Chapter 5 - The Night Beatrice Pulled the TriggerDamian returned home with Tessa before dawn.
His mother was waiting.
She knew.
“You remember.”
He stared.
“You shot him.”
Beatrice didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was going to kill Evelyn.”
Tessa stood behind Damian.
“Then why did you let him live?”
Beatrice shook her head.
“I didn't.”
Silence.
“Then who did?”
Beatrice looked at the floor.
“Your father survived.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic had used the shooting to fake his death.
He disappeared.
Built another identity.
Watched.
Waited.
Beatrice believed she had killed him.
She hadn't.
Damian sat.
For the first time, he saw his mother not as the terrifying matriarch of the Costa family.
But as an old woman who had spent decades carrying guilt.
“Tessa,” Beatrice said softly.
Tessa approached.
“I am sorry.”
Tessa stared.
“For what?”
“Your sister.”
“My sister?”
“She survived.”
Tessa stopped.
“What?”
Beatrice nodded.
“She was taken by Dominic.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
“No.”
Beatrice began crying.
“I only know the place where he kept people.”
“Where?”
“The old monastery.”
Damian immediately stood.
They went there.
The monastery was abandoned.
Inside, they found locked rooms.
Medical equipment.
Files.
Photographs.
A chair.
On the wall was a calendar.
One date circled.
Today.
Tessa's breathing stopped.
Damian looked around.
“She's here.”
They searched.
Nothing.
Then Tessa heard a sound.
A cough.
Behind a wall.
Damian broke through it.
A hidden room.
A young woman lay inside.
Thin.
Weak.
Alive.
“Tara!”
Tessa ran.
Her sister opened her eyes.
“Norah?”
Tessa fell beside her.
“I'm here.”
Tara smiled.
“You found me.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“They wanted you to think that.”
“Who?”
Tara looked at Damian.
“Your father.”
Damian froze.
Tara's voice was weak.
“He wanted you to marry into his organization.”
Damian frowned.
“What?”
“He believed if you married Tessa, the Costa and Miller bloodlines would reunite.”
Tessa stared.
“No.”
Tara nodded.
“He planned everything.”
The maid.
The job.
The estate.
The mother.
Everything.
Tessa had been placed near Beatrice so Damian would notice her.
But there was a problem.
Dominic had not predicted that Damian would genuinely care.
That had changed the equation.
Tessa looked at Damian.
“You weren't supposed to love me.”
He stared.
“Who said that?”
Tara smiled sadly.
“Your father.”
Damian looked away.
He hated the word.
Love.
It had always been a weakness.
Yet it had become the one thing that made him willing to burn his empire.
He looked at Tessa.
She was exhausted.
Bruised.
Terrified.
And still standing.
“I don't care what he planned.”
Tessa whispered:
“What do you care about?”
“You.”
The silence between them felt heavier than any threat.
Then the building shook.
An explosion.
Dominic.
Again.
They grabbed Tara and ran.
Outside, black vehicles surrounded the monastery.
Dominic stood in the snow.
He looked at Damian.
“You disappoint me.”
Damian stepped forward.
“You were never my father.”
Dominic smiled.
“You'll learn.”
He disappeared.
But he left a final message.
A projector activated on the monastery wall.
A video.
Tessa's mother.
Evelyn.
Alive.
She looked into the camera.
“Dominic has one weakness.”
Tessa held her breath.
“Her.”
She pointed toward Tessa.
“Because he needs her to open the archive.”
Evelyn's expression broke.
“But there is another way.”
She whispered:
“Trust Damian.”
The screen went black.
Tessa looked at him.
“Your father said I was a key.”
Damian shook his head.
“You're not.”
“What am I?”
May you like
He looked at her.
“The reason I finally know what side I'm on.”
Related Stories
