CHAPTER 3 — The Man Who Claimed to Be Vincent's Father
The archive plunged into darkness.
Only the crimson dots of laser sights floated through the black like hungry eyes.
One.
Three.
Seven.
Twelve.
Vincent Torino had spent four decades hunting men.
Now, for the first time, he had become the prey.
"Get down!" Marco roared.
Gunfire erupted.
The deafening crack of suppressed rifles echoed through the underground archive as bullets shredded centuries-old documents.
Emma grabbed Vincent's arm and dragged him behind a massive steel cabinet.
Wood splintered.
Concrete exploded.
The elderly stranger who had just claimed to be Vincent's father remained astonishingly calm.
He reached inside his bloodstained coat.
Vincent instantly raised his pistol.
The old man slowly pulled out...
Not a weapon.
A faded silver pocket watch.
He flipped it open.
Inside was a tiny photograph.
A newborn baby wrapped in a blue blanket.
Beside the baby stood a much younger version of the old man.
The same piercing gray eyes.
The same scar above the left eyebrow.
The same jawline Vincent had stared at in the mirror his entire life.
"My name is Adrian Rossi," the old man said quietly.
"I've searched for you for forty-two years."
Before Vincent could answer—
BOOM!
An explosive charge blew apart the archive entrance.
Smoke poured into the room.
Masked assassins flooded inside.
"Luca wants everyone dead!"
Marco opened fire first.
Three attackers collapsed instantly.
But more kept coming.
Vincent fought with ruthless precision.
Every shot found its mark.
Years of surviving gang wars had made him almost impossible to kill.
Yet something disturbed him.
The assassins weren't trying to retrieve the files.
They were trying to destroy them.
One man ignored Vincent completely and hurled incendiary grenades toward the archive shelves.
Flames erupted.
Thousands of documents ignited.
Emma screamed.
"The evidence!"
Adrian sprinted into the fire.
He shoved several thick folders into a leather satchel before flames swallowed the cabinets.
Vincent grabbed him.
"Leave them!"
Adrian looked him directly in the eyes.
"If these records burn..."
"...you'll never know who ordered your mother's murder."
Vincent froze.
"My mother?"
"You think Isabella Torino died from illness?"
Adrian's face hardened.
"No."
"She was poisoned."
Everything stopped.
The gunfire.
The smoke.
Even Vincent's breathing.
"My father told everyone she died of heart failure."
"He lied."
Adrian's voice shook with old pain.
"Because the killer lived inside your own family."
Suddenly...
Emma noticed something lying beneath the burning shelves.
A small metal box.
She crawled toward it despite the flames.
Marco shouted.
"Emma!"
The ceiling began collapsing.
Burning beams crashed around her.
She reached the box...
Just as an explosion threw her across the room.
Vincent rushed toward her.
Blood covered her forehead.
She held the box tightly against her chest.
"I got it..."
"What is it?"
She looked terrified.
"I don't know."
"But Luca wanted it destroyed first."
The archive ceiling groaned again.
Marco yelled,
"We have thirty seconds!"
Adrian pointed toward another hidden tunnel.
"This way!"
As they escaped, Vincent glanced back one last time.
Forty years of mafia history disappeared beneath fire.
But one question burned even hotter than the flames.
If Isabella Torino had been murdered...
Who had truly raised him?
And why?
An hour later...
The four survivors reached an abandoned monastery overlooking the city.
It had once belonged to monks.
Now it served as one of Salvatore Torino's forgotten safe houses.
Rain battered the stained-glass windows.
Emma carefully opened the metal box.
Inside...
Only one cassette tape.
And a handwritten note.
Play this only after Salvatore Torino is dead.
Vincent slowly inserted the tape.
The old recorder crackled.
Then...
His father's voice filled the room.
Calm.
Heavy.
Filled with regret.
"Vincent...
If you're hearing this...
I've already failed you."
The room fell silent.
"The greatest sin of my life...
wasn't building a criminal empire."
A long pause.
Then six devastating words.
"It was stealing another man's son."
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Vincent's entire world shattered again.
END OF CHAPTER 3
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