Chapter 13 - The Man Who Should Have Been Dead
I went alone.
No Marco.
No guards.
No Lucia.
The address in the photograph was an abandoned church outside Newark.
Rain fell heavily.
Inside, every candle was already lit.
My father sat in the first row.
He looked older than the man in my memories.
But it was him.
“Dad.”
He turned.
“Dominic.”
I couldn't move.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because dying was the only way to keep you alive.”
I laughed.
“You let me bury you.”
“I had to.”
“For eleven years.”
“I know.”
“You let Lucia believe you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe I was alone.”
He looked down.
“That was the point.”
I stepped closer.
“Where is Emma?”
He looked at me.
“You finally found her.”
“Answer me.”
“She is with Maria.”
“Why?”
“Because Maria believes Emma is in danger.”
“She is in danger.”
“Yes.”
“From you?”
He didn't answer.
“From Carlo?”
“No.”
“Then from whom?”
He whispered a name.
“Elias.”
The name meant nothing.
“Who is Elias?”
“The man who built the crown network.”
My father stood.
“He recruited Carlo.”
“And Kolov?”
“Kolov was expendable.”
“Maria?”
“She was supposed to disappear.”
“Antonio?”
“He knew too much.”
“So who killed Antonio?”
My father stared at me.
“I did.”
I froze.
“You said you saved him.”
“I did save him.”
“Then why?”
“Because Antonio was already dying.”
“What?”
“He had been poisoned.”
My father walked toward the altar.
“Kolov poisoned him. Antonio asked me to end his suffering.”
I stared.
“No.”
“He made me promise to protect Maria and Emma.”
“And the photographs?”
“Carlo fabricated them.”
“The DNA?”
“Fabricated.”
“The ledger?”
“Real.”
My father handed it to me.
“Your mother kept the original pages.”
I opened the book.
A hidden page slid out.
Names.
Payments.
Locations.
At the top:
ELIAS VANE.
Below it:
CARLO CASTELLANO.
KOLov.
PRIVATE SECURITY.
POLITICAL OFFICIALS.
POLICE.
JUDGES.
The crown network had spread everywhere.
I looked at my father.
“Why did you leave me?”
“Because Elias believed you were easier to control if you hated me.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
My father smiled sadly.
“He underestimated you.”
For the first time, I saw something in his face.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Where is Emma?”
My father looked toward the church doors.
“You have twenty minutes.”
“For what?”
“To stop Elias from killing her.”
“Where?”
“Under your mansion.”
I froze.
The place where Emma had worked.
The place where she had cleaned floors.
The place where she had been attacked because she wore my crest.
My father whispered:
“He has been living beneath your house for years.”
I ran.
At the mansion, Marco was waiting.
He looked terrified.
“Boss.”
“What happened?”
“The power is gone.”
“And Emma?”
“No sign.”
“Lucia?”
“Gone.”
“Elias?”
Marco looked toward the basement.
“We found a hidden elevator.”
I opened the door.
The elevator descended.
Far below Manhattan’s streets.
The doors opened.
A corridor stretched into darkness.
At the end was a steel door.
From behind it came a woman’s scream.
Emma.
I ran.
But before I reached the door, a voice came through the speaker.
“Welcome home, Dominic.”
Elias.
May you like
Then he laughed.
“You spent fourteen months sleeping above my prison.”
