Chapter 5 - Gabriel's HouseThey found Gabriel's car abandoned forty minutes later.
It was parked outside a church that had been closed for eleven years.
The engine was warm.
The driver's door was open.
On the passenger seat was a single envelope.
Dante opened it.
Inside was a key.
And a note.
You keep looking for me in the wrong house.
Nico studied the church.
"This place belongs to Gabriel's family."
Dante looked at him.
"You knew that?"
"I knew his father owned it."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I never had a reason to."
Dante stared at the dark windows.
"Maybe we do now."
Lily sat in the back of the armored sedan with one of Nico's guards.
She had not spoken since Sophia's call.
Dante got in beside her.
"Are you scared?"
She nodded.
"Me too."
The honesty surprised her.
She looked at him.
"You don't get scared."
"Everybody gets scared."
"Mommy said you don't."
"Your mother was wrong."
Lily almost smiled.
It vanished quickly.
"Is Mommy coming back?"
Dante looked out the window.
"Yes."
He didn't know whether that was true.
But she needed it.
The church was empty.
Dust covered the pews.
An old crucifix hung crooked above the altar.
Nico found a floor panel beneath the front row.
Inside was a metal staircase.
They descended thirty feet.
At the bottom was a corridor.
No dust.
Fresh footprints.
Dante raised his weapon.
They followed the corridor.
At the end was a steel door.
The key fit.
Inside was an archive.
Boxes.
Folders.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
Passenger lists.
Birth certificates.
Death certificates.
And dozens of documents bearing the Belucchi crest.
Nico stared.
"This isn't an archive."
"What is it?"
"An insurance policy."
Dante pulled open a cabinet.
Inside were files marked with names.
Judges.
Police commissioners.
Mayors.
Business owners.
Two senators.
Three federal officials.
Dante understood.
Blackmail.
Gabriel had built a private library of everyone who could destroy the Belucchi family.
But then he found a second cabinet.
Children.
Thirty-two files.
All labeled by number.
He pulled out File 17-B.
Lily Marino.
His hands went cold.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Mother: Sophia Marino.
Father: Unknown.
But beneath it was another page.
Genetic parentage verified.
A name was blacked out.
Dante held it under the light.
Nico used his knife to scrape away the black strip.
The name beneath it was unmistakable.
Dante Belucchi.
Dante couldn't speak.
Nico stared at him.
"No."
Dante dropped the file.
"That's not possible."
Nico picked it up.
"We need to know whether it's real."
Another file lay beneath it.
Sophia Marino.
Dante opened it.
The first page was ordinary.
The second was not.
Subject retained evidence concerning the Marino child.
Subject was ordered to remain close to Dante Belucchi.
Subject resisted.
Subject became emotionally attached to target.
Dante stopped reading.
Target.
That was what his father had called him.
Not son.
Not heir.
Target.
A metallic sound came from the corridor.
Nico spun.
"Someone's here."
The lights cut out.
A burst of gunfire ripped through the archive.
Glass exploded.
Dante pulled Lily down behind a cabinet.
Nico fired back.
The shooting stopped.
Then a man's voice echoed through the darkness.
"Dante."
Gabriel.
Dante shouted.
"Where's Sophia?"
"Safe."
"Let her go."
"You still don't understand."
"What?"
"You were never meant to inherit this family."
Dante felt Lily's fingers tighten around his sleeve.
Gabriel continued.
"Your father built the empire for one reason."
"And what was that?"
"To find the child."
Dante looked down at Lily.
Gabriel's voice became almost gentle.
"Your mother had one before you."
Dante's head snapped up.
"My mother?"
"Yes."
"The child died."
Gabriel laughed softly.
"That's what they told you."
Dante's breath stopped.
Gabriel continued.
"Your father didn't kill Matteo because Matteo wanted to leave."
"He killed him because Matteo found the first child."
Dante's voice shook with rage.
"What first child?"
Silence.
Then Gabriel said:
"Your sister."
Dante froze.
A gun clicked behind him.
Not Nico's.
A voice whispered from the dark.
"Don't move."
Dante turned.
A man stood three feet away.
Gray coat.
Pale face.
Matteo Belucchi.
May you like
Alive.
And holding a gun to Dante's head.
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