Chapter 10-The Truth My Mother Buried
The words on the wall followed me.
Even after we left the warehouse.
Even after Dante's men erased every trace of the attack.
Even after the city lights surrounded us again.
I could still see them.
THE HEIR HAS AWAKENED.
I hated those words.
Because they made me feel like I wasn't a person.
Like I was a title.
A legacy.
A threat.
Something passed from one generation to another.
I sat silently in the back of Dante's car.
He didn't speak.
Neither did I.
For once, silence didn't feel uncomfortable.
It felt necessary.
Because both of us were trying to understand something that changed everything.
My family.
His family.
The war between them.
Maybe none of it was what we believed.
Dante finally broke the silence.
“Marco was telling the truth about one thing.”
I looked at him.
“Which one?”
“That someone wants you to believe you're dangerous.”
I frowned.
“But maybe I am.”
Dante's eyes immediately moved to mine.
“No.”
The certainty in his voice surprised me.
“You don't know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
He looked forward.
“Because dangerous people don't question whether they are dangerous.”
The answer stayed with me.
Because maybe he was right.
Maybe the fact that I was afraid of becoming a monster meant I wasn't one.
But then why had everyone sacrificed so much to hide me?
Why had my family been destroyed?
Why had people spent fifteen years searching for me?
When we returned to the mansion, Isabella was waiting.
She knew something had happened the moment she saw our faces.
“What happened?”
Dante walked past her.
“Marco betrayed us.”
Her expression changed.
“Marco?”
She looked at me.
“What did he tell you?”
I studied her carefully.
Everyone had secrets.
Everyone.
“I don't know what to believe anymore.”
Isabella's face softened.
“Elena…”
“No.”
My voice stopped her.
“I need you to understand something.”
I stepped closer.
“For fifteen years, everyone made choices for me.”
A pause.
“My aunt decided what I should know.”
“My mother decided what I should know.”
“Nolan decided what I should believe.”
I looked at Dante.
“Even you were deciding what I could handle.”
Nobody spoke.
“I am done living inside other people's versions of my life.”
Isabella lowered her eyes.
Because she knew I was right.
“Then ask me.”
Her voice was quiet.
“Ask me anything.”
I looked at her.
“Why did you disappear?”
The question she had been avoiding.
The one nobody wanted to answer.
Her face changed.
Pain.
Regret.
Fear.
“All these years…”
She swallowed.
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“Everyone says that.”
“I know.”
A pause.
“But I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
She looked at Dante.
Then back at me.
“Of what you would become if you knew the truth.”
The room went silent.
“What does that mean?”
Isabella walked toward the table.
She placed an old photograph down.
A family photograph.
My family.
My parents.
My sister.
Me.
But something was different.
Someone had been cut out.
A person removed from the picture.
“Who is that?”
Isabella looked at the empty space.
“Your grandfather.”
I frowned.
“I thought he died before I was born.”
“He did.”
“Then why remove him?”
Isabella hesitated.
“Because your grandfather created the Belladonna Empire.”
I stared at the photograph.
“And my father inherited it.”
“Yes.”
“So my parents weren't innocent.”
Isabella didn't answer.
That was enough.
My chest tightened.
“What did they do?”
She looked at me.
“Your parents believed they could control the criminal world and make it better.”
I almost laughed.
“That's impossible.”
“Yes.”
Her voice was sad.
“They believed power could be used without becoming corrupted.”
“And?”
“They failed.”
Silence.
“They started making enemies.”
“How many?”
Isabella looked away.
“Enough that people stopped seeing them as protectors.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“So Marco was right.”
“Partially.”
“Partially?”
Isabella nodded.
“Your parents became powerful.”
A pause.
“But they weren't murdered because they were evil.”
“Then why?”
She looked at Dante.
“Because they discovered who was controlling everyone.”
Dante's expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
Isabella walked to another file.
She opened it.
Inside were documents.
Names.
Transactions.
Photographs.
One photograph caught my attention.
A younger version of my father.
Standing beside Dante's father.
But they weren't fighting.
They were smiling.
Working together.
I looked at Dante.
“You knew?”
His face remained unreadable.
“No.”
“Your father and mine were allies.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did everyone say they were enemies?”
Dante stared at the photograph.
“Because someone needed us to hate each other.”
The answer was obvious.
But painful.
A war was easier to control when everyone believed they had enemies.
Dante took the file.
“This changes everything.”
Before anyone could respond, the security alarm sounded.
Everyone immediately moved.
Dante's men entered.
“Boss.”
“What happened?”
The man looked nervous.
“We found a vehicle outside the property.”
“Who?”
The man handed him an envelope.
“No driver.”
Dante opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
A woman.
Older.
Standing outside a private residence.
My breath stopped.
Because I knew her.
Not from memory.
From the photograph at the airport.
My mother.
Lucia De Luca.
Alive.
On the back of the photograph were five words.
SHE NEVER STOPPED WATCHING.
Dante turned the photo over.
Then froze.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
I walked closer.
“Dante?”
His expression was darker than I had ever seen.
“What is it?”
Slowly, he handed me the photograph.
On the back, underneath the message, was another line.
A name.
Not my mother's.
Not Nolan's.
Not Victoria's.
A name I had never heard before.
But Dante recognized it immediately.
Because his face changed.
“It can't be.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“The person who sent this…”
A pause.
“Is dead.”
The room went silent.
“Who?”
Dante stared at the name.
And whispered:
“Adrian Moretti.”
I froze.
“Who is that?”
Nobody answered.
Because the fear on Dante's face told me everything.
Adrian Moretti wasn't just another enemy.
He was family.
“Dante?”
His voice was almost impossible to hear.
“My older brother.”
Silence.
“But…”
I looked at him.
“You said your family was dead.”
Dante's eyes remained fixed on the photograph.
“I believed he was.”
The lights suddenly flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then every screen in the mansion turned black.
A message appeared.
Not from an unknown sender.
From Adrian.
DANTE.
YOU TOOK SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME.
A second line appeared.
NOW I WILL TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU.
Then the final message.
The one that made Dante go completely still.
INCLUDING THE WOMAN WHO CARRIES BOTH OUR BLOODS.
My heart stopped.
Because there was only one woman that message could mean.
Me.
I looked at Dante.
For the first time since meeting him…
he wasn't looking at me like someone he needed to protect.
He was looking at me like someone he was afraid of losing.
May you like
And somewhere in the darkness outside…
someone who had been dead for fifteen years had just declared war.
