Chapter 7 - PRIMARY HOSTDante didn't sleep.
Neither did Sienna.
The words on the file haunted them.
PRIMARY HOST.
Whatever Black Rose wanted, Dante was at the center of it.
Rocco brought them to a safehouse near Lake Michigan.
The building had no windows.
No cameras.
No phones.
Sienna sat at a table.
Dante stood opposite her.
“Tell me everything.”
She looked at him.
“I don't know everything.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
She opened the metal case.
“Black Rose didn't just study children.”
She placed photographs on the table.
“They studied families.”
Russo.
Vale.
Several other names.
“Your family had a genetic condition.”
Dante frowned.
“What condition?”
“Not an illness.”
She placed another document down.
“A neurological trait.”
“Meaning?”
“Extreme memory retention.”
Dante stared.
“You remember everything.”
“Almost.”
“Why?”
Sienna tapped the file.
“Your family has a rare genetic pattern.”
“And Black Rose wanted it.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To create perfect operatives.”
Dante laughed bitterly.
“So my family became a laboratory.”
“Partly.”
“What does primary host mean?”
Sienna hesitated.
“You were the only child with the complete genetic pattern.”
Dante went silent.
“That makes no sense.”
“That's why your father tried to control you.”
“And that's why you were sent to protect me.”
“Yes.”
“Who sent you?”
Sienna looked down.
“Caterina.”
Dante stared toward the door.
“My mother knew all along.”
“She knew enough.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because every person who knew the truth died.”
Dante looked at her.
“You survived.”
Sienna smiled sadly.
“Barely.”
The door opened.
Caterina entered.
She had come alone.
Dante's face hardened.
“Mother.”
She looked at Sienna.
Then at him.
“There is something I never told you.”
Dante said nothing.
“Your father wasn't the founder of Black Rose.”
Sienna looked up.
“Who was?”
Caterina answered:
“Me.”
Dante froze.
Sienna stood.
“No.”
Caterina nodded.
“I created the original research program.”
“Why?”
“To protect my children.”
Dante shook his head.
“You experimented on children.”
“I funded the research.”
“And people died.”
“I didn't know.”
“That's what everyone says.”
Caterina flinched.
“I learned too late.”
She looked at Sienna.
“Your father found out.”
“And he tried to stop you.”
“Yes.”
“Then why am I alive?”
“Because he begged me to save you.”
Sienna's eyes filled with tears.
Caterina continued.
“Lorenzo wanted to burn everything.”
“I thought he was trying to stop Black Rose.”
“He was.”
“Then why did he betray us?”
Caterina whispered:
“He didn't.”
Dante froze.
“Who did?”
Caterina looked toward the ceiling.
“Damian.”
A gunshot shattered the window.
Caterina dropped.
Dante caught her.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
“Mom!”
Rocco fired toward the roof.
Sienna moved.
She saw the angle.
“Sniper!”
Everyone dropped.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Dante pressed his hand against Caterina's wound.
“Stay awake.”
Caterina smiled weakly.
“I've been waiting years for you to ask.”
“For what?”
“The truth.”
Her hand touched his face.
“Your father isn't dead.”
Dante stared.
“What?”
“He's coming for you.”
Another gunshot.
Caterina's eyes closed.
Dante shouted:
“DOCTOR!”
But the safehouse doors suddenly burst open.
Men flooded in.
Rocco fought back.
Sienna grabbed Caterina.
Dante fired.
Then a voice boomed from the hallway.
“Dante!”
He stopped.
A man stood beneath the emergency lights.
Older.
Scarred.
But unmistakable.
Lorenzo Russo.
Dante stared at his father.
The dead man.
The man he'd buried eleven years ago.
Lorenzo raised both hands.
“Don't shoot.”
Dante's voice became a whisper.
“You're alive.”
Lorenzo nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lorenzo looked at Sienna.
“Because I spent eleven years trying to keep her alive.”
Sienna stepped back.
“You left me.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“I thought I was dead.”
“You knew where I was.”
“I watched you.”
“You watched them hurt me.”
“I couldn't reach you.”
Sienna's voice broke.
“Then why didn't you try?”
Lorenzo said nothing.
Dante aimed his weapon at him.
“Give me one reason not to kill you.”
Lorenzo looked straight into his son's eyes.
“Because Damian has already taken Toby.”
Sienna froze.
“What?”
Lorenzo continued:
“And he's taking him to the first Black Rose facility tonight.”
Dante lowered his gun.
“Where?”
May you like
Lorenzo whispered:
“Beneath Russo Tower.”
