Chapter 6 - The Enemy Inside My Own Blood
The message was still on the wall when I left the mansion.
COME ALONE, DOMINIC.
Three words.
Simple.
Confident.
The kind of message only someone who believed they had complete control would leave behind.
For most of my life, people had tried to threaten me.
They sent letters.
They made calls.
They left warnings.
But there was always one thing they forgot.
I had survived because I never walked into a trap blindly.
I walked into it knowing exactly what it was.
A trap.
Adrian followed me to the garage.
"You can't go."
I stopped.
Slowly.
"You don't get to tell me what I can do anymore."
His face tightened.
"Dominic, if you go there alone, you're walking exactly where they want you."
I looked at him.
"And if I don't go?"
He didn't answer.
Because we both knew.
Lily would pay the price.
I grabbed my coat.
"I spent twenty years believing I lost Elena because she chose to leave me."
My voice became quieter.
"I spent one night believing I found my daughter too late."
I looked at him.
"Nobody takes her from me."
Adrian looked down.
For once, he had no excuse.
No explanation.
No clever words.
Just guilt.
"Let me come with you."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Dominic—"
"You made enough decisions for me."
That hurt him.
Good.
Some pain needed to be felt.
I got into my car and drove away.
The address came five minutes later.
An old warehouse near the edge of the city.
A place my father used decades ago.
A place that should have been abandoned.
But when I arrived, the lights were already on.
Someone was waiting.
I stepped inside.
The smell hit me first.
Old wood.
Dust.
Cold metal.
Memories.
This place was where my father held meetings when I was young.
I remembered standing outside these doors as a teenager, believing power meant never being afraid.
I was wrong.
Power meant knowing exactly what people could take away from you.
And now they had taken the only thing I wanted to protect.
"Lily."
My voice echoed.
No answer.
I walked deeper into the building.
Then I heard footsteps.
A man stepped out from the shadows.
I knew him immediately.
Not because I had met him.
Because I had seen his face before.
In old photographs.
At my father's side.
The man who had disappeared after my father's death.
The man everyone believed was gone.
"Victor."
He smiled.
"You remember."
I stared at him.
"You were my father's right hand."
"One of them."
"What do you want?"
Victor walked closer.
"I want what your father promised me."
I almost laughed.
"My father promised many people many things."
"Exactly."
His smile disappeared.
"And your family broke every promise."
I looked around.
"Where is my daughter?"
He ignored the question.
That was a mistake.
"Twenty years ago, Elena discovered your father's records."
"I know."
"No."
Victor shook his head.
"You know pieces."
He reached into his coat and pulled out a folder.
He threw it onto a table.
"Your father didn't just control businesses."
I opened it.
Inside were names.
Hundreds of names.
Judges.
Police officers.
Politicians.
Business owners.
People who built their careers on secrets.
People who destroyed others to protect those secrets.
My eyes moved through the pages.
Then I saw something.
A signature.
Mine.
I froze.
No.
Impossible.
I turned the page.
There it was again.
My name.
A contract.
A company transfer.
A document dated twenty years ago.
The year Elena disappeared.
I looked at Victor.
"What is this?"
He smiled.
"The truth you were never allowed to see."
"I didn't sign this."
"Are you sure?"
My jaw tightened.
"You forged it."
Victor laughed softly.
"That is what everyone says when they discover the monster they helped create."
I stepped closer.
"I am not my father."
"No."
Victor looked at me.
"You are worse."
I stared at him.
"Careful."
"Why?"
He smiled.
"Because the truth is painful."
He pointed at the document.
"Your father planned everything before he died."
I said nothing.
"He knew he was losing control."
Victor continued.
"He knew you and Adrian would fight over the empire."
"So?"
"So he created a backup plan."
I looked at him.
"What backup plan?"
Victor leaned closer.
"Make Dominic Moretti believe he was the only person capable of saving the family."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Because somewhere deep inside, I knew.
My father had done exactly that.
He had spent my entire life preparing me to become him.
But I had always believed I escaped.
Maybe I didn't.
Maybe I just became a different version.
A quieter one.
A more controlled one.
But still the same.
"Where is Lily?"
Victor looked toward the back of the warehouse.
"She is safe."
"Bring her out."
"Not yet."
I moved forward.
Two men stepped from the shadows.
I stopped.
Victor smiled.
"Still the same Dominic."
"What does that mean?"
"You always think force solves everything."
"And you always think talking makes you smarter."
For the first time, Victor looked annoyed.
Good.
I wanted him emotional.
Emotional people made mistakes.
"Elena was smarter than you."
The room became silent.
My expression changed.
"What did you say?"
"She knew you weren't like your father."
I didn't move.
"She believed there was still good in you."
Victor opened another folder.
"That's why she hid Lily."
He placed a photograph on the table.
A photograph of Elena holding a baby.
"She knew if your father discovered Lily existed, the child would become a weapon."
My hands tightened.
"So she ran."
"Yes."
"From me?"
Victor shook his head.
"No."
A pause.
"From your family."
I looked at him.
"Then why did she die?"
Victor's face became serious.
"Because someone inside your family found her."
The answer came before he said the name.
I already knew.
But I needed him to say it.
"Who?"
Victor looked directly at me.
"Your brother."
Everything stopped.
Not because I believed him.
Because a part of me feared I did.
I remembered Adrian's face.
His excuses.
His silence.
His fear when Lily appeared.
His obsession with sending her away.
"No."
Victor smiled slightly.
"You still protect him."
"I protect the truth."
"No."
He stepped closer.
"You protect the last piece of family you have left."
I looked away.
And for one second, I hated that he was right.
Then I heard something.
A small sound.
A cough.
From behind the wall.
My entire body reacted.
"Lily."
I moved toward the sound.
Victor didn't stop me.
That was what scared me.
The door at the back of the warehouse was locked.
I reached for the handle.
It opened before I touched it.
Inside was a small room.
A chair.
A table.
A photograph.
And Lily was sitting there.
But she wasn't alone.
Someone was standing behind her.
Someone I thought I knew.
May you like
Someone who should never have been there.
Adrian stepped forward and said my name.
