Chapter 5 - Damon Learned His Father Had Been Trying to Save the Delgatos
The safe house was an old church on the South Side.
Nobody knew it existed except Damon, Marcus, and one retired priest who owed Damon's father a favor.
Gabriel sat near the fireplace.
Selena stayed beside Ruby.
Marco cleaned a gun.
Damon stood near the window.
He could not stop thinking about his father.
Everything he had believed was wrong.
His father's supposed enemies had been potential allies.
His uncle had been alive.
Gabriel had been protecting them.
And the Delgato family had spent years preparing to destroy the wrong man.
“Tell me everything,” Damon said.
Gabriel sighed.
“Your father discovered that Rafael was selling Reyes territory to outside organizations.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
“Power?”
“Both.”
“Then why frame the Delgatos?”
“Because if he could convince the Reyes family that the Delgatos killed him, the resulting war would keep everyone distracted.”
Damon closed his eyes.
“Six years.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Six years of bloodshed.”
“How many people died?”
“Too many.”
Damon looked at Marcus.
Marcus lowered his eyes.
“Hundreds.”
Damon felt sick.
He had built his reputation on controlling that war.
Now he understood.
He had been controlling a fire someone else started.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I had no proof.”
Gabriel took the ledger.
“Then Victor found me.”
“He tortured you.”
“Yes.”
“You escaped.”
“Yes.”
“And hid.”
“Yes.”
Damon looked at him.
“Why come back now?”
Gabriel looked at Ruby.
“Because Rafael found her.”
Silence.
Damon knelt beside Ruby.
“Do you know who Rafael is?”
She shook her head.
“Is he the mean man?”
“Yes.”
“Daddy said he wanted my bunny.”
Damon frowned.
“What bunny?”
Ruby held up the stuffed rabbit.
Gabriel looked at Damon.
“There is something inside it.”
They opened the toy.
Inside was a tiny encrypted device.
Damon stared.
“Rafael has been looking for this for six years.”
“What is it?”
“The final ledger database.”
Damon connected it to a secure system.
Files appeared.
Names.
Accounts.
Secret payments.
Political influence.
Then one folder.
Rafael.
Inside was a photograph.
Rafael Reyes.
Alive.
Older.
Standing beside someone Damon knew.
Victor Delgato.
Damon stared.
“They work together.”
Gabriel nodded.
“They always did.”
A message appeared on the screen.
Damon.
If you can read this, then Rafael knows the truth is out.
You have one decision.
Continue my war.
Or end it.
Damon's father.
A second message followed.
There is one person Rafael trusts.
Your mother.
Damon froze.
“My mother?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Your mother knew.”
“She knew Rafael was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because Rafael threatened your life.”
Damon turned away.
His mother had died two years earlier.
He had believed she had suffered from a heart condition.
Now every memory felt like a lie.
Gabriel continued.
“Your mother spent years collecting evidence.”
“Where is it?”
“She hid it.”
“Where?”
Gabriel looked at Ruby.
“In the only place Rafael would never search.”
“The Reyes family cemetery.”
Damon went cold.
They traveled before dawn.
The cemetery was silent beneath snow.
Damon found his mother's grave.
Behind the stone was a metal box.
Inside were letters.
Photographs.
And one handwritten page.
My son,
If you are reading this, the truth survived me.
Do not kill Rafael.
Expose him.
Your father wanted the war to end.
You must finish what he started.
Damon cried.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just one tear.
Then another.
Marcus turned away.
Damon had been trained never to show weakness.
Tonight he stopped caring.
He understood something.
His father hadn't left him a legacy of violence.
He had left him a choice.
The choice to break the cycle.
Damon returned to the church.
He placed the evidence on the table.
“We end this.”
Marco nodded.
Marcus nodded.
Gabriel nodded.
Selena held Ruby closer.
But before they could make a plan, every phone in the room rang.
Same number.
Damon answered.
A familiar voice came through.
Rafael.
“Hello, nephew.”
Damon went still.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
“You caused the war.”
“Yes.”
“You killed hundreds.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rafael laughed softly.
“Because people follow fear.”
“You're sick.”
“No.”
His voice changed.
“I am what your father refused to become.”
Damon tightened his fist.
“You're going to prison.”
“I don't think so.”
A pause.
Then Rafael said,
“I have something you need.”
Damon's heart stopped.
“What?”
“Your mother.”
Impossible.
“She’s dead.”
Rafael laughed.
“That's what I wanted you to believe.”
Damon looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel's face had gone pale.
Rafael continued.
“Come to the old Reyes theater tomorrow night.”
“Come alone.”
“Bring the ledger.”
“Or your mother dies.”
The call ended.
Damon stood frozen.
Gabriel whispered,
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then don't go.”
Damon looked at Ruby.
Then at Selena.
May you like
Then at the photograph of his father.
“I have to.”
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