Chapter 13 - Before the Gunshot
The name on the certificate was not Dominic's father.
It was a man named Gabriel Moretti.
I knew the name.
Everyone did.
Gabriel Moretti had been one of the most feared men in the city twenty years earlier.
He had died before I was born.
Dominic stared at the document.
“My father wasn't your father.”
I looked at him.
“Then who was?”
“Gabriel.”
I sat down.
Everything suddenly made sense and nothing did.
My mother had known him.
The trust.
The hidden sister.
The attacks.
The uncle.
All of it connected to a family war that had started before I existed.
Evelyn sat beside me.
“I knew Gabriel.”
“You did?”
“He protected me.”
“How?”
“He was my biological father.”
I looked at her.
“Then we're half-sisters?”
She nodded.
The revelation should have felt impossible.
Instead, it felt strangely familiar.
She had my eyes.
My mother's necklace.
My memories of childhood were suddenly full of gaps.
Questions I had never thought to ask.
Why had my mother never spoken about my father?
Why had she moved so often?
Why had she taught me never to give strangers my full name?
Why had she always said:
If someone asks about our family, you tell them nothing.
Dominic sat across from me.
“I should have told you what I suspected.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of losing you.”
I looked at him.
“You could have trusted me.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Leo climbed into my lap.
“Are you staying?”
I hugged him.
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Good.”
Dominic watched us.
For the first time, I saw something like peace in his face.
Then the detective returned.
“We found Clara.”
Dominic stood.
“Where?”
“She surrendered.”
We went to the station.
Clara was sitting alone.
She looked exhausted.
She handed Dominic a flash drive.
“This contains everything.”
Dominic took it.
“What did you do?”
“I was trying to protect Evelyn.”
“You nearly killed Beatrice.”
Clara looked at me.
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
“Your uncle.”
She lowered her head.
“He threatened my daughter.”
I stepped closer.
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
I believed her.
Maybe because I understood fear.
Maybe because I knew what it was like to make bad decisions while trying to protect someone.
Dominic didn't.
He turned to leave.
Clara stopped him.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“The attack wasn't supposed to happen tonight.”
Dominic turned.
“Then when?”
“Tomorrow.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
Clara looked at me.
“The trust transfers ownership.”
My heart stopped.
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“And if it transfers?”
“Your uncle loses everything.”
“So he wants Beatrice dead before that.”
Clara nodded.
Then the station lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Every officer reached for a weapon.
A phone began ringing on the desk.
It was Clara's.
She looked terrified.
The screen showed one incoming call.
The caller name was:
MOTHER.
Clara whispered:
“She died twenty years ago.”
Dominic looked at me.
The phone kept ringing.
Then the screen changed.
May you like
A message appeared.
BRING BEATRICE TO THE MANSION. ALONE.
