Chapter 2 - The Man I Trusted With My LifeThe first bullet struck the steel beam above my head.
The second shattered a light.
The warehouse plunged into darkness.
Men shouted.
Weapons came up.
Lucia screamed.
I grabbed her and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
“Stay here.”
“No!”
Her tiny fingers locked around my jacket.
“Mommy said never let him touch me.”
“Who?”
“Uncle Victor.”
I looked over my shoulder.
Victor was already firing toward the entrance.
For three seconds, I didn't know what to believe.
Then I noticed something.
Victor wasn't shooting at the attackers.
He was shooting at the security cameras.
One by one, they exploded.
“Victor!”
He turned.
Our eyes met.
His expression changed.
He knew.
I had figured it out.
He raised his gun.
I fired first.
The bullet tore through his shoulder.
Victor staggered backward.
Men surrounded him.
“Boss!”
“Don't kill him.”
Victor laughed through his pain.
“You should have killed me eight years ago.”
My blood ran cold.
“You knew about Elena.”
His smile disappeared.
“I knew everything.”
I walked toward him.
Every instinct screamed for violence.
But Lucia was watching.
So I lowered my weapon.
“Tell me where she is.”
Victor wiped blood from his mouth.
“You really think Ricardo has her?”
“He said—”
“Ricardo doesn't have Elena.”
“Then who does?”
Victor looked at Lucia.
“The same people who took her from you.”
I grabbed his collar.
“Names.”
He whispered one.
A name I hadn't heard in years.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
My grip loosened.
Gabriel Moretti had been my mentor.
The man who taught me how to build an empire.
The man who supposedly died in an explosion seven years ago.
Impossible.
Victor saw the confusion in my face.
“He never died.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena discovered what he was doing.”
“What was he doing?”
Victor's eyes moved toward Lucia.
“Selling children.”
Silence.
Lucia's face went pale.
I released Victor.
“Explain.”
“Moretti had a network. Children of powerful families. He used them as leverage. Some disappeared. Some were sold to wealthy criminals overseas.”
My stomach twisted.
“And Elena?”
“She found out.”
Victor coughed.
“She tried to expose him.”
“And you stopped her.”
“I tried to protect her.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
I wanted to kill him.
Instead, I asked the only question that mattered.
“Where is Elena?”
Victor shook his head.
“I don't know.”
I raised my gun.
“I said I don't know!”
He looked genuinely terrified.
“But I know who does.”
“Who?”
“Ricardo.”
That made no sense.
Victor continued.
“Ricardo and Elena made a deal eight years ago.”
My anger disappeared.
“What deal?”
“Your daughter for your life.”
Lucia suddenly spoke.
“Mommy said Daddy wasn't supposed to know.”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
“She said if Daddy found out, bad men would come.”
I knelt.
“Lucia, I need you to tell me everything.”
She looked frightened.
“She said you weren't ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“She said you needed to become the man you were before you became the monster.”
Those words hurt.
Because Elena had said the same thing to me once.
I remembered her standing in our kitchen.
Barefoot.
Pregnant.
Telling me she didn't want diamonds or mansions.
She wanted me to come home alive.
I had promised her I would change.
Then the safe house exploded.
Or so I thought.
I stood.
“Get Victor locked up.”
Victor laughed.
“You'll need me.”
“I don't need traitors.”
“You need someone who knows Moretti's network.”
I stopped.
Victor leaned forward.
“And I know where he kept the records.”
“Where?”
He smiled.
May you like
“Under Elena's grave.”
My heart stopped.
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