Chapter 8 - BLOOD DOES NOT MEAN LOYALTYEnzo moved first.
He always had.
As a boy, he was the first to run, first to fight, first to laugh when caught.
As a man, he was the first to betray me.
His gun was in his hand before half my men understood what had happened.
But Marco had lived too long among wolves to miss the shift.
He shoved me sideways.
The shot meant for my chest hit the altar behind me, breaking old wood into splinters.
Then the chapel erupted.
Voss ducked behind two guards.
Anna dropped to the floor.
Harlan screamed.
Enzo fired twice more, moving toward the side door.
My men split.
But not all of them moved against him.
Three turned their guns on me.
Three.
Men who had eaten at my table.
Men whose children received Christmas gifts from my daughter.
Enzo had not betrayed me alone.
He had been growing rot inside my house for years.
Marco took one in the shoulder and kept moving.
I shot another in the leg.
Enzo grabbed Anna by the arm and dragged her upright, pressing his gun beneath her jaw.
“Stop!” he shouted.
The room froze.
Voss clapped once from behind the altar.
“Family gatherings are always so emotional.”
I did not look at him.
I looked at Enzo.
“Let her go.”
“Still protecting daughters you barely know?”
“She is blood.”
“So am I.”
“No,” I said. “You are proof blood can spoil.”
His face hardened.
There it was.
The boy still under the betrayal.
The jealous child who thought love was a bank account with limited funds.
“You gave Isabella everything,” he said.
“She was my daughter.”
“And I was what? Useful?”
“You were my brother’s son.”
“I was your heir,” he snapped. “Until your precious dead girl started asking questions. Until she found Anna. Until Sofia. Until every secret you buried threatened to put some lost daughter ahead of me.”
The truth was uglier than ambition.
Enzo had not only wanted power.
He had wanted to be chosen.
And Isabella, kind enough to love him, had unknowingly become his rival.
“You killed her,” I said.
His jaw flexed.
“She should have stopped digging.”
Anna whispered, “You monster.”
He tightened his grip.
“Careful, cousin. You are new.”
Voss stepped forward.
“That is enough. Bring her.”
Enzo glared at him. “We had a deal.”
“And you became impatient.”
“I gave you access to Moretti routes. I cleaned the report. I kept Dante blind. You said Anna would remain useful and the girl would be returned.”
Returned.
Sofia.
My heart kicked.
“Returned where?” I asked.
Enzo smiled again.
“She was never yours to keep.”
The monitor flickered.
The upstairs dormitory camera changed.
Now it showed Isabella’s old bedroom in my estate.
Sofia was awake.
Sitting up.
A woman stood beside her.
Mrs. Alvarez lay unconscious on the floor.
For one second, I felt the world tilt.
Then the woman turned toward the camera.
Anna gasped.
“Elena.”
The name ripped through the chapel.
The woman on screen was older now.
Hair streaked with silver.
Face thinner.
But I knew her.
God help me.
I knew her.
Elena Russo was alive.
And she was inside my house with Sofia.
Voss smiled like a man unveiling art.
“I told you this was a family reunion.”
Anna began to shake.
“My mother?”
“Your mother,” Voss said, “has always been very good at survival.”
I could not speak.
Elena looked into the hidden camera as if she knew I was watching.
Then she lifted one finger to her lips.
Quiet.
Not threat.
Warning.
She reached behind Sofia and held up something small.
A black device.
A tracker.
Then she crushed it beneath her heel.
The feed went dark.
Voss’s smile faded.
That was when I understood.
Elena had not come to steal Sofia.
She had come to save her.
And if Voss did not know that, then for the first time that night, the devil was not holding all the cards.
Anna used his distraction.
She slammed her heel down on Enzo’s foot and twisted out of his grip.
Marco fired.
Enzo stumbled.
I lunged.
But Voss tapped his cane twice.
The chapel lights died.
In the dark, someone screamed.
A door slammed.
When the emergency lights flickered on, Voss was gone.
Enzo was gone.
Anna was bleeding from a cut across her cheek.
Marco was on one knee, hand pressed to his shoulder.
And the monitor upstairs showed the red blinking light turn solid.
Enzo’s voice came through the intercom.
May you like
“Midnight came early.”
Then the fire alarm began to scream.
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