Chapter 5 - My Father Was Alive, but He Told Me the Worst Enemy in Our Family Was Someone I Had Never MetMy father survived.
The bullet missed his heart.
But he was weak.
I stayed beside his hospital bed.
Adrian stayed outside.
I knew he was waiting.
Finally, I went to him.
“What did my father mean?”
Adrian looked at me.
“The Crown.”
“Salvatore.”
“Yes.”
“What is inside?”
“The complete ledger.”
“And?”
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
“Every crime?”
“Yes.”
“Every name?”
“Yes.”
“Every betrayal?”
“Yes.”
“Then why doesn't someone destroy it?”
“Because the Crown protects itself.”
I frowned.
“How?”
“Information.”
“Blackmail.”
“Fear.”
“Money.”
“And people.”
I looked at him.
“Lucas.”
“Yes.”
“Your brother.”
“Apparently.”
“Have you ever met him?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“I was six.”
“What happened?”
“He was older.”
“How old?”
“Fourteen.”
“What did he do?”
“He told me my father loved him more.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“My father had kept him hidden.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother didn't know about him.”
“That sounds cruel.”
“It was.”
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
“And you never saw him again.”
“No.”
“Until now.”
“Yes.”
I thought about the man in the warehouse.
The smile.
The voice.
Could that have been him?
We didn't know.
My father woke.
He asked to see Adrian.
The two men sat together.
I watched from the doorway.
My father spoke quietly.
“Your father knew.”
“About Lucas?”
“About Salvatore.”
“And?”
“They were working together.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Salvatore threatened him.”
“With what?”
“You.”
Adrian stopped.
“My father threatened me?”
“No.”
“Salvatore did.”
“He would kill you if your father refused.”
“Why?”
“Because your father had discovered the Black Crown.”
I stared.
My father continued.
“Salvatore wanted full control.”
“Your father refused.”
“Yes.”
“So he used Lucas.”
Adrian frowned.
“Lucas was his son.”
“No.”
My father shook his head.
“He wasn't.”
Silence.
“Then whose son is he?”
My father looked at me.
“Mine.”
I froze.
Adrian froze.
“You?”
“My mother?”
“My father?”
I couldn't breathe.
My father had another son.
Lucas.
My half-brother.
Adrian looked at me.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does.”
My father explained.
Years before I was born, he had a relationship with a woman connected to the DeLuca family.
Lucas was born.
My father was afraid Salvatore would use him.
So he hid him.
But Salvatore found him anyway.
Lucas became a weapon.
A son raised by the enemy.
My father had spent decades trying to protect him from a distance.
Then everything collapsed.
Lucas believed he had been abandoned.
He joined Salvatore.
Now he wanted revenge.
I sat.
“This is insane.”
My father touched my hand.
“He believes you stole the life he deserved.”
“I was seven.”
“I know.”
“He doesn't.”
“No.”
I looked at Adrian.
“And you?”
He was silent.
“Does Lucas hate you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my father chose me.”
I swallowed.
I understood then.
The war wasn't really about money.
It was about family.
Abandonment.
Jealousy.
Fear.
The Crown was merely the weapon.
Then my father handed me a small key.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“The entrance to Salvatore's vault.”
“Where?”
He whispered:
“Under the church where your mother was buried.”
I stared.
“But she's buried in Albany.”
“No.”
My heart stopped.
“She was never buried there.”
“Then where?”
He looked at me.
“Under the church.”
I stood.
“We're going.”
Adrian followed.
The church was abandoned.
We opened the crypt.
A hidden staircase led underground.
At the bottom was a black steel door.
The key worked.
Inside was the Black Crown.
Boxes.
Files.
Digital servers.
And photographs.
So many photographs.
My mother.
My father.
Adrian's father.
Salvatore.
Lucas.
Me.
The entire history of our families.
At the center was a table.
On it was one envelope.
LILY BENNETT.
I opened it.
Inside was a birth certificate.
My real name.
Lillian Grace Bennett.
Father:
Daniel Bennett.
Mother:
Elena Bennett.
But beneath it was another document.
A trust.
My father had created it before my birth.
The beneficiary:
Me.
The amount was staggering.
But the money wasn't the most important part.
The trust owned the Black Crown.
Control of the entire network.
I stared.
I wasn't merely connected to the Crown.
May you like
I was its legal heir.
And Lucas wanted it.
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