Chapter 7 - My Uncle Returned From the Dead With the One Truth That Could Destroy Us AllSalvatore looked older.
Gray hair.
Scar across his cheek.
But his eyes were sharp.
I raised my weapon.
He didn't move.
“Put it down.”
“You betrayed Father.”
“No.”
“You disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“You let us think you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father wanted me dead.”
“Why?”
“Because I refused to kill you.”
I froze.
“You refused to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were his son.”
He looked at Daniel.
“And that boy was innocent.”
Bell stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Salvatore stared at him.
“You're still alive.”
“Barely.”
Bell smiled.
“You know what I want.”
“Yes.”
“The treatment.”
“Yes.”
“The bloodline.”
“Yes.”
Bell turned toward Elena.
“And her.”
Elena stepped back.
Salvatore moved in front of her.
“She is my daughter.”
I froze.
“You're Elena's father.”
He nodded.
“My mother is Lucia.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you leave her?”
“To protect her.”
“Everyone says that.”
Salvatore looked at me.
“Because your family made protection indistinguishable from abandonment.”
That sentence hit me.
He continued.
“The medical program was never supposed to exist.”
“Who created it?”
“Our father.”
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“What was the goal?”
“To treat hereditary disease.”
“Then Bell?”
“Bell turned it into something else.”
“A weapon.”
“Yes.”
“And Isabella?”
“She wants the empire.”
“Why?”
“She believes our family deserves to rule.”
I looked at my sister.
She smiled.
“She isn't wrong.”
“You experimented on children.”
“No.”
“You funded it.”
“For treatment.”
Bell interrupted.
“For power.”
I looked at him.
“You killed my wife.”
“No.”
He pointed to Isabella.
“She did.”
Silence.
I looked at my sister.
“Is it true?”
She said nothing.
That was enough.
I felt my chest tighten.
“Why?”
“She was going to expose us.”
Sofia stepped forward.
“You were afraid.”
“Yes.”
“Because the people would know.”
“Because the empire would collapse.”
I looked at Isabella.
“Your own family.”
“Our family is a kingdom.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“It was a prison.”
She laughed.
“That's why you'll always be weak.”
I raised my gun.
Salvatore stopped me.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because we need evidence.”
Bell smiled.
“You won't get it.”
I looked at Elena.
She was holding Daniel.
Then she whispered:
“Maybe we already have it.”
She pointed toward the wall.
A security camera.
Recording everything.
Bell's face changed.
Elena smiled.
“I knew someone would talk.”
We had been recording.
Every confession.
Every admission.
Every name.
Police arrived.
But Isabella had planned for that.
The doors locked.
Security systems failed.
Gas began filling the room.
Daniel coughed.
Elena grabbed him.
I covered my mouth.
“Open the doors!”
Bell laughed.
“You won't leave.”
Then Salvatore moved.
He pulled a hidden lever.
A tunnel opened beneath the fireplace.
“Go!”
We escaped.
Behind us, the estate burned.
We emerged outside.
The police secured the area.
Bell escaped.
Isabella was arrested.
But Daniel was unconscious.
I carried him.
Sofia cried.
Elena was shaking.
We rushed him to the hospital.
The doctors stabilized him.
He survived.
Again.
But the tests showed his heart had worsened.
We needed treatment.
The only available treatment was Bell's research.
I stared at Salvatore.
“Can you fix him?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“With what?”
“Your blood.”
I froze.
“My blood?”
“You carry the dominant genetic marker.”
“And Elena?”
“The same.”
“We need both.”
The treatment could save Daniel.
But it was experimental.
And the people who developed it were criminals.
I looked at Sofia.
Then Elena.
Then Daniel.
I made a choice.
“We build our own program.”
No Bell.
No empire.
No secret experiments.
Nothing hidden.
We would create a legitimate treatment.
We would save Daniel.
And every child like him.
But Bell was still free.
And he had stolen the original research.
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We had to find him.
Before he used it on someone else.
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