Chapter 19

Dante

I had given Matteo strict instructions to let Anna in if she arrived, and as I stood close to my window, gazing out at the sprawling metropolis of New York that I had come to control, I found myself pondering Anna's impending arrival with a sense of uncertainty. If she still possessed the file, then how the hell did Valentine manage to obtain a photograph of it? Not just any photograph, but one that clearly depicted the exact day on which it was taken. The only person who could shed light on these baffling questions was Anna herself, assuming she was actually telling the truth for once. It was no secret that most of the words that emanated from her mouth were blatant lies.

I strode over to my desk, sat down, and began rifling through the files that Tom had sent to me. The Morello family was fast becoming a thorn in my side. My men had reported seeing their henchmen lurking around the periphery of our premises, and I had no idea what they wanted. I certainly wasn't going to ventur