CHAPTER 2 — THE DAUGHTER OF A DEAD EMPIRE
The words echoed through Elena's mind.
He'd like his sister back.
"No..." she whispered.
"You're lying."
The armed men spread across the parking garage with military precision.
Marco shoved Elena behind a concrete pillar.
"They're not talking about biology."
"What?"
"They're talking about succession."
Bullets shattered the windshield behind them.
Marco fired only twice.
Both shots disabled lights overhead.
Darkness swallowed half the garage.
Chaos.
He pulled Elena through a maintenance tunnel hidden behind an electrical room.
"You know this place?"
"I bought it six years ago."
"You own abandoned hotels?"
"I own places people don't ask questions about."
They reached a reinforced steel door.
Inside waited something Elena never expected.
An operations room.
Dozens of surveillance monitors.
Encrypted radios.
Maps.
Weapons.
Medical supplies.
The room looked less like a criminal hideout...
...and more like a war bunker.
Waiting inside was an elderly woman with silver hair tied neatly into a bun.
She looked at Elena...
...and immediately burst into tears.
"My God..."
"You have Rosa's eyes."
Elena froze.
"You knew my mother?"
The woman smiled sadly.
"I delivered you."
"My name is Sister Catherine."
"I've been hiding with Marco ever since your mother disappeared."
Nothing made sense anymore.
Marco opened an old fireproof safe.
Inside rested a wooden box engraved with one name.
ELENA
"It belongs to you."
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Inside...
A silver necklace.
A cassette tape.
A worn diary.
And one sealed envelope.
Across the front, in handwriting Elena recognized instantly...
For my daughter—only if Marco fails to protect you.
Tears blurred her vision.
She opened the letter.
The first sentence shattered every memory she'd ever trusted.
Elena...
If you're reading this...
then I have already failed to keep my promise.
Everything I ever told you about your father was a lie.
Her knees gave out.
Marco caught her before she hit the floor.
She kept reading.
Your father did not abandon us.
I did.
Because loving him became the most dangerous thing I ever did.
There was one final sentence.
One Marco had never seen before.
Find the key beneath Saint Gabriel Church...
before Raphael's blood does.
Marco looked confused.
"What key?"
Elena slowly lifted the false bottom of the wooden box.
Hidden underneath...
A small brass key.
Exactly where her mother had promised.
Before anyone could react...
Every monitor in the bunker suddenly turned black.
One by one...
A single face appeared across every screen.
A man in his early thirties.
Platinum hair.
The same ice-blue eyes as Marco.
Only colder.
He smiled.
"Hello, Marco."
"Still protecting what's mine?"
Marco whispered one name.
"Lucien Cain."
The young man laughed softly.
"You've kept my sister alive long enough."
"I'm coming to bring her home."
Then every monitor exploded into static.
Somewhere above them...
May you like
The bunker's first security door unlocked.
Someone was already inside.
