Chapter 6-The Night The Past Came For Me
The first thing I heard was the sound of glass breaking.
The second was a gunshot.
The third was Dante Moretti's voice.
“Everyone down.”
Even through the walls.
Even through the chaos.
His voice carried.
Calm.
Controlled.
Deadly.
And somehow, that calm scared me more than the gunfire.
Because people didn't sound calm when they were surprised.
They sounded calm when they had already accepted the possibility of death.
I stood frozen in my bedroom.
My sister Isabella held my hand tightly.
“Move.”
Her voice was different now.
Not the confident woman who had walked into the ballroom and exposed Nolan.
Not the woman who seemed to know every secret buried in Chicago.
This was the voice of someone who had survived a nightmare before.
Someone who recognized the beginning of one.
“What is happening?”
I whispered.
Isabella looked at the door.
“They found the house.”
My heart tightened.
“But this place is protected.”
She gave a bitter smile.
“So was our family mansion.”
That sentence silenced me.
Because she was right.
Security didn't matter if someone already knew where you were.
Trust didn't matter if the person beside you was the one holding the knife.
Another explosion shook the hallway.
The lights flickered.
Then everything went dark.
For a moment, I was fifteen years old again.
A child hiding under a table.
Listening to people scream.
Waiting for someone to save me.
But nobody came.
Nobody except—
“Elena.”
Dante's voice.
Close.
I turned.
The bedroom door opened.
Dante stood there.
His suit jacket was gone.
His white shirt was rolled at the sleeves.
A gun was in his hand.
And there was something in his eyes I had never seen before.
Not anger.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
His eyes moved to Isabella.
For a second, something unreadable passed between them.
“You brought her here.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“I saved her.”
Dante's expression remained cold.
“From what?”
“From the people you failed to find for fifteen years.”
The tension between them was immediate.
I looked between them.
“You two know each other.”
Neither answered.
That was my answer.
“You know each other.”
Dante looked away.
“Later.”
“No.”
My voice surprised even me.
Both of them looked at me.
I took a breath.
“I am done being the last person to know what is happening in my own life.”
Silence.
The old me would have apologized.
The old me would have lowered my voice.
The old me would have worried about making powerful people uncomfortable.
But that woman was disappearing.
Slowly.
Finally.
“I spent years being controlled by people who knew more than me.”
I looked at Dante.
“I won't do it again.”
Something changed in his expression.
Respect.
A small amount.
But I saw it.
Dante nodded.
“You're right.”
The answer surprised me.
“You deserve the truth.”
Another gunshot echoed downstairs.
He looked toward the hallway.
“But first, we survive the night.”
He reached for my hand.
I hesitated.
Not because I didn't trust him.
Because I wasn't used to someone asking.
Everyone else had taken.
Dante waited.
He didn't pull.
Didn't force.
And somehow that made me choose him.
I placed my hand in his.
“Where are we going?”
“Underground.”
I almost laughed.
“Your house has an underground?”
His expression didn't change.
“Every house built by powerful men has secrets.”
The three of us moved through the hidden passage behind the bookshelf.
A place I never would have noticed.
A place designed for emergencies.
As we walked, I looked at Dante.
The man who controlled an empire.
The man who terrified criminals.
The man who had enemies everywhere.
And somehow…
his biggest weakness seemed to be caring about someone.
That made him dangerous.
Because people without attachments were difficult to destroy.
But people with something to lose?
They became unpredictable.
We reached a steel door.
Dante entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside was another world.
A hidden command center.
Screens.
Maps.
Files.
Weapons.
Information.
The real heart of Dante Moretti's empire.
One of his men looked up.
“Boss.”
Then he saw me.
His expression changed.
Everyone in this room knew exactly who I was.
The last De Luca.
Dante noticed.
“She stays.”
Nobody questioned him.
That told me everything.
His word wasn't a suggestion.
It was law.
A screen suddenly flashed.
A camera feed.
The mansion entrance.
Several vehicles surrounded the property.
Black SUVs.
Military style.
Not ordinary criminals.
Someone organized.
Someone powerful.
Dante stared at the screen.
“Who are they?”
One of his men answered.
“We don't know.”
That was impossible.
I noticed it immediately.
Dante Moretti was the kind of man who knew everything.
The fact that someone had entered his territory without him knowing scared him.
Then Isabella stepped forward.
“I know.”
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed at the screen.
“That symbol.”
A small emblem was visible on one of the vehicles.
A silver snake wrapped around a crown.
My stomach dropped.
Because I had seen that symbol before.
On a necklace.
A necklace my aunt wore every day.
“No.”
The word escaped my lips.
Dante turned.
“What?”
I couldn't look away.
“That symbol…”
My voice shook.
“It belonged to my aunt.”
The room became silent.
Isabella's face changed.
“You're sure?”
I nodded slowly.
“She told me it was a family symbol.”
Dante walked closer to the screen.
His expression became darker.
“Your aunt wasn't protecting you.”
I looked at him.
“What are you saying?”
He stared at the symbol.
“She was watching you.”
The realization hit me like a physical blow.
Fifteen years.
Fifteen years of believing someone saved me.
Fifteen years of gratitude.
Fifteen years of trusting the person who raised me.
And now…
every memory felt like a lie.
The screen suddenly changed.
A message appeared.
Everyone stopped.
Three words.
Written in white letters.
BRING HER OUT.
Then another message appeared underneath.
This time, it was directed at Dante.
OR WE BURN CHICAGO.
The room went silent.
Dante stared at the screen.
Then he looked at me.
And I saw something I had never seen before.
Not fear.
Not doubt.
A promise.
“They want you.”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“They want what you know.”
A pause.
“But they made one mistake.”
“What?”
His eyes hardened.
“They threatened you in front of me.”
The room became colder.
Because everyone there understood what that meant.
Dante Moretti had rules.
And whoever had come for me had just broken the most important one.
They had turned a personal war…
into Dante's war.
He looked at his men.
“Find every person connected to that symbol.”
A pause.
“And bring me the truth.”
Then he looked at me.
“Because tomorrow morning…”
His voice lowered.
“We find your aunt.”
I felt a chill.
Because deep inside…
I already knew something.
The woman who raised me didn't just know what happened fifteen years ago.
She was probably the reason it happened.
And if Dante was right…
May you like
the person I had called family…
was the monster I had spent my whole life running from.
