Chapter 3 - BLACK ROSEDante had killed men for less than a secret.
But this was different.
This was not about money.
Not territory.
Not revenge.
This was personal.
Sienna sat in a private room behind three locked doors.
Rocco stood outside.
Two armed men guarded the hallway.
Dante sat across from her.
“Start talking.”
Sienna looked at him.
“You won't like it.”
“I've heard worse.”
“Not this.”
She looked through the window.
Chicago glittered below them.
Beautiful.
Cold.
Hungry.
“My real name isn't Sienna Cole.”
Dante waited.
“My name is Elena Vale.”
Rocco entered.
Dante looked at him.
“Close the door.”
It clicked shut.
Sienna continued.
“My father was Gabriel Vale.”
Dante frowned.
The name meant nothing to him.
Then he saw Rocco's expression.
“You know him.”
Rocco swallowed.
“Everyone in this city knows that name.”
Dante turned.
“Explain.”
Rocco spoke slowly.
“Gabriel Vale was a government intelligence contractor.”
Dante looked at Sienna.
She nodded.
“He disappeared eleven years ago.”
“Dead?”
“No.”
Sienna's voice lowered.
“Missing.”
She touched the old scar behind her ear.
“He created Black Rose.”
Dante leaned back.
“What was it?”
“A covert behavioral program.”
“Training?”
“More than training.”
Her eyes became distant.
“They took children who had lost their families.”
Dante went still.
“Children?”
“They taught us observation. Memory. Manipulation. Surveillance.”
Rocco whispered:
“How many?”
Sienna looked at him.
“Twenty-three.”
“Where are they?”
“Dead.”
Silence.
“All but three.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“Who are the other two?”
“One was Toby.”
Dante frowned.
“You said he wasn't your brother.”
“He became my brother.”
She looked down.
“He was nine when they brought him in.”
“Where are the others?”
“One is dead.”
“And the last?”
Sienna hesitated.
“You.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“You're not part of Black Rose.”
“Then why me?”
“Because Black Rose wasn't created to fight the Russo family.”
Dante stared.
“It was created to infiltrate it.”
Silence.
Sienna reached into the drawer.
She pulled out a thin folder.
Inside were photographs.
Lorenzo Russo.
Caterina.
Dante as a teenager.
His father.
His uncles.
Every member of the Russo organization.
Dante's face darkened.
“How long?”
“Twenty-one years.”
“And you were sent to spy on my family.”
“Yes.”
“Then why save my mother?”
Sienna didn't answer.
Dante stood.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You entered my home.”
“Yes.”
“You studied my family.”
“Yes.”
“And then you took five bullets for the woman you were sent to betray.”
Sienna looked directly at him.
“Because I changed my mind.”
Dante laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“Then what do you expect?”
Sienna's voice softened.
“Nothing.”
That stopped him.
She looked toward Caterina's room.
“She treated me like a daughter.”
Dante stared at her.
“She didn't know who I was.”
“No.”
“She knew.”
Dante's expression changed.
“What?”
Sienna nodded.
“She recognized my father.”
Dante went silent.
Before he could respond, the door opened.
Caterina entered.
Alone.
No wheelchair.
She walked slowly.
Dante turned.
“Ma.”
Caterina ignored him.
She looked at Sienna.
“You survived.”
Sienna nodded.
Caterina's eyes filled with tears.
“You have his eyes.”
Dante stared between them.
“Mother.”
Caterina looked at her son.
“Your father told me never to speak his name.”
“Gabriel Vale?”
Caterina shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed at Sienna.
“Her father.”
Dante frowned.
“Why?”
Caterina whispered:
“Because Gabriel wasn't your enemy.”
She took a breath.
“He was your father's closest friend.”
Dante froze.
“My father never had friends.”
Caterina's expression darkened.
“He did.”
Then she said the sentence that shattered everything.
“Gabriel Vale didn't disappear.”
Dante stared.
“Your father had him killed.”
Sienna's eyes closed.
The room went silent.
Dante looked at Caterina.
“Why?”
Caterina began to cry.
“Because Gabriel discovered what Lorenzo had done.”
“What?”
Caterina couldn't answer.
Instead, she looked at Sienna.
“Tell him.”
Sienna's voice trembled.
“Your father ordered the Black Rose program to study your family.”
Dante's eyes became cold.
“Why?”
“To find out which Russo would eventually betray him.”
Rocco frowned.
“And?”
Sienna looked at Dante.
“They weren't looking for a traitor.”
Dante's stomach tightened.
“What were they looking for?”
Sienna whispered:
“A successor.”
The lights went out.
Every monitor died.
Total darkness.
Then a single voice came through the hospital intercom.
“Hello, Elena.”
Sienna's face went white.
Dante reached for his gun.
The voice laughed.
“It's been eleven years.”
A pause.
Then:
“Did you really think you could hide forever?”
Sienna whispered one word.
“Damian.”
The hallway windows exploded.
Gunfire erupted.
Dante grabbed Sienna.
Rocco fired into the darkness.
May you like
And somewhere above them, a man smiled.
Because Black Rose had finally returned.
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