Chapter 8 - THE LAST MOVE
Dante contacted me that evening.
“Come alone.”
I agreed.
Not because I trusted him.
Because I finally understood his obsession.
He wanted the Lantern research.
And he believed I had the last piece.
We met at an abandoned warehouse near the river.
Dante stood beneath a broken light.
“You look tired.”
“My daughter died because of you.”
His face changed.
For the first time, I saw something like regret.
“I didn't kill Sofia.”
“You made sure she didn't get the treatment.”
“I made a decision.”
“You made a business decision about a nine-year-old girl.”
He looked away.
“You don't understand what Lantern could have become.”
“I don't care.”
“You should.”
He opened a case.
Inside were research documents.
“If the treatment works, thousands of children could benefit.”
I stared at him.
“And that excuses what you did?”
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“I know what I did.”
That surprised me.
“Then why?”
He looked at me.
“Because I thought I could save the company.”
I almost laughed.
“You had everything.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You had everything.”
There it was.
The truth beneath all the money.
Dante had spent his life living beside my shadow.
Our father had chosen me.
The board had chosen me.
The family had chosen me.
Dante believed the company was supposed to be his.
So he built another empire in secret.
Then he discovered Lantern.
He saw an opportunity to create something no one could take away from him.
He became obsessed.
And when Sofia's treatment became a threat to his plan, he made the unforgivable choice.
“You could have told me.”
“I was ashamed.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You were jealous.”
He didn't deny it.
Then the warehouse doors opened.
Three men entered.
Dante's expression changed.
“I didn't bring them.”
I believed him.
The men weren't his.
They worked for the investor Dante had been secretly selling Lantern research to.
The man wanted the files.
And he wanted both brothers dead.
Gunfire erupted.
I pulled Dante behind a concrete pillar.
For ten terrifying minutes, the warehouse became chaos.
We weren't brothers then.
We were simply two men trying to survive.
When the shooting stopped, Dante was bleeding from the shoulder.
I dragged him toward the exit.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because you're my brother.”
He stared at me.
“You should hate me.”
“I do.”
I pulled him up.
“But I won't become you.”
Police sirens approached.
Dante looked toward the door.
“I can't go to prison.”
“Yes.”
“I'll lose everything.”
“You already did.”
He closed his eyes.
“I know.”
He surrendered.
Not because he suddenly became good.
Because for the first time, he understood there was no version of his life where he could escape what he'd done.
But there was still one problem.
The Lantern files had been copied.
May you like
Someone else had them.
And that person had been watching us from the beginning.
