Chapter 5 - THE DEAD MAN'S FILEDante spent the night reading.
Page after page.
Names.
Dates.
Bank transfers.
Operations.
Photographs.
The Russo family had been watched for decades.
But one file appeared again and again.
PROJECT BLACK ROSE.
At 3:17 a.m., Dante closed the folder.
Sienna was sitting across the room.
Neither had spoken for nearly an hour.
Finally he asked:
“Did my father know your real name?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know you were inside my house?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know you were working for my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he kill you?”
Sienna looked down.
“Because he thought I would lead him to something.”
“What?”
“Me.”
Dante frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Sienna took a slow breath.
“Black Rose wasn't just about children.”
She stood.
“It was about memory.”
Dante stared.
“They altered our memories.”
“Why?”
“To make us obedient.”
“Did it work?”
“For a while.”
She looked at him.
“Then one of us remembered.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
She pointed to the scar behind her ear.
“The procedure damaged part of my memory. But it also locked something away.”
“What?”
“The location of every Black Rose facility.”
Dante stared.
“They used you as a map.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they knew I would eventually remember.”
A knock came at the door.
Rocco entered.
“We found the nurse from Saint Vincent.”
Dante turned.
“Where?”
“Dead.”
He handed Dante a photograph.
The woman had been found in an abandoned warehouse.
On the wall behind her was a symbol.
A black rose.
Dante's jaw tightened.
“They're cleaning up.”
Rocco nodded.
“We found something else.”
He placed a USB drive on the table.
“Taken from her apartment.”
Dante plugged it into the laptop.
A video appeared.
Lorenzo Russo.
Alive.
Dante froze.
The timestamp was twelve years old.
His father sat behind a desk.
Someone off-camera asked:
“Does Dante know?”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“He will never know.”
“Why?”
“He thinks he's my son.”
Dante's blood ran cold.
Lorenzo continued:
“Blood makes men sentimental.”
The video cut.
Then another appeared.
A woman held a baby.
Dante stared.
The woman was Caterina.
The baby was him.
Another woman stood beside her.
Gabriel Vale's wife.
Sienna's mother.
Dante leaned closer.
His expression changed.
His mother wasn't holding him alone.
There was another baby beside him.
A newborn girl.
Sienna.
Caterina's voice came from behind them.
“I never wanted you to see that.”
Dante stood.
“You knew.”
Caterina nodded.
“Who is she?”
Caterina looked at Sienna.
“Your sister.”
Silence.
Sienna shook her head.
“No.”
Caterina stepped forward.
“Your father had two children.”
Dante looked at Sienna.
His face was stunned.
“You're my sister.”
“No.”
Sienna backed away.
“No, that's impossible.”
Caterina cried.
“It isn't.”
Dante's voice trembled.
“Why?”
“Because Lorenzo had a daughter he could use.”
Sienna stared.
Caterina continued:
“He gave you to Gabriel.”
“And me?”
“You were kept.”
Dante understood.
“She was raised by Black Rose.”
“Yes.”
“To become what?”
Caterina looked at him.
“Your replacement.”
Sienna's knees weakened.
Dante caught her.
Neither spoke.
Then Rocco's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found Toby.”
Sienna's head snapped up.
“Where?”
Rocco hesitated.
“Your old house.”
Sienna froze.
“That place burned.”
“It was rebuilt.”
Dante stood.
“Let's go.”
The house was thirty miles outside Chicago.
Abandoned.
Dark.
The front door hung open.
Sienna entered first.
Memories hit her.
A child's bedroom.
A bloodstained floor.
A broken music box.
She stopped.
“Toby.”
A man's voice came from upstairs.
“Sienna.”
Her breath caught.
She ran.
Dante followed.
They reached the second floor.
A small boy's room.
Empty.
On the bed sat a photograph.
Sienna picked it up.
Three children.
Her.
Toby.
And another boy.
On the back:
ONE SURVIVED. TWO WERE SUPPOSED TO.
Dante frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Sienna turned the photograph over.
A fresh message had been written beneath it.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT YOUR BROTHER.
Then the lights turned on.
Every window was covered.
The doors locked automatically.
A projector came alive.
Damian Cross appeared on the wall.
He smiled.
“You finally remembered.”
Sienna whispered:
“Where is Toby?”
Damian looked directly at Dante.
“Ask your sister.”
Dante stared.
“What does he mean?”
Sienna's face went white.
Then she remembered.
The missing night.
The fire.
The screams.
The third child.
And the one memory Black Rose had buried deepest.
She whispered:
“I killed him.”
Dante looked at her in horror.
“Who?”
May you like
Sienna began to cry.
“My father.”
