Chapter 14 - The Fire at the DocksThe train disappeared into darkness.
Maria was gone.
The children were safe for the moment.
But the city was closing.
Dante, Isabella, Sophia, Anna, Lily, Nico and the wounded Matteo reached the old docks before sunrise.
They needed one thing.
The original server.
The files stored there contained enough evidence to break the network.
But Elena had found them first.
The dock was on fire.
Exactly like the truck.
Exactly like the warehouse.
Exactly like the footage Dante couldn't remember.
Flames rolled across the river.
Men ran.
Cars crashed through the gates.
Dante looked at the burning warehouse.
"This is where it happened."
Matteo nodded.
"The massacre."
Sophia pointed toward a locked building.
"The server is inside."
They entered.
Smoke blinded them.
Dante found a staircase.
Below was a vault.
Inside were drives.
Hundreds.
Names.
Transactions.
Medical records.
Births.
Deaths.
Everything.
Dante grabbed the main drive.
A voice came from the doorway.
Gabriel.
He was bleeding from the shoulder.
Still smiling.
"You finally found the truth."
Dante raised his gun.
"This ends now."
"No."
Gabriel shook his head.
"It begins now."
He threw a lighter onto a pile of gasoline-soaked papers.
Flames erupted.
Dante rushed forward.
Gabriel shot.
The bullet hit Dante's shoulder.
He fell.
Lily screamed.
Sophia pulled her back.
Nico fired.
Gabriel dropped behind the vault door.
The fire spread.
Dante dragged himself toward the server.
The drive was still intact.
He pulled it free.
Then he saw another file.
A video.
He opened it.
Enzo.
Alive.
Years younger.
Standing beside a woman.
Maria.
The old woman from the train.
Enzo looked into the camera.
"To my son."
Dante froze.
"My father."
Enzo continued.
"If you see this, then I failed to stop her."
He turned toward Maria.
"You taught me that power must have a bloodline."
Maria smiled.
"You learned well."
Enzo's voice hardened.
"But I won't let you use my children."
Maria shook her head.
"They are not your children."
"Then whose are they?"
"Mine."
The video jumped.
A laboratory.
A newborn.
Then another.
Then another.
Then Lily.
Enzo picked up the baby.
"For her."
Maria said:
"She belongs to the crown."
Enzo looked directly into the camera.
"No."
He pressed a button.
The video changed.
A genetic report appeared.
Lily's bloodline.
Dante's.
Marco's.
And a fourth line.
Unknown.
Enzo said:
"Marco is not her father."
Dante stared.
Sophia covered her mouth.
Enzo continued:
"I changed the records."
A pause.
"The child's father is someone none of them would suspect."
Dante's heart pounded.
The name appeared.
GABRIEL ROSI.
Dante looked toward the doorway.
Gabriel was gone.
Sophia collapsed against the wall.
"Lily."
Dante stared at the screen.
"She's his daughter."
"No."
Sophia shook her head.
"He lied."
"Why?"
"Because if Gabriel were her father, he would never need the network."
Dante looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
Sophia's eyes filled with fear.
"He isn't trying to control her."
"Then what?"
"He is protecting her."
Dante went still.
From inside the fire came a voice.
Gabriel.
"I told you."
Dante turned.
Gabriel stood on the other side of the flames.
"I never wanted the girl."
He looked at Lily.
"I wanted the person who comes for her."
Dante frowned.
"Who?"
Gabriel smiled.
The roof began collapsing.
"Your real enemy."
The ceiling cracked.
Gabriel disappeared.
Dante grabbed Lily.
Nico pulled Sophia.
Matteo limped behind them.
They ran through the burning dock.
Outside, sirens screamed.
A helicopter landed on the road.
A woman in a black coat stepped out.
She looked at Dante.
Then at Lily.
Then smiled.
Dante recognized the face.
It was the woman from the old photograph.
The woman everyone had said was dead.
Isabella's mother.
Dante's grandmother.
Maria.
May you like
She had come back.
And she was holding a newborn baby.
