Chapter 8 - UNDER THE TOWERRusso Tower had stood in downtown Chicago for fifty-two years.
Banks occupied the lower floors.
Law firms occupied the middle.
The top floors belonged to Dante.
Nobody knew what was beneath it.
Not even most of his employees.
But Lorenzo did.
He led Dante through an abandoned service elevator.
Sienna followed.
Rocco carried two rifles.
The elevator descended far below street level.
Too deep.
The numbers eventually disappeared.
Then the doors opened.
A corridor stretched into darkness.
Sienna stopped breathing.
She knew this place.
“I remember.”
Dante looked at her.
“What?”
“This is where Black Rose began.”
They moved slowly.
Doors lined the hallway.
Behind one was a child's bed.
Behind another, restraints.
Behind another, photographs.
Twenty-three children.
Sienna stopped at one.
Her own.
Eight years old.
Dante looked away.
“What did they do to you?”
“They taught us not to cry.”
He looked at her.
“Who taught you?”
“Damian.”
They reached the central chamber.
A huge circular room.
Machines covered the walls.
At the center stood Toby.
Alive.
Unconscious.
Connected to wires.
Sienna ran toward him.
“TOBY!”
A voice echoed.
“Don't touch him.”
Damian stepped from the shadows.
Dante raised his gun.
Damian smiled.
“Finally.”
Sienna stared.
“Let him go.”
“Why?”
“You got what you wanted.”
Damian laughed.
“I haven't.”
He looked at Dante.
“You brought the primary host.”
Dante's face hardened.
“What do you want?”
Damian pointed at the machine.
“His memory.”
Dante frowned.
“What?”
“The Russo genetic pattern allows perfect neural retention.”
Damian smiled.
“With enough samples, I can rebuild what Black Rose lost.”
Sienna stepped forward.
“You'll kill him.”
“Probably.”
Dante raised his gun.
Damian sighed.
“You still don't understand.”
He pressed a button.
Screens came alive.
Hundreds of surveillance photos.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police commissioners.
Businessmen.
Dante stared.
“Chicago.”
Damian smiled.
“Not just Chicago.”
Sienna looked at the screens.
Every major city.
Every major institution.
Black Rose hadn't disappeared.
It had spread.
Damian spoke softly.
“Your family controls the streets.”
He pointed to the screens.
“We control everyone who believes they control the streets.”
Dante fired.
The bullet hit the machine beside Damian.
Damian laughed.
“That's why I like you.”
He pressed another button.
Toby screamed.
Sienna rushed forward.
The room erupted into chaos.
Rocco shot the machines.
Dante attacked Damian.
Sienna reached Toby and ripped the wires away.
“Wake up.”
Toby opened his eyes.
“Sienna?”
She hugged him.
“I'm here.”
He began crying.
“Where's Elias?”
Sienna froze.
“What?”
Toby looked terrified.
“Elias woke up.”
“Where?”
He pointed behind her.
Sienna turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Young.
Pale.
A scar under his eye.
Elias.
The third child.
He smiled.
“Sienna.”
She stepped backward.
“You're alive.”
“I told you I would be.”
Dante raised his gun.
Elias looked at him.
“You don't recognize me.”
“No.”
“You met me when we were children.”
Dante frowned.
“When?”
Elias smiled.
“Before Black Rose took us.”
He looked at Sienna.
“Before your father chose you.”
Sienna's eyes widened.
“What does that mean?”
Elias said:
“You weren't the third child.”
Toby started shaking.
Dante looked between them.
“What are you talking about?”
Elias stepped forward.
“The third child was never meant to survive.”
He pointed at Sienna.
“It was her.”
Silence.
Sienna stared.
“No.”
Elias smiled.
“Your father didn't save you from Black Rose.”
“He created you.”
Dante's face went cold.
Elias continued.
“You are the original Black Rose subject.”
Sienna could barely breathe.
Damian laughed from the floor.
“Yes.”
He stood.
“Now you remember.”
Sienna's mind shattered with images.
The room.
The needles.
Her father's voice.
The blood.
The training.
And one final memory.
A newborn baby.
A woman handing her to Damian.
And Caterina standing behind them.
Sienna turned toward Dante.
Her eyes filled with horror.
“Dante…”
He stared.
She whispered:
“Your mother gave me to them.”
Caterina's voice came from the doorway.
“I did.”
Everyone turned.
She stood there.
May you like
Alive.
And holding a gun.
