Chapter 12 - The Man Who Died Eight Years AgoThey followed the coordinates hidden inside Rosalia's diary.
A chapel.
Abandoned.
Thirty miles outside the city.
Leo entered alone.
Clare waited in the car.
He found candles burning inside.
Then a man's voice.
“You took your time.”
Leo froze.
The figure stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray-haired.
But unmistakable.
His father.
Adriano Rossi.
Alive.
Leo's gun rose instantly.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your enemies needed to believe I was gone.”
Leo laughed bitterly.
“You destroyed everything.”
“No.”
Adriano looked at him.
“Your mother did.”
Leo's expression darkened.
“Where is she?”
“She chose to disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
Adriano stepped closer.
“The Rossi empire wasn't mine.”
Leo stared.
“Then whose?”
Adriano smiled.
“Yours.”
Leo recoiled.
“I don't understand.”
“I built the empire so you could inherit it.”
“You killed people.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed families.”
“Yes.”
“You kidnapped children.”
Adriano's face hardened.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“My brother.”
Leo's heart stopped.
His uncle.
“The mastermind?”
Adriano nodded.
“He used my name.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone feared me.”
Leo lowered his gun slightly.
“Where is my mother?”
Adriano looked toward the chapel door.
“She is alive.”
Leo's breathing stopped.
“Where?”
“Behind the person you trust most.”
A gunshot sounded outside.
Adriano collapsed.
Leo rushed forward.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Who shot you?”
Adriano whispered:
“The woman…”
“Which woman?”
“The housekeeper.”
Leo stared.
Mrs. Gable?
Impossible.
Then Adriano smiled.
“No.”
He coughed blood.
“Not Gable.”
“Then who?”
His father's final words were barely audible.
“Clare's mother.”
Leo ran outside.
The car was empty.
Clare was gone.
On the windshield was a note.
COME ALONE.
Underneath was the sparrow symbol.
And a location.
May you like
Boston.
St. Jude's Hospice.
