Chapter 5 - The Family War Nobody Knew Existed
The firefight lasted twenty-three minutes.
It felt like a lifetime.
Adrian and I fought back-to-back despite having spent the first half hour barely believing we were brothers.
His style was different from mine.
Less aggressive.
More precise.
He knew military tactics.
I knew street warfare.
Together, we broke the attackers' formation.
When the last vehicle disappeared into the night, the estate was burning.
I turned to Adrian.
“Where is Sofia?”
He pointed toward a hidden tunnel.
“She took Lily through there.”
We entered the underground passage.
At the end was a second property.
Sofia was waiting.
Lily ran toward me.
“Uncle Dante!”
I caught her.
She buried her face in my chest.
“I thought they got you.”
“I told you I'd protect you.”
“You came.”
“Always.”
Sofia stood several feet away.
I looked at her.
Neither of us knew what to say.
Finally, she whispered, “You have Father's eyes.”
“So do you.”
She smiled.
Then cried.
I stepped forward.
For thirty years, I had imagined this moment a thousand different ways.
None of them included simply holding my sister.
I wrapped my arms around her.
She broke down.
“I searched for you.”
“I searched for you too.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I thought you were.”
For a few seconds, the world was quiet.
Then Adrian entered.
“We don't have much time.”
Sofia wiped her tears.
“He's right.”
She showed me a map.
“This is the organization that destroyed us.”
At the center was a symbol.
The Raven Circle.
Not a gang.
Not a family.
A private network of financiers, smugglers, corrupted officials, and businessmen.
My father's enemies had not been trying to steal his empire.
They had been trying to control the city.
The Romano family had gotten in their way.
“Who leads them?” I asked.
Sofia looked at Adrian.
He answered.
“A man named Gabriel Cross.”
The name was unfamiliar.
“Why haven't I heard it?”
“Because Gabriel Cross doesn't exist publicly.”
Sofia placed documents in front of me.
He owned banks through shell companies.
Ports through proxies.
Construction firms through relatives.
He had judges on payroll.
Police commanders owed him favors.
Three mayors had disappeared after threatening his interests.
“And Bellini?”
“Servants.”
I looked at the documents.
“How is he connected to Lily?”
Sofia's expression changed.
“Lily's father.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Her father was Gabriel Cross's son.”
Silence.
Lily was listening.
She did not understand.
Sofia crouched beside her.
“Lily, your father was a good man.”
“Is he dead?”
“Yes.”
“What was his name?”
“Seth.”
Lily looked down.
“Mom said he left before I was born.”
“He didn't leave.”
Sofia's voice cracked.
“He tried to escape.”
I looked at the documents.
Seth Cross had apparently discovered that his father was using children as couriers for information and illegal transactions.
He tried to expose him.
He was killed.
Maria, his partner, fled with Lily.
That explained the pursuit.
But there was more.
Sofia opened another folder.
“Gabriel believes Lily inherited something from her father.”
“What?”
“A key.”
I looked at the silver pendant.
Sofia nodded.
“The pendant is not merely a keepsake.”
She opened a hidden compartment inside her own pendant.
Inside was a tiny metal disk.
She placed it beside Lily's pendant.
The two pieces connected.
A complete symbol appeared.
A bird holding a key.
“The real archive.”
I understood.
My father's missing records were not stored in one place.
They were encrypted.
The pendant was one of the keys.
“And the other?”
“Adrian has it.”
He removed a ring.
My father's ring.
The one I thought I had lost when I was twelve.
My hands shook.
“You had it?”
“Father gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“To protect the archive.”
The pieces formed a small device.
Sofia inserted the disk.
A tiny compartment opened.
Inside was a memory card.
I stared at it.
“That's what Gabriel wants.”
“Yes.”
“Then we destroy it.”
Sofia shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it contains evidence that can bring down the Raven Circle.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You think the police will help?”
“Not the police.”
She looked at me.
“The people.”
I understood.
Public evidence.
Financial records.
Names.
Payments.
Everything.
The truth would have to be impossible to bury.
But before we could plan anything, an alarm sounded.
Adrian rushed in.
“Someone breached the outer perimeter.”
“How?”
Sofia looked at me.
“There is a traitor.”
I froze.
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“He is not one of Adrian's people.”
“Then who?”
She looked at Victor.
He had arrived behind us.
Victor raised his hands.
“I didn't betray you.”
Sofia stared at him.
“Then who gave Gabriel the location?”
Victor looked at me.
“Someone in your old organization.”
I thought of everyone.
Then a horrible possibility came to me.
Marco.
He knew every movement.
Every safe house.
Every route.
Every location.
But I dismissed it.
Marco had been with me for fifteen years.
He had taken bullets for me.
He had saved my life.
I trusted him more than anyone.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message.
From Marco.
Boss, come alone to the cathedral.
I showed Sofia.
Her face went pale.
“Don't go.”
“I have to.”
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because he has Lily's father?"
She shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“He has your mother.”
I froze.
“Our mother is alive?”
Sofia stared at me.
“She never left the city.”
“Where is she?”
“The cathedral.”
I looked at Lily.
Then at Sofia.
A lifetime of questions had led to one place.
May you like
I picked up my coat.
“Tonight, I meet the family I thought I lost.”
