Chapter 6 - My Brother Took the Bullet Meant for His Daughter
Everything happened in seconds.
Enzo returned fire.
My men breached the side entrance.
The corridor became chaos.
I pulled Valentina behind me.
Lucia dragged Matteo toward cover.
My son screamed.
I couldn't think about anything except getting him out alive.
My father disappeared into the smoke.
I wanted to chase him.
But Matteo was bleeding.
“Get him to a hospital,” I ordered.
Enzo shook his head.
“We can't leave.”
“We can.”
“What about your father?”
“He comes second.”
I looked down at my son.
“My family comes first.”
We escaped through the tunnel.
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
By then, we were already at a private medical facility.
Matteo was rushed into surgery.
Lucia sat outside the operating room covered in blood.
Not her own.
Her father's.
She stared at her hands.
“Will he die?”
I sat beside her.
“I don't know.”
She looked at me.
“Do you hate him?”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“Do you hate me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because none of this is your fault.”
She looked down.
“I helped take your baby.”
“You were being used.”
“I still did it.”
“You gave him back.”
She was silent.
Then she whispered:
“My father didn't know your son would be killed.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“He thought they were moving him.”
“To where?”
“A second facility.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
She reached into her pocket.
A folded note.
“My grandfather gave me this.”
I opened it.
A map.
Three addresses.
One was St. Helena.
One was the old estate.
The third was unfamiliar.
A warehouse district near the harbor.
At the bottom was one word.
MERCER.
Silas Mercer.
The same financial broker my father had used for years.
I stood.
“Enzo.”
He approached.
“Sir?”
“Find Mercer.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Do we bring him?”
“No.”
Enzo understood.
“We bring him breathing.”
I returned to the operating room.
Hours passed.
Finally the surgeon came out.
“He survived.”
Lucia began crying.
I closed my eyes.
For the first time since this nightmare began, I felt relief.
Matteo was alive.
He had taken a bullet meant for his daughter.
I couldn't forgive him.
Not yet.
But I could no longer pretend he was only a monster.
People were complicated.
Especially family.
When Matteo woke, the first person he asked for was Lucia.
She entered his room.
He smiled weakly.
“Hey, kid.”
She burst into tears.
“You idiot.”
He laughed.
“That's what your mother used to say.”
Lucia froze.
“You remember her?”
“Every day.”
“She loved me?”
“With everything she had.”
“Then why did you let them hide me?”
He closed his eyes.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Grandpa?”
“Yes.”
“Of my uncle?”
“At first.”
“And now?”
Matteo looked toward me.
“Now I'm afraid of becoming my father.”
I said nothing.
He looked at me.
“I know I don't deserve forgiveness.”
“You don't.”
“I know.”
“But you saved Lucia.”
“She is my daughter.”
“And my son?”
He looked at me.
“I failed him.”
“Yes.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I am sorry.”
I left the room.
Not because I hated him.
Because I needed time.
Meanwhile, we found Silas Mercer.
He was hiding aboard a cargo vessel.
He surrendered after we surrounded it.
In his possession was a ledger.
Not financial.
Names.
Birth certificates.
Identity swaps.
Payments.
Doctors.
Judges.
Police officers.
Everything.
He told us the truth.
My father had planned the entire inheritance scheme.
He wanted me to name Matteo heir before I discovered my son was alive.
Then he intended to kill me.
With me gone, Matteo would take over.
Valentina would disappear.
And my son would be officially dead.
“Why?” I asked.
Silas looked at me.
“Because your father believes blood is property.”
“Who was helping him?”
“Matteo.”
I stared.
He shook his head.
“Not willingly.”
“Valentina?”
Silas nodded.
“She signed the transfer.”
“She was manipulated.”
“She was terrified.”
“Dr. Hale?”
“Paid.”
“My mother?”
“Didn't know.”
I asked the only question that mattered.
“Where is my father?”
Silas smiled.
“Behind you.”
I turned.
Nothing.
Silas laughed.
“He's always been behind you.”
That sentence stayed with me.
We returned to the hospital.
Matteo was stable.
Valentina sat beside him.
She looked at me.
“I am sorry.”
I didn't answer.
She continued.
“I thought protecting the baby meant trusting your family.”
“You trusted the wrong people.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
I looked at her.
“Were you ever afraid of me?”
She looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
That hurt.
“But not because you hurt me.”
She took a breath.
“Because I knew if you learned the truth, you would destroy everyone.”
I looked at my son through the glass.
Maybe she was right.
But I also knew something else.
My father had spent my entire life teaching me that fear was strength.
He was wrong.
Fear was what made people betray each other.
Love was what made Matteo take a bullet.
Love was what made Lucia return my son.
Love was what made Sophia carry a baby through the rain.
And love was what would destroy my father's empire.
That night, I made a decision.
I would not become my father.
I would bring him down legally.
Every record.
Every account.
Every witness.
Everything.
I would make sure he lived long enough to watch his empire disappear.
The next morning, a new message appeared on my phone.
A photograph.
My father.
Standing beside a woman.
The woman wore a red scarf.
Sophia's mystery woman.
Under the photograph was a sentence:
ASK VALENTINA WHO SHE REALLY IS.
I looked at my wife.
She stared at the screen.
May you like
And whispered:
“She is my mother.”
