Chapter 9 - The Daughter the Mafia Buried
Clara stepped away from her mother.
“No.”
Evelyn's face crumpled.
“Clara—”
“No. You don't get to disappear for years, let me bury you, and then tell me that the man who raised me in every way that mattered was a ghost.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe I had no family. You let me work two jobs while I was drowning in debt. You let me stand in Damian Rossi's house and wonder whether I was somehow connected to a murder.”
“I thought keeping you away from the family would save you.”
“From what? The truth?”
Evelyn began to cry.
“From the people who killed Marco.”
Clara pressed a hand against her mouth.
“Then why did you fake your death?”
“Because Adrian Voss found out that Marco had changed the trust. Your father discovered that the money had been used to finance operations that violated every promise he had made to the people who trusted him. He wanted to return it. Voss wanted the money for himself.”
“And Damian?”
“Marco loved his son. He believed Damian could become a better man than the family had made him. But he also knew that if Damian learned about the trust too early, he would be forced to choose between his father and the organization.”
Clara shook her head.
“So he hid me?”
“He hid you because he feared the Falcone family would use you as leverage. He wanted you to grow up outside the violence.”
“Then why did he pay for my birth?”
Evelyn looked down.
“Because you were his daughter. Because he wanted you to have a chance he couldn't give Damian.”
Clara felt as though the floor had tilted beneath her.
“Did Damian know?”
“No. Marco intended to tell him after the threat from Voss was resolved.”
“But he died first.”
Evelyn nodded.
The chapel door creaked.
Damian entered with his weapon lowered, Dominic behind him.
Clara turned sharply.
“How did you find me?”
“Your phone stopped transmitting near the chapel,” Damian said. “I knew it was a trap.”
Evelyn stood between them.
“Damian, please. Let me explain.”
He looked at her with a mixture of fury and disbelief.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You let me spend twelve years believing my father had died protecting a family that no longer existed.”
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
“Your father did protect you.”
“From what?”
“From the truth.”
Damian's laugh was bitter.
“Everyone seems to think the truth is a disease I can't survive.”
Clara looked between them.
“She says Marco was my father.”
Damian went still.
Evelyn nodded.
“Clara is your half-sister.”
The silence that followed seemed to swallow the candlelight.
Damian stared at Clara, searching her face for something that would tell him how to feel. She looked back at him, terrified that the only person who had treated her with unexpected kindness might now see her as an enemy.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered.
He shook his head.
“Don't apologize for being born.”
The words broke something inside her.
For the first time since entering the Rossi estate, Clara cried without trying to hide it.
Damian crossed the chapel and wrapped his arms around her. His embrace was awkward at first, then fierce, as if he could protect her from every year they had lost.
But the reunion lasted only seconds.
Dominic stepped forward.
“We need to leave. The estate has been compromised, and Voss is moving toward the freight terminal.”
Evelyn gripped Damian's sleeve.
“He wants the ring because it proves who controls the trust. But the second half of the key isn't money.”
“What is it?” Damian asked.
“The original ledger. It records every payment made through the emergency account, including the money used to arrange Marco's murder.”
Damian's expression darkened.
“Where is it?”
Evelyn looked at Clara.
“She has it.”
Clara blinked.
“What?”
“Your mother left it with you before she disappeared. The envelope I gave you contains the instructions. The ledger is hidden in the lining of the old coat you brought to the estate.”
Clara thought of the worn wool coat she had left in her guest room.
A sudden, terrible understanding washed over her.
The coat had been searched by Margaret before Clara entered the study. Someone could have discovered the ledger without realizing what it was.
“Who knows about the coat?” she asked.
Dominic answered too quickly.
“Everyone who searched your belongings.”
Damian turned toward him.
“Did you know about the ledger?”
“No.”
“Did you know Marco had a daughter?”
“No.”
Evelyn's eyes filled with terror.
“Damian, don't let him take the ring.”
Dominic's hand moved toward his jacket.
Damian drew his weapon first.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Dominic froze.
For the first time in fifteen years, the underboss looked genuinely afraid.
“You're making a terrible mistake,” he said.
“Then you can explain it after we're finished.”
Dominic slowly raised his hands.
A phone rang in his pocket.
Nobody moved.
Damian nodded toward the phone.
“Answer it.”
Dominic did.
A man's voice came through the speaker.
“Is the boy secured?”
Dominic's face went pale.
The voice continued.
“Good. Bring him to the terminal. And make sure Damian arrives with the ring.”
Damian recognized the voice immediately.
It belonged to Adrian Voss.
Then the caller said something that made even Evelyn gasp.
“Once Michael is dead, there will be no legitimate heir left to challenge my claim.”
The call ended.
Clara looked at Damian.
“Michael is your brother.”
Damian's face became frighteningly calm.
“And Voss intends to kill him.”
Dominic lowered his head.
“I can get you inside the terminal.”
Damian kept his weapon trained on him.
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because I know where Michael is being held.”
“And if you're lying?”
Dominic looked at Clara.
“Then you'll lose the only person who can tell you what happened to your mother.”
Before anyone could respond, an explosion shook the chapel.
The windows shattered inward.
And through the smoke, a voice called Damian's name.
May you like
“Come out, nephew.”
Adrian Voss had arrived.
