Chapter 6 - THE THIRD CHILDThe room fell silent.
Dante stared at Sienna.
“You killed Gabriel?”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“I tried to.”
Dante waited.
Sienna closed her eyes.
“I was fourteen.”
She remembered.
The room.
The chair.
Her father tied to it.
Damian standing behind her.
A gun in her hand.
“Black Rose told me Gabriel betrayed them.”
“What did he do?”
“He tried to shut the program down.”
Dante's fists clenched.
“Your father wanted to save you.”
“Yes.”
“And they made you believe he was the enemy.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Sienna swallowed.
“I shot him.”
Dante stared.
“Did he die?”
“I don't know.”
That answer hit harder than anything else.
“Why don't you know?”
“Because I was taken away.”
She looked toward the window.
“When I woke up, everyone told me he was dead.”
Dante looked at the projector.
Damian smiled.
“Not dead.”
The video changed.
Gabriel Vale appeared.
Older.
Scarred.
But alive.
Sienna stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
Gabriel looked directly into the camera.
“Lena.”
Sienna covered her mouth.
The video continued.
“If you're watching this, they failed to erase you.”
Dante stood motionless.
Gabriel continued:
“You cannot trust Damian.”
The screen flickered.
“He was the one who ordered the children killed.”
Sienna shook her head.
“No…”
Gabriel continued.
“He wasn't protecting Black Rose.”
“He was building his own.”
Dante looked at Sienna.
“The children weren't weapons.”
“What were they?”
Gabriel said the answer himself.
“Witnesses.”
The video ended.
Lights went out.
A gunshot came from downstairs.
Rocco shouted:
“AMBUSH!”
Dante pushed Sienna behind him.
Men stormed the hallway.
Gunfire erupted.
Dante fired twice.
Rocco took down another.
Sienna crouched behind the wall.
Then she saw something.
A tiny red light.
A laser.
Pointed at Dante.
She moved without thinking.
She pushed him sideways.
The bullet struck the wall.
Dante spun.
“Sienna!”
Another shooter appeared.
Sienna grabbed a fallen pistol.
Three shots.
Silence.
Dante stared.
She had moved like someone trained for years.
Not like a civilian.
Not like a waitress.
Not like a companion.
She lowered the gun.
Her hands weren't shaking.
Dante looked at her.
“You've done this before.”
Sienna nodded.
“Too many times.”
Rocco returned.
“Clear.”
Then a phone began ringing.
Not one of theirs.
A dead man's phone.
Dante picked it up.
A message appeared.
THE THIRD CHILD IS ALIVE.
Below it was a location.
Dante stared.
“What's the third child?”
Sienna looked at the photograph.
She remembered.
Three children.
Her.
Toby.
A boy she couldn't name.
A boy with a small scar beneath his eye.
Her brother.
Her friend.
Her forgotten memory.
And then it came.
His name.
She whispered:
“Elias.”
Rocco frowned.
“Who is Elias?”
Sienna looked at Dante.
“The first child they ever trained.”
“Where is he?”
She stared at the location on the phone.
“Chicago.”
Dante's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A voice spoke.
“Dante Russo.”
“Who are you?”
A pause.
“Your father.”
Dante froze.
“What?”
“I need you to listen carefully.”
Dante's expression turned cold.
“You're dead.”
“I know what they told you.”
“You're alive.”
“For now.”
Dante looked at Sienna.
The voice continued.
“The people hunting Elena are not after the Russo family.”
“Then what do they want?”
Silence.
“They want what your father buried.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“My blood.”
The line went dead.
Sienna stepped closer.
“What did he say?”
Dante stared at her.
Then he asked the question neither wanted to hear.
“Why would your father need my father's blood?”
Sienna's face changed.
Because she already knew the answer.
“It's not blood.”
Dante waited.
“It's DNA.”
“For what?”
Sienna looked toward the black rose symbol burned into the wall.
“An identity.”
Then the entire building shook.
A massive explosion ripped through the first floor.
Dante grabbed Sienna.
The ceiling collapsed.
They fell into darkness.
And beneath the rubble, Sienna found something.
A metal case.
Inside:
A list of twenty-three names.
Next to each name was one word.
ALIVE.
Except one.
Dante Russo.
May you like
Beside his name were two words.
PRIMARY HOST.
