Chapter 7 - The gunfire began before Ramon's grief could settle.He dragged Arturo's body behind the church wall.

Emma crouched beside him.

“Stay here.”

“No.”

“Emma.”

“I know where the tunnel goes.”

Ramon stopped.

“What?”

“My mother showed me.”

She grabbed his sleeve.

“There's another way.”

Ramon followed.

Behind the altar, Emma found a hidden opening.

They disappeared underground seconds before bullets shredded the church.

The tunnel twisted through the earth.

Ramon held Emma's hand.

“Where are we going?”

“To the house.”

“What house?”

“My grandmother's.”

Ramon stopped.

“Your grandmother?”

Emma nodded.

“She is waiting.”

Ramon stared.

“How old is your grandmother?”

Emma looked confused.

“I don't know.”

They emerged beneath an old farmhouse outside Chicago.

An elderly woman sat by the fireplace.

She looked at Ramon.

“You finally came.”

Ramon raised his gun.

The woman smiled.

“Your father said you would.”

“Who are you?”

“Maria Cruz.”

Ramon's heart tightened.

Cruz.

Isabella Cruz.

“Are you Isabella's mother?”

“Yes.”

“Where is Isabella?”

Maria lowered her eyes.

“Alive.”

Ramon's jaw tightened.

“What?”

“She woke twenty minutes ago.”

Ramon stared.

“She isn't here.”

“No.”

“Where?”

“Taken.”

“By whom?”

Maria looked toward Emma.

“Her daughter.”

Ramon moved forward.

“Start talking.”

Maria revealed that Emma had been raised under protection.

The girl had been moved from house to house because The Circle knew she carried information.

“What information?”

Maria looked at Emma.

“The name of the person who ordered the murder of Arturo Ortega.”

Ramon swallowed.

“I thought you said Arturo was alive.”

“He was.”

“He died tonight.”

Maria's expression softened.

“Yes.”

Ramon stared into the fire.

Everything was becoming a trap.

One truth exposed another lie.

Maria handed him a photograph.

It showed Arturo standing beside Ramon as a child.

But there was another child in the photograph.

A boy.

Ramon's age.

“Who is that?”

Maria pointed.

“Mateo.”

Ramon stared.

The two boys looked identical.

Except Mateo wore a black necklace.

Ramon touched the photograph.

“Why were we separated?”

“Because Arturo believed one of you would become a monster.”

“Which one?”

Maria's eyes met his.

“He never knew.”

The farmhouse door exploded.

Men stormed inside.

Ramon fired.

Maria pulled Emma toward a hidden room.

Ramon followed.

They reached a cellar.

But there was nowhere to go.

Footsteps descended.

A voice called out.

“Ramon.”

Mateo.

Ramon aimed into the darkness.

“Come out.”

Mateo stepped into view.

“You killed my father.”

“He was my father too.”

“He chose you.”

“He feared you.”

Mateo smiled.

“He should have feared both of us.”

Ramon lowered his weapon slightly.

“Where is Isabella?”

Mateo's face hardened.

“The Circle has her.”

“And Evelyn?”

Mateo said nothing.

Ramon understood.

“You work with her.”

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

“To warn you.”

“About what?”

Mateo pulled out a small envelope.

Inside was a DNA report.

Ramon stared.

Two names.

Ramon Ortega.

Arturo Ortega.

Underneath:

NO BIOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIP.

Ramon's blood went cold.

His father wasn't his father.

Mateo watched him.

“That isn't the worst part.”

Ramon looked up.

“What's worse?”

Mateo pointed at Emma.

“She is.”

“What?”

Mateo's voice dropped.

“Emma is the biological daughter of Ramon Ortega.”

Ramon stared.

“That makes no sense.”

Mateo smiled.

“The DNA says otherwise.”

Ramon looked at Emma.

Then the report.

Then Mateo.

Someone was lying.

And when he looked back toward the tunnel entrance, he saw Evelyn standing there.

She smiled.

“Now you're ready.”

Ramon raised his gun.

Evelyn laughed.

“You still don't understand who you are.”

She stepped forward.

“You're not an Ortega.”

Ramon's expression hardened.

“You're a Cruz.”

Maria screamed from the cellar:

“DON'T LISTEN TO HER!”

Evelyn turned.

Maria went silent.

Evelyn smiled.

“Because Maria knows what happens when the last Cruz remembers.”

Then Emma began screaming.

Her eyes rolled upward.

And she spoke in a voice that was not her own.

“The Black Vault is beneath St. Matthew's Cathedral.”

Everyone froze.

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Then she added:

“And your mother is still alive.”