Chapter 8 - The Name My Father ErasedThe Truth About My Birth Was Worse Than Any Mafia Story
We stayed underground until dawn.
There was no screaming.
No gunfire.
Just the sound of our breathing.
When we finally reached an old storage room outside the hospital, Sofia sat against the wall.
Dante stood opposite her.
He looked like he wanted to ask a thousand questions.
Instead, he asked one.
"Why?"
Sofia closed her eyes.
"Because you would have killed everyone involved."
"Maybe."
"Not maybe."
She looked at him.
"You would have."
Dante didn't deny it.
I sat beside her.
"Tell me who I am."
Sofia looked at me.
"You're Nora Bennett."
"That's not what I mean."
"You were born Elena Russo."
My chest tightened.
"What?"
Dante stared.
Sofia continued.
"Your mother was named Elena."
"My mother died when I was nine."
"No."
Sofia shook her head.
"She disappeared."
I remembered everything.
My childhood.
The empty bedroom.
My father refusing to discuss her.
The story about cancer.
The hospital.
The funeral.
The locked trunk.
All of it might have been a lie.
"Why did my father change my name?"
"Because Salvatore was looking for you."
"Why?"
"Because you were the last heir to something he wanted."
"The ledger."
Sofia shook her head.
"Not the ledger."
She looked toward Dante.
"The Russo inheritance."
Dante frowned.
"My father left assets?"
"Not money."
"What then?"
"Control."
She took a folded document from her coat.
"This was hidden inside Saint Agnes."
Dante opened it.
It listed properties.
Companies.
Accounts.
Names.
And one final line.
The legal successor was Elena Russo.
Me.
I stared.
"No."
Dante looked at me.
"My father left me his entire organization?"
"No."
Sofia shook her head.
"He left you proof."
"Proof of what?"
"That the organization was built on stolen land, bribed officials, murdered witnesses and shell companies."
I stared.
"If this becomes public..."
"Your entire empire collapses."
Dante looked at me.
"That's why they want you dead."
A phone rang.
Not Dante's.
Not Marco's.
Mine.
I stared at the screen.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then a little girl's voice whispered.
"Mom?"
My blood froze.
Sofia covered her mouth.
Dante grabbed the phone.
"Who is this?"
The child began crying.
"Please."
Dante's face changed.
"Lily?"
The line went dead.
He immediately called back.
Nothing.
"She called me Mom."
Sofia whispered.
"Because she thinks you're her mother."
I shook my head.
"I've never met her."
Sofia reached for my hand.
"You did."
"When?"
"The night your father took you away."
I remembered something.
A memory from childhood.
A little girl.
Dark curls.
A jar of honey.
We had been hiding beneath my father's table.
I had forgotten her face.
But suddenly I remembered.
She had held my hand.
She had whispered my name.
"Nora."
Sofia nodded.
"You were twins."
I stared at Dante.
"So Lily isn't your daughter."
Dante slowly shook his head.
"She's yours."
The door behind us exploded open.
Gunmen entered.
Dante pushed me down.
Sofia fired.
Marco shouted.
We ran.
The hallway filled with smoke.
A bullet hit the wall beside me.
I turned.
Sofia was gone.
"Dante!"
He looked back.
"Where's Sofia?"
Only Marco remained.
His face was grim.
"She was taken."
Dante's expression went cold.
Then Marco handed him a phone.
A video had been sent.
Sofia was tied to a chair.
Lily stood beside her.
A man appeared behind them.
His face was hidden.
But his voice was unmistakable.
"Bring Elena Russo to the old honey warehouse."
Dante watched silently.
The man smiled.
"And come alone."
The video ended.
Dante looked at me.
I already knew what he was going to say.
He didn't.
May you like
He simply handed me his gun.
"Then we're going to war."
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