Chapter 5 - The Brother Nobody Knew ExistedLeo had no brother.
At least, that's what everyone believed.
His father had died when Leo was nineteen.
His mother died when he was twenty-four.
The family records listed one child.
Leo Rossi.
No siblings.
No cousins close enough to matter.
No hidden heirs.
Yet Victoria was certain.
“Your father had another son,” she said.
Leo shook his head.
“My father was never married before my mother.”
“Not married.”
Victoria smiled.
“That's why nobody knew.”
Mateo aimed his gun at her.
“Name him.”
Victoria hesitated.
“Adrian.”
Leo laughed once.
It wasn't amusement.
It was disbelief.
“Adrian Rossi.”
“You've heard the name.”
Leo had.
Everyone in Chicago had.
Adrian Rossi was a ghost.
A financier.
A businessman.
A man rumored to own half the city's hidden gambling rooms.
But he had always operated under a different surname.
Leo had spent years hunting Adrian because of a growing war between their organizations.
He had never known why the man seemed obsessed with him.
Now he understood.
It wasn't business.
It was blood.
Beatrice sat against the wall, trying to process everything.
Her mother had known Maria.
Maria had survived.
Lily had been targeted.
Leo had a hidden brother.
And Victoria had been working for someone.
The mansion no longer felt like a home.
It felt like a maze designed to swallow them.
That night, Leo moved Beatrice and Lily to his private wing.
“You're staying here.”
Beatrice hesitated.
“Mr. Rossi—”
“No arguments.”
“I'll sleep outside Lily's room.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You'll sleep in the room next to hers.”
He paused.
“Behind a locked door.”
Beatrice nodded.
For the first time, she noticed how tired he looked.
Not the tiredness of a powerful man.
The tiredness of someone who had spent years believing the wrong story.
“Why do you trust me?” she asked.
Leo looked at her.
“I don't.”
Beatrice stiffened.
“You shouldn't.”
Then he added:
“But Lily does.”
He walked away.
An hour later, a scream came from the corridor.
Beatrice rushed out.
Lily was standing in the hall.
She was holding a piece of paper.
“Bea…”
Beatrice knelt.
“What happened?”
“She left this.”
“Who?”
Lily pointed toward the staircase.
A woman stood there.
Old.
Gray-haired.
Wearing a dark coat.
Beatrice stared.
The woman looked at her.
Tears filled her eyes.
“My little girl.”
Beatrice stopped breathing.
Her knees weakened.
“Mom?”
The woman began to cry.
Leo appeared behind Beatrice, gun raised.
“Who are you?”
The woman didn't look at him.
She kept looking at Beatrice.
“I've been trying to find you for sixteen years.”
Beatrice stepped forward.
“You're dead.”
“I had to be.”
“Why?”
The woman whispered:
“Because they were watching you.”
Leo moved between them.
“Who?”
The woman finally looked at him.
“Everyone.”
Then she pointed at Lily.
“Especially her.”
Leo's weapon rose.
“What do you know about Lily?”
The woman reached inside her coat.
Leo aimed.
“Don't.”
She slowly removed a small envelope.
Inside was an old photograph.
Maria Rossi.
Beatrice's mother.
Lily's mother.
And one more person.
Leo.
All standing together.
Taken ten months before Maria's supposed death.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
WHEN THE GIRL TURNS SIX, THE LAST KEY WILL AWAKEN.
Lily turned six three months earlier.
Leo looked at Beatrice.
“What key?”
Nobody answered.
Then the mansion alarm began screaming.
Every light went red.
Mateo shouted from downstairs.
“Boss! The gates are open!”
Leo looked toward the window.
Beyond the trees, headlights moved through the darkness.
Someone had entered the Rossi estate.
May you like
Someone who knew exactly where they were.
And the first vehicle belonged to Adrian Rossi.
