Chapter 9 - The Daughter Of The Enemy
The gunfire stopped.
For three seconds.
Nobody moved.
The hidden room was filled with smoke.
The smell of burned wood and metal covered the air.
Dante looked at the photograph in Adrian’s hand.
A young Mara.
A man beside her.
A man Dante recognized.
His own father.
Mara stared at the picture.
Her face was pale.
"No."
Her voice was barely audible.
"That’s not possible."
Adrian looked at her.
"I’m sorry."
Mara shook her head.
"You don’t know what you’re saying."
"I do."
He handed her the photograph.
"This was taken eighteen years ago."
Her hands trembled as she held it.
The little girl in the picture was unmistakably her.
But the man standing beside her...
She had never seen him before.
Dante watched her.
He saw the confusion.
The fear.
The same emotions he had felt all night.
Everyone had secrets.
But now Mara’s secret had become connected to his.
"Who is he?" she asked.
Nobody answered.
Dante looked at Adrian.
"You know."
Adrian nodded.
"Yes."
"Tell her."
Adrian hesitated.
Then he said:
"That man was your father."
The room went silent.
Mara stared at him.
"No."
She shook her head.
"My father died when I was five."
Adrian looked down.
"That’s what you were told."
The words felt familiar.
Another lie.
Another person who was supposed to be dead.
Mara stepped back.
"You’re saying my whole life was fake?"
"No."
Adrian looked at her carefully.
"Your life was real."
He paused.
"But the story you were given wasn’t."
Dante watched Mara.
For the first time, he forgot about his own pain.
Because she looked completely lost.
The same way he had looked when he discovered his father’s secrets.
"Mara."
She looked at him.
"I need answers."
Dante nodded.
"I know."
A loud noise came from above.
Someone was moving through the mansion.
The attack wasn’t over.
Marcus looked toward the ceiling.
"We need to move."
Dante didn’t look away from Mara.
"Not until she knows."
Marcus stepped closer.
"Dante."
"No."
His voice was firm.
"Everyone has been making decisions for her."
He looked at Mara.
"I won’t."
For a moment, Mara saw something different in him.
Not the mafia king.
Not the man everyone feared.
Someone who understood what it felt like to have your entire identity taken away.
Adrian opened another file.
"This is why they came tonight."
Inside were several documents.
The first page contained a name.
Project Phoenix.
Mara frowned.
"What is that?"
Adrian answered.
"The plan your father created."
"My father?"
"Yes."
Dante looked at him.
"What plan?"
Adrian placed the documents on the table.
"Your father discovered someone inside the Vale organization was stealing money, killing witnesses, and preparing to take control."
Mara looked confused.
"How am I connected?"
Adrian looked at her.
"Because your father helped Dante’s father expose them."
Dante frowned.
"My father and hers worked together?"
Adrian nodded.
"For years."
That changed everything.
The enemy wasn’t outside the family.
It was someone who had been hiding between both families.
Mara looked at the documents.
"So why was I hidden?"
Adrian became quiet.
"Because after your father disappeared, they searched for you."
"Who?"
Adrian looked at Dante.
"The same people who caused your accident."
Dante’s expression hardened.
"They thought she was dead?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Adrian looked at Mara.
"Because someone changed her identity."
Mara’s eyes widened.
"Someone erased me?"
Adrian nodded.
"They changed your records. Your location. Everything."
She looked at her hands.
All her life.
Her name.
Her family.
Her past.
Everything had been protected by a lie.
Dante noticed something.
A small detail.
The same symbol from the photograph.
It was on the corner of the document.
The circle with the line through it.
"The symbol."
Everyone looked at him.
Dante pointed.
"It’s everywhere."
Adrian nodded.
"Because that symbol belongs to the organization behind everything."
Mara looked at him.
"Who are they?"
Adrian’s face became serious.
"They’re called The Circle."
Dante narrowed his eyes.
"I’ve never heard of them."
"That’s the point."
Adrian looked toward the hidden entrance.
"They don’t want people to know they exist."
A sound interrupted them.
A phone vibration.
Everyone stopped.
It came from the desk.
Not Dante’s.
Not Mara’s.
An old phone hidden beneath the documents.
Adrian picked it up.
His expression changed.
"What?"
Dante looked at him.
"Who is it?"
Adrian stared at the screen.
Then slowly turned the phone around.
The caller ID showed:
Mara Quinn.
Mara froze.
"But my phone is in my bag."
Nobody spoke.
The phone kept ringing.
Dante looked at Adrian.
"Answer it."
Adrian did.
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then a voice spoke.
A woman.
Calm.
Cold.
"Adrian."
He immediately recognized her.
His face changed.
"No."
Mara looked at him.
"Who is it?"
Adrian didn’t answer.
The woman continued.
"You found the room."
Dante stepped closer.
"Who are you?"
A small laugh came through the phone.
"You still don’t recognize me, Dante?"
His expression changed.
Because he knew that voice.
He had heard it before.
Years ago.
Before the accident.
Before everything collapsed.
The woman spoke again.
"You always were better at surviving than remembering."
Dante whispered:
"Mother."
The room went completely silent.
Mara looked at him.
His mother.
The woman everyone believed was dead.
Again.
Another ghost.
Another impossible return.
The voice continued.
"You have one hour."
Dante grabbed the phone.
"Where are you?"
A pause.
Then:
"Come to the place where your family buried the truth."
The call ended.
Adrian looked at Dante.
"You can’t go."
Dante stared at the dead screen.
"Why?"
Adrian’s face turned pale.
"Because that place is where your accident happened."
Mara looked at Dante.
"And now she wants you to go back there."
Dante didn’t answer.
May you like
Because for the first time in three years...
he was going back to the place that destroyed his life.
