Chapter 7 - He Told Me to Run—But I Turned Around When Octavio Fell
I ran.
Three steps.
Five.
Ten.
Then I heard the gunshot.
I turned.
Octavio was on the ground.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
“Octavio!”
I ignored every order.
I ran back.
He looked up.
“Why did you come back?”
“Because you're an idiot.”
He almost smiled.
“You're supposed to run.”
“I changed my mind.”
Moretti's men entered.
Matteo fired from the doorway.
Rosa pulled my mother to safety.
I grabbed Octavio under the arm.
“Can you stand?”
“Yes.”
“Lie.”
He laughed weakly.
“Probably.”
We moved through the service tunnels beneath the mansion.
I had never known they existed.
Octavio knew every turn.
Blood soaked his side.
“You're hurt.”
“It's a graze.”
“That's what people say before they faint.”
“I won't faint.”
“You're very annoying.”
“So are you.”
We reached an old cellar.
Matteo shut the steel door behind us.
For several seconds, none of us moved.
Then Octavio collapsed.
I caught him.
“Help!”
Matteo knelt.
“We need a doctor.”
“No hospital.”
I looked at Octavio.
“Why?”
“Moretti controls people in hospitals.”
“Then where?”
Matteo looked at me.
“I know someone.”
The doctor arrived 20 minutes later.
A former army surgeon who worked off the books.
He removed the bullet.
Octavio remained conscious.
I sat beside him.
He looked at me.
“You came back.”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn't have.”
“I've heard that twice tonight.”
“You don't listen.”
“Correct.”
He smiled.
Then winced.
“Don't smile.”
“I wasn't.”
“You were.”
“I was thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
He reached for my hand.
“Nomi.”
“Yes?”
“There's something you need to know.”
“What?”
“When I first met you, I thought you were irrelevant.”
I pulled a face.
“Wonderful.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“I was wrong.”
He squeezed my hand.
“You were the only person in those rooms who wasn't trying to impress me.”
I stared at him.
“You were the only person who looked at me like I was just a man.”
“Because you were.”
“I am.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You're more than that.”
“Then what am I?”
He took a breath.
“My home.”
My eyes filled with tears.
He closed his eyes.
“Don't cry.”
“I'm not.”
“You are.”
“So are you.”
“I got shot.”
“That is not an excuse.”
He smiled.
Then my mother entered.
She was holding another envelope.
“There is one more thing.”
Octavio frowned.
“What?”
She handed it to me.
Inside was a DNA report.
I read it.
Then stopped.
“What is this?”
My mother looked at me.
“Rafael Moretti is your biological grandfather.”
Silence.
Octavio sat up.
“What?”
I couldn't speak.
My mother continued.
“Victor's mother was Isabella.”
My mind raced.
Victor Ki was my father.
Isabella was my grandmother.
Rafael Moretti had been her brother.
That meant Rafael wasn't simply my father's enemy.
He was family.
My family.
And he wanted me because he believed my bloodline could unite both criminal empires.
Octavio looked at me.
“Then he thinks marrying you to one of his allies would—”
“He doesn't want to marry her,” my mother said.
We turned.
“He wants to control her.”
I shivered.
A message appeared on Octavio's phone.
A video.
Rafael appeared on screen.
Beside him stood a man I recognized.
Axel.
Valentina's new husband.
My heart stopped.
“No.”
Valentina screamed from the doorway.
“What did he do to Axel?”
Rafael smiled.
“Your new brother-in-law is more useful than you think.”
He held up a folder.
“Come to the old Ki casino by sunrise.”
His gaze shifted to me.
“Bring Nomi.”
He leaned closer to the camera.
“And bring the vault key.”
The video ended.
Valentina collapsed.
I caught her.
Octavio looked at Matteo.
“Get every man.”
Then he looked at me.
“We end this tonight.”
I nodded.
But deep down, I knew something else.
Rafael wanted the key.
He wanted me.
He wanted the empire.
And he believed blood made people predictable.
May you like
He had made one mistake.
He didn't understand that love could make unpredictable people far more dangerous.
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