Chapter 9 - The Father Who Never Died
Dante stared at the screen.
"That's impossible."
Victor smiled.
"Your father was never buried, Dante. The funeral was a performance. I needed the world to believe he was gone."
The man in the video looked older, thinner, and exhausted.
But there was no mistaking his face.
Dante's father was alive.
"Where is he?" Dante demanded.
Victor lowered the phone.
"Give me the memory card."
"No."
"Then your father dies tonight."
I looked at Dante.
He was visibly struggling.
For years, he had believed his father was dead. Now Victor was using that grief to control him.
I stepped forward.
"Why did you do all this?"
Victor looked at me.
"Because your father should never have been allowed to inherit anything."
"Daniel?"
"Daniel was a fool. He wanted to destroy everything our family had built."
"You mean the criminal empire."
Victor's smile disappeared.
"Watch your mouth."
I wasn't frightened anymore.
"My mother spent her entire life running from you. You killed my father, stole my childhood, and made everyone believe I didn't exist."
Victor looked at me with cold amusement.
"And yet here you are."
Dante quietly moved his hand toward his pocket.
Victor noticed.
"Don't."
One of his men raised his weapon.
Then Orion growled.
Victor looked down at the dog.
"That animal should have been put down years ago."
Orion's ears flattened.
Dante's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Don't talk about him."
Victor laughed.
"You care more about a dog than your own family."
"No," Dante replied. "I care about loyalty. Something you have never understood."
While Victor argued with Dante, I noticed a small movement behind one of the broken stained-glass windows.
A light flashed twice.
Vincent.
He had escaped custody.
And he was signaling Dante's men.
Suddenly, the church doors burst open.
The guards rushed forward.
Gunfire erupted.
Dante pulled me behind a stone pillar.
Orion charged toward Victor's men, giving Dante enough time to disarm the nearest attacker.
Within seconds, the church descended into chaos.
Victor tried to escape through a side entrance.
Vincent intercepted him.
"Not this time."
Victor raised his gun, but Vincent knocked it from his hand.
Dante reached them moments later.
He seized his uncle by the collar.
"Where is my father?"
Victor laughed bitterly.
"Do you really think you can save him?"
Dante pressed him against the wall.
"Where?"
Victor finally gave an address.
A private medical facility outside the city.
Dante's father was being held there under another name.
The memory card was handed to Vincent, who immediately arranged for it to be copied and secured.
But before leaving, I approached Victor.
"Why did my mother have to die?"
For the first time, his expression changed.
"She was supposed to disappear quietly."
My blood turned cold.
"Did you kill her?"
Victor looked away.
That was enough.
Dante turned toward his uncle.
His voice was almost a whisper.
"You're going to answer for everything."
We reached the medical facility just before dawn.
Inside a locked room, connected to several machines, lay an elderly man.
Dante approached slowly.
"Father?"
The man's eyes opened.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
Then he whispered:
"Daniel's daughter."
I moved closer.
"Do you remember my mother?"
His eyes filled with tears.
"Every day."
He reached for my hand.
"Eleanor saved you, sweetheart. But there's something else you must know."
Dante leaned forward.
"What?"
The old man struggled to speak.
"Victor wasn't working alone."
His trembling finger pointed toward the doorway.
"Someone else gave him the order."
A familiar figure stepped into the room.
Vincent.
And behind him stood the man Dante trusted most after his father.
May you like
His own right-hand adviser.
Marcus.
