Chapter 12 - The First HouseThe old Romano estate stood outside the city.
Nobody had lived there for sixteen years.
Yet lights glowed in the windows.
Vincent stopped the car two hundred yards away.
The house looked enormous through the rain.
Daniel sat beside him.
Sal drove the second vehicle.
Marco stayed behind.
Vincent checked his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Vincent looked at him.
“I've already lost twelve years.”
Daniel's eyes hardened.
“Then don't make me lose another twelve.”
They entered through the side.
The house smelled like dust and cold stone.
Every painting had been removed.
Every piece of furniture was gone.
Except one.
A piano.
Vincent stopped.
The same piano as the burned house.
Daniel stared.
“It's the same.”
“It can't be.”
“It is.”
Vincent noticed a tiny scratch near the bottom.
He remembered making it as a child.
His father had punished him for damaging the wood.
Vincent opened the bench.
Inside was a metal box.
Empty.
Except for a single coin.
Number ninety-one.
Daniel picked it up.
“The final piece.”
“What does it unlock?”
Daniel looked around.
“Something your father never wanted us to find.”
Footsteps echoed upstairs.
Vincent raised his weapon.
Carlo's voice drifted down.
“Did you really think I wouldn't know you were coming?”
Vincent moved through the hall.
Carlo stood on the second-floor landing.
Two armed men stood behind him.
And Lily sat in a chair.
She wasn't tied.
That worried Vincent.
“Let her go.”
Carlo smiled.
“You still think this is about kidnapping.”
“You took her.”
“I invited her.”
Lily looked at Vincent.
“I didn't come here willingly.”
Carlo chuckled.
“Children rarely understand their inheritance.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You've lost.”
“No.”
Carlo looked at him.
“You lost twelve years ago.”
“You killed Maria.”
Carlo's smile disappeared.
“I did not kill her.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“She escaped.”
Vincent stared.
“What?”
Carlo looked at Lily.
“Her mother is alive.”
Lily's face went white.
“My mom?”
“No.”
Carlo shook his head.
“Her biological mother.”
He pointed toward a door.
The door opened.
A woman stepped out.
Mid-forties.
Same dark eyes as Lily.
Same scar above the eyebrow.
She looked at Vincent.
Then Daniel.
Then the girl.
“Lily.”
Lily stood.
“Mom?”
The woman began to cry.
Vincent looked at Daniel.
Daniel whispered:
“Maria.”
The impossible woman crossed the room.
Lily ran to her.
Vincent lowered his weapon.
Everything he believed was collapsing.
Carlo watched.
“You see?”
Vincent looked at him.
“You've been lying to everyone.”
“No.”
Carlo pointed toward the floor.
“You've been believing the lies.”
A section of wood beneath the piano clicked.
The floor opened.
Inside was a vault.
Vincent descended.
There was no money.
No weapons.
No drugs.
Only boxes.
Hundreds.
Each marked with a name.
Every powerful person the Romano family had ever touched.
Vincent found his own.
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Himself.
Age five.
Standing beside a woman.
Maria.
On the back:
HE KNOWS NOTHING. KEEP IT THAT WAY.
Vincent turned.
“Why me?”
Carlo's voice came from above.
“Because your father knew something.”
“What?”
“That you weren't his greatest heir.”
Vincent looked back into the box.
At the bottom was one final document.
He unfolded it.
It was a DNA report.
Two names.
Vincent Romano.
Carlo Romano.
And beneath them:
MATCH: 99.98%
Vincent looked up.
Carlo was smiling.
May you like
Then he said:
“Welcome home, son.”
