room went silent, and Dante leaned forward. “What happened?”

Elena looked uncomfortable now. “They argued.”

“About what?” Dante asked.

“I don’t know.” Dante stared at her, and she sighed. “I was upstairs. I heard shouting.”

“What did you hear?” he asked.

“Bits and pieces,” she said. Elena was only giving him the bare minimum answers, and it was starting to piss him off.

“Give me the pieces,” he growled.

She looked down at the paper. “My father said something about getting out.”

Dante’s pulse ticked up. “Out of what?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“What else do you remember?” Dante asked.

“He said my name,” she whispered. Dante froze. She closed her eyes, searching her memory. “He said, ‘She doesn’t belong in this.’” Dante felt something cold settle in his gut. Marco stopped typing, and Luca reappeared in the doorway. Apparently, he’d been listening from the hallway.

“What did Hale say?” Dante asked.

Elena shook her head. “I couldn’t hear everything.”

“Try to remember,” he said.

She opened her eyes. “He said it was already too late.” Dante looked at Luca, and Marco immediately started typing. Dante sat back in the chair. Vincenzo Hale was close enough to be family, and was gone the day Elena’s father died. They had been arguing about her dad getting out, and about Elena. That wasn’t a thread; it was a fucking rope.