Chapter 8 - The Cemetery Confession
The cemetery was nearly empty when we arrived.
Rain fell softly.
Graves lined the hill.
At the center stood the Hayes family mausoleum.
Paulie waited outside.
His face was bruised.
Blood stained his coat.
Gabriel raised his gun.
“Drop yours.”
Paulie obeyed.
Leo searched him.
“Nothing.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Why did you poison yourself?”
Paulie looked exhausted.
“To make you listen.”
“You nearly died.”
“I had to.”
“For what?”
“Because I knew Anthony was coming.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
I stepped forward.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
Paulie looked at me.
“Because I was a coward.”
He reached into his coat.
Slowly.
He pulled out a small tape recorder.
“I stole this from Anthony.”
He pressed play.
A man's voice filled the cemetery.
Anthony.
Another voice followed.
Evelyn.
My mother.
The recording was twenty years old.
Evelyn said:
“If anything happens to me, Amelia and Gabriel must never be given the archive together.”
I looked at Gabriel.
Why?
The recording continued.
“Because whoever accesses Project Dawn controls every life connected to it.”
Anthony’s voice asked:
“And what do you intend to do with it?”
“Destroy it.”
My blood ran cold.
Evelyn had planned to destroy Project Dawn.
Richard opposed her.
Anthony wanted it.
Everything finally connected.
But then another recording began.
Richard's voice.
“If we burn it, the people we blackmailed will hunt us.”
Evelyn replied:
“Then we tell the truth.”
The recording ended.
Paulie looked at Gabriel.
“Your mother wanted out.”
Gabriel nodded.
“She was going to surrender everything.”
“And Anthony killed her.”
Paulie’s eyes filled with shame.
“My father ordered it.”
“Your father?”
“He owned half the city.”
Gabriel stared.
“You said he was dead.”
“He is.”
“When?”
“Fifteen years ago.”
“Then who continued his work?”
Paulie looked at Anthony’s name carved on the old file.
“His son.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Anthony had no son.”
Paulie looked at me.
“He did.”
Silence.
Then I understood.
“Paulie.”
He nodded.
“My full name is Paolo D’Amico Jr.”
My breath stopped.
“You're his son.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel aimed his gun.
“You used me.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“To destroy him.”
Paulie lowered his head.
“I spent my entire life pretending to be loyal to Gabriel while secretly helping Anthony.”
“Until you changed sides.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Paulie looked at me.
“Because of Rosa.”
I stared.
“What did she do?”
“She found out I was Anthony’s son.”
“And?”
“She threatened to expose me.”
“But you didn't kill her.”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Paulie swallowed.
“Leo.”
Leo stiffened.
“What?”
Paulie shook his head.
“Not because he wanted to.”
Leo looked at Gabriel.
“I was there.”
“But you didn't kill her,” I said.
Leo nodded.
“Rosa was already dying.”
“What happened?”
“She had been poisoned.”
My stomach twisted.
“By whom?”
Paulie looked at me.
“Your mother.”
I froze.
“No.”
“She was dying of cancer.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Rosa was terminally ill.”
Leo continued.
“She knew Anthony was hunting her.”
“She staged her death?”
“No.”
Paulie whispered, “She wanted one final message delivered.”
“The note.”
“Little bird knows.”
I understood.
Rosa wanted me to know the truth.
Paulie handed me another envelope.
I opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Norah, if you're reading this, I failed to protect you from the truth forever. But I succeeded in keeping you alive long enough to choose what happens next. Your mother loved you. Gabriel never stopped looking for you. Do not let Anthony turn your family history into your future.
I cried.
Gabriel took the letter.
His hands shook.
Then Paulie said something that changed the entire situation.
“Anthony isn't after the archive anymore.”
“What does he want?”
“The original server.”
“Where is it?”
Paulie pointed toward the mausoleum.
“Under your father's grave.”
Gabriel stared.
“What?”
“Your mother hid the master drive beneath the family crypt.”
We entered.
Behind Richard Hayes’s memorial plaque was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a small metal case.
Gabriel opened it.
A drive.
A key.
And an envelope addressed:
To my children.
We read it together.
Evelyn's final letter revealed the truth.
She hadn't hidden Project Dawn to control people.
She hid it so nobody could ever control it again.
She had created a kill-switch.
A single command could permanently erase the entire archive.
But the command required both children.
Gabriel.
And Amelia.
I looked at my brother.
“So we can destroy it.”
“Yes.”
Anthony had spent twenty years trying to own something that could be destroyed in seconds.
Then a gunshot shattered the silence.
Paulie fell.
I screamed.
Leo fired toward the mausoleum entrance.
Anthony stood outside.
He smiled.
“Thank you for finding it.”
Gabriel pushed me behind him.
Anthony raised a weapon.
“Now give me the drive.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Anthony looked at me.
“Or I kill your brother.”
I looked at Gabriel.
He looked back.
May you like
Then he whispered:
“Run.”
