Page 67 of Blood Vows

“And Marco?” Dante added.

“Yeah?”

“Dig into all four families from twenty-seven years back.”

“All four?” he asked.

“Camorra, Romano, Hale, and Vale.” Elena stared at the photographs of the four families. She just wondered if they had become one empire, sealed in blood.

Marco whistled softly. “This is getting ugly.”

“It started ugly; it’s just going downhill from there,” Dante said. “Talk soon.” He disconnected the call.

Elena paced toward the window as she wondered if her entire life had been a complete lie. She pressed her fingertips against the cool glass. “What if my father wasn't trying to protect me from this?”

Dante came up behind her. “From what?”

She turned. “What if he was trying to protect this from me?”

His brow furrowed. “I’m not following,” he said.

“Crimson Holdings became mine legally when I turned twenty-five,” she said.

“Yes.”

“But someone forged the transfer,” Elena said.

“Okay,” he said.

“So maybe they didn't want me to know I owned it.” Dante’s eyes sharpened on her, but she kept going. “My father was administrator until then. Maybe that wasn't because he was protecting me.”

“Elena,” Dante breathed.

“Maybe he was protecting the company,” she said.

“From you?” he asked.

“Why not?” She shrugged as though her theory didn’t bother her, but it did.

“Because you're his daughter.”

“That doesn't mean anything in families like ours, and you know it,” she said. Dante didn't argue. She looked back at the photograph. “What if the trust wasn't a gift?”

“What else would it be?” he asked. She thought about the words.

Four families. One empire.

And then, it clicked. It wasn’t a gift or an inheritance.

“It’s collateral,” she said.

Dante froze. “What?”

“My father used to talk about collateral when I was young. He wasn’t talking about money, but about people.”

“Elena—” Dante said, her name sounding like a warning.

“What if I was collateral?” she asked.