Chapter 14 - The Last Deal With Frankie Sullivan
The locks clicked open.
One by one.
Every door in the Romano estate.
The sound traveled through the halls like a warning.
Nobody moved.
Because everyone understood what it meant.
Someone had taken control.
Marcus immediately checked the security system.
His face turned pale.
"The entire network has been overridden."
Damian looked at him.
"By who?"
Marcus stared at the screen.
Then slowly answered.
"By the person who built it."
Antonio went silent.
That was the first time Hazel saw him look afraid.
Not cautious.
Not angry.
Afraid.
"Who is he?" Hazel asked.
Nobody answered.
Then Antonio whispered:
"Alessandro Vieri."
The name meant nothing to Hazel.
But it meant everything to everyone else.
Damian looked at his father.
"You said he was dead."
Antonio looked at the screen.
"I was wrong."
The man appeared again.
Still sitting in the dark room.
Still watching them.
Alessandro Vieri.
The person who had been hidden behind every secret.
Every betrayal.
Every disappearance.
His voice came through the speakers.
"You always were terrible at knowing when a war had ended, Antonio."
Antonio stepped toward the screen.
"You should be dead."
A quiet laugh.
"And you should have protected your son better."
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"What do you want?"
Alessandro looked directly at him.
"I want the truth returned to the people it belongs to."
Hazel felt confused.
"The truth about what?"
Alessandro smiled.
"You still don't understand, do you?"
The screen changed.
A document appeared.
A birth record.
Damian looked at it.
Then froze.
Hazel noticed.
"What is it?"
Damian didn't answer.
She walked closer.
The document showed a name.
Damian Brooks.
Her heart stopped.
"No."
Damian stared.
"No."
Alessandro continued.
"Antonio didn't steal a son."
A pause.
"He stole a life."
Hazel looked at Antonio.
"What does that mean?"
Antonio didn't answer.
And that was the answer.
Damian turned slowly.
"Tell me."
Antonio remained silent.
"Tell me the truth."
For the first time, the powerful man looked like someone who had lost.
"I found you."
Damian's jaw tightened.
"You found me."
"Yes."
"And you changed my name."
Antonio looked down.
"Yes."
"Why?"
A long pause.
"Because they were going to kill you."
Damian laughed bitterly.
"So you erased me."
"I saved you."
"No."
Damian stepped closer.
"You saved yourself."
The room became silent.
Hazel watched them.
For years, Damian had carried the weight of a family that wasn't completely his.
A name.
An empire.
A legacy.
And now everything was falling apart.
Alessandro's voice interrupted.
"Antonio took you because he believed he could control the future."
The screen showed another file.
"This is the original agreement."
Hazel looked.
The names appeared.
Families.
Organizations.
People connected by power.
Then she saw something.
Her father's name.
Thomas Brooks.
And beside it:
Guardian of the Heir.
Hazel froze.
"Guardian?"
Alessandro continued.
"Your father was chosen because he was the only person nobody suspected."
Hazel looked at the screen.
"He protected Damian."
A pause.
"And later, he protected you."
Damian looked at her.
Hazel felt something break inside.
Her entire life had been built around missing pieces.
Her father's silence.
Her mother's disappearance.
Wyatt's betrayal.
Damian's secrets.
Everything was connected.
Alessandro continued.
"But Thomas made one mistake."
"What?"
"He trusted the wrong person."
Everyone looked at Marcus.
The room changed.
Marcus lowered his eyes.
Damian turned.
"Marcus."
His security chief looked at him.
"I know."
"How much did you know?"
Marcus took a breath.
"Everything."
Hazel felt sick.
"You knew my father?"
Marcus nodded.
"I worked with him."
"Then why did you betray him?"
Marcus looked at her.
"I didn't."
Nobody moved.
"What?"
Marcus looked toward the screen.
"The person who betrayed Thomas used my name."
Damian's expression changed.
"What?"
Marcus reached into his jacket.
Slowly.
Everyone reacted.
But he only pulled out a small device.
"I kept this for twelve years."
He placed it on the table.
"A recording from the night Thomas died."
Hazel stared.
"Why didn't you show anyone?"
Marcus looked at Damian.
"Because the person responsible was someone nobody would believe."
Damian pressed the device.
The recording started.
Static.
Then Thomas's voice.
"Marcus, if you are hearing this, then they found me."
A pause.
"I need you to protect my daughter."
Hazel closed her eyes.
Her father.
Again.
Thomas continued.
"Do not trust Antonio."
Antonio looked away.
"But do not trust the others either."
The recording became distorted.
Then:
"The person who ordered this is someone close to Damian."
Hazel looked at Damian.
The recording continued.
"Someone who believes the future belongs to them."
A loud noise.
Then Thomas whispered:
"If Damian ever learns the truth..."
The recording stopped.
Everyone waited.
Marcus looked at the device.
"It was damaged."
Damian stared.
"What truth?"
Marcus didn't answer.
Because Alessandro answered.
"The truth that Damian was never meant to lead."
The screen changed.
A countdown appeared.
00:30
Hazel looked at it.
"What happens at zero?"
Alessandro smiled.
"The archive goes public."
Antonio stepped forward.
"You'll destroy everything."
"No."
Alessandro looked at him.
"I will destroy lies."
Damian looked at the countdown.
"What do you want?"
Alessandro smiled.
"One thing."
A pause.
"Bring me Hazel."
The room became silent.
Damian immediately stepped in front of her.
"No."
Alessandro looked amused.
"Still protecting her."
Hazel felt Damian's hand close around hers.
Not controlling.
Not forcing.
Just holding.
A promise.
"I won't let you take her."
Alessandro leaned closer to the camera.
"Then watch what happens when everyone learns what she really is."
The countdown continued.
00:15
Marcus moved toward the system.
"I can stop it."
"How?"
"I need physical access to the main server."
Damian looked at him.
"Where?"
Marcus hesitated.
Then pointed.
"Below the estate."
Antonio looked shocked.
"The old basement."
Hazel looked between them.
"What is there?"
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew.
A place that had been hidden for years.
A place connected to every secret.
They moved quickly.
The basement door was behind a hidden wall.
Damian opened it.
The stairs went down into darkness.
Hazel followed.
At the bottom was a room.
Not a storage room.
Not a vault.
A living space.
Old.
Abandoned.
But preserved.
On the wall were photographs.
Damian.
As a child.
Thomas.
Hazel's parents.
And one more person.
A woman.
Standing beside Thomas.
Hazel stepped closer.
Because she knew that face.
It was the woman from the video.
Evelyn Brooks.
But beneath the photograph was a date.
And a note.
Damian read it.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He handed it to Hazel.
The note contained only one sentence.
The child we saved was not Damian.
Hazel looked up.
"What does that mean?"
Before anyone answered, the basement lights turned on.
Someone was already inside.
A figure stood at the end of the room.
Holding the original birth records.
And when the person stepped into the light...
May you like
Damian whispered the name he thought he would never hear again.
"Mother."
