Chapter 6 - The Mafia Boss Opened the Door to the Room No One Entered
The archive was beneath an abandoned Moretti warehouse.
Concrete walls.
Steel door.
No windows.
Jack used the silver key.
It fit.
Inside were hundreds of boxes.
Documents.
Photos.
Contracts.
Bank records.
And 1 letter.
For the child of Thomas Bennett.
I opened it.
My father had written:
Lily,
If you are reading this, you survived.
That matters more than anything else.
I kept reading.
There is a man named Lucian Voss who believes power belongs to whoever is willing to destroy others to keep it.
He is wrong.
Power belongs to whoever refuses to become cruel.
I looked at Jack.
He stared at the floor.
My father had somehow known what Jack could become.
The next page revealed the final truth.
Thomas had not been murdered by Lucian.
He had been murdered by someone he trusted.
Marco's father.
Not Marco.
His father had sold Thomas's location.
Lucian ordered the hit.
And then he blamed Victor.
Everything had been manipulated for years.
But there was 1 more name.
Ethan's mother, Ruth.
I froze.
Jack noticed.
“What?”
“She knew.”
We returned to the house.
Ruth admitted it.
She had known that Ethan was being manipulated.
She had protected me and Noah anyway.
“I couldn't tell you,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because the moment you knew, Lucian would know.”
I looked at her.
“You could have trusted me.”
“I was afraid.”
I understood.
Fear had controlled everyone.
Maybe that was how families became prisons.
That night, Jack found me on the terrace.
Snow fell softly.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He sat beside me.
“Me neither.”
I laughed.
“You're the Mafia boss. You're supposed to be fearless.”
“I am.”
“Then what's wrong?”
“You.”
I looked at him.
“You make me care.”
My heart stopped.
He continued.
“And caring is dangerous.”
I didn't answer.
He turned toward me.
“You deserve a man who tells you the truth.”
I whispered,
“Then tell me.”
“I love you.”
I looked away.
“I don't know what to do with that.”
“You don't have to do anything.”
He touched my hand.
“I just needed you to know.”
For years, I had feared being touched.
Now I let him hold my hand.
Not because I needed saving.
Because I trusted him.
Then a gunshot came from the garden.
Jack pulled me down.
Rocco shouted.
The attacker fled.
We found 1 thing.
A note.
The next time, the child dies.
My blood went cold.
Jack held my shoulders.
“He won't touch Noah.”
“You don't know.”
“I know because I'll die first.”
May you like
I stared at him.
And realized I believed him.
