Chapter 7 - The Room Beneath the HouseThe truth was buried under my own name

I woke in darkness.

Concrete beneath my palms.

A chain around one ankle.

Someone had locked me in a basement.

For a few terrifying seconds, I thought Dante had been captured too.

Then I heard a child's voice.

"Elina?"

Sophia.

I crawled toward her.

She was behind a metal gate.

"Daddy?"

"He's coming."

"But he can't find us."

I looked around.

"Where are we?"

Sophia pointed upward.

"Home."

My stomach dropped.

We were underneath Dante's house.

The room my mother had warned us about.

I examined the walls.

Old bricks.

A wooden door.

A rusted filing cabinet.

And dozens of photographs.

Every photograph was of my mother.

With Lucia.

With Dante's father.

With Sophia.

With me.

I walked closer.

There were dates.

Locations.

Notes.

Someone had been tracking my family for years.

Then I saw one photograph that made me stop.

Sophia as a baby.

Lucia holding her.

And standing beside them was my father.

Alive.

My hands trembled.

On the back:

THEY NEVER TOLD DANTE.

Footsteps sounded outside.

The door opened.

A man entered.

Not Victor.

Not Gabriel.

Not Dante.

Tony.

My boss from Bellanote.

He smiled.

"I'm sorry, Elina."

I stared at him.

"You?"

"I was trying to keep you away from this."

"You kidnapped us."

"I had no choice."

Sophia moved behind me.

Tony crouched.

"Your mother knows where the original ledger is."

"I don't."

"She hid it."

"I don't know where."

Tony pulled out a photograph.

My mother.

Holding me as a baby.

Behind her was Bellanote.

"The bakery wasn't a bakery," he said.

"What?"

"It was a meeting house."

"For who?"

"The Russo organization."

He opened the filing cabinet.

Inside were decades of documents.

"Your mother kept the original records."

"Why would she?"

"Because she knew someone would come for them."

I shook my head.

"Who?"

Tony's expression changed.

"Dante."

"What?"

He looked toward Sophia.

"The reason your mother disappeared wasn't to protect Sophia."

My throat tightened.

"Then why?"

"Because she discovered Dante wasn't the heir."

I stared at him.

"What?"

Tony leaned closer.

"His father had another son."

My mind raced.

"Who?"

Tony smiled.

"You know him."

The basement door opened again.

Dante walked in.

Blood streaked his face.

His gun was raised.

"Tony."

Tony stepped backward.

Dante looked at me.

"Are you hurt?"

I shook my head.

Then Sophia ran to him.

He dropped to his knees and caught her.

For one second, everything was still.

Then Tony laughed.

"You're too late."

Dante stood.

"What did you tell her?"

"Enough."

Tony threw a folder across the room.

It landed at Dante's feet.

"Ask her mother who her father really was."

Dante opened it.

His face became unreadable.

He looked at me.

Then at Sophia.

Then at the photograph of my mother.

"There was another man in the family."

I whispered:

"Who?"

Tony smiled.

"Dante's twin brother."

Dante stared at him.

"You said he died at birth."

Tony's smile disappeared.

"Because that's what your father told you."

Then the basement lights came on.

May you like

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

I Saved the Mafia Boss’s Baby from a Dumpster, but He Threw Me in Jail f...

The first thing I noticed when I opened the dumpster behind the Valente mansion was a tiny blue hand sticking out from beneath a f...

And a man stepped out from the shadows.

He looked exactly like Dante.