Chapter 12 - The Last LieDante couldn't move.
Lucia dropped the knife.
"I didn't have a choice."
"You always have a choice."
"No."
She shook her head.
"Not in this family."
She reached into her coat and removed a cassette tape.
"Your father recorded everything."
Dante took it.
"Why give it to me now?"
"Because Elena knows the children are together."
"You mean Lily and Anna."
"And another."
Dante stared.
"Another child?"
Lucia nodded.
"The fourth."
"Where?"
"With her."
"Elena?"
"Yes."
Dante felt the room spin.
"What does she want?"
"To finish Project Crown."
"What does finish mean?"
Lucia looked at the children through the doorway.
"It means choosing one heir."
Dante's face hardened.
"One heir for what?"
"The network."
"You expect me to believe this?"
Lucia looked at him.
"You don't have to believe me."
She handed him the cassette player.
"Listen."
Dante pressed play.
His father's voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, then I failed."
Dante froze.
Enzo continued.
"I need you to understand something. I did not create the program."
A pause.
"I inherited it."
Dante looked at Lucia.
Enzo's voice continued.
"The children were never meant to rule anything."
"Then why were they taken?"
"Because Elena believed blood could be engineered into loyalty."
Dante closed his eyes.
His father's voice sounded tired.
"She was wrong."
Another pause.
"The children were not experiments."
"Except for one."
Dante listened.
"One child was born with something we didn't understand."
The tape crackled.
"The child could remember."
Dante looked toward Lily.
"Everything."
The recording continued.
"Even what adults forced themselves to forget."
Dante's blood went cold.
"Lily."
Lucia nodded.
"She remembers."
"No."
"That's why Gabriel wants her."
The tape continued.
"Her memory is not ordinary."
Dante stared at the music box.
"Why the music box?"
His father answered from the tape.
"Because the box was built to trigger memories."
Dante stopped.
"Every tune is linked to one."
The music box began playing by itself.
A slow, broken melody.
Lily screamed.
"Stop!"
Dante grabbed it.
The melody changed.
Lily's expression became blank.
She looked at Dante.
Then spoke in a voice that didn't sound like a four-year-old.
"Basement. Tuesday. Eleven minutes after midnight."
Dante froze.
"Who are you?"
Lily blinked.
She looked frightened.
"I don't know."
Then another voice came through the room.
A little girl's voice.
Anna.
"The woman with the red ring."
Dante looked at her.
"Who?"
Anna pointed at Lucia.
Lucia's face collapsed.
"I was supposed to protect them."
Dante stepped back.
"You took them."
"I hid them."
"Where?"
"In the house."
Dante stared at her.
"The children were under this house?"
Lucia nodded.
"Some of them."
"How many?"
"Twelve."
Dante went cold.
Twelve children.
Twelve families.
Twelve disappearances.
Twelve files.
He suddenly understood the number of men at his morning table.
Twelve.
The same number.
Dante grabbed the ledger.
The names had been replaced with symbols.
But there were twelve.
Lucia whispered:
"One child for each original family."
Dante looked at her.
"You've been protecting the program."
"No."
"I don't understand."
"You think Elena wants money."
"What does she want?"
"She wants history erased."
"Why?"
Lucia looked at Lily.
"Because one child remembers where the money came from."
Dante looked at the ledger.
"What does it say?"
Lucia's face went pale.
"It says the Belucchi empire was financed through a massacre."
Dante stopped.
"What massacre?"
"Not a war."
"Then what?"
"The docks."
Lucia looked toward the window.
"Fifty-two people died."
Dante felt sick.
"Who killed them?"
Lucia whispered:
"Your father."
Silence.
Then a phone rang.
Dante answered.
Gabriel's voice came through.
"Bring me Lily."
"No."
"Then bring me the ledger."
"No."
Gabriel laughed.
"Then I'll bring the world to you."
The line cut.
Outside, sirens began multiplying.
Nico ran into the room.
"Dante."
"What?"
"The entire city is locked down."
"By whom?"
Nico's face was grim.
"Federal agents."
Dante looked at Lucia.
She whispered:
"Elena."
Nico added:
"They're saying you're wanted for twelve murders."
Dante stared.
"Which twelve?"
May you like
Nico looked at the ledger.
"The children."
