Chapter 1 - The Poisoned Bloodline
The guard’s voice was barely a rasp, but in the silent, vaulted corridor, it sounded like a glass vase shattering on marble.
“Boss… that’s not just an illness. Look at her skin. She’s been marked by the Serpent’s Kiss.”
Mr. Moretti stopped dead. His grip on me tightened so suddenly that my rabbit pressed flat against his heavy chest. I could hear his heart now—it wasn't slow and steady like a giant's. It was hammering like a trapped bird.
“Repeat that, Julian,” Moretti said, his voice dropping to a terrifying register.
“The blue veins at her throat,” the guard whispered, rushing to keep pace as Moretti broke into a full sprint toward our quarter. “It’s the lethal nerve toxin used only by the Valenti Syndicate. The slow-acting variant. She didn't fall ill tonight, boss. She was murdered over the last thirty days.”
We burst into our small bedroom. The golden lamplight bathed my mother’s pale face. Her lips were faint shade of lavender, her breathing so shallow it barely stirred the thin blanket.
Moretti kicked the door shut, gently setting me down on the armchair before dropping to his knees beside Clara. His large, scarred hands trembled as he touched her jawline.
“Clara… Clara, look at me,” he commanded, but his tone cracked. The cold ruler of the underworld was gone; standing in his place was a man staring at a ghost. “Call Dr. Vance. Tell him if he isn't here in three minutes, I'll burn his clinic to the ground.”
I pulled my knees to my chest, clutching my rabbit. “Is Mommy going to wake up?”
Moretti turned to me. The fire in his eyes softened into something raw and aching. He walked over, kneeling at my eye level. “What is your name, little one?”
“Lily,” I whispered.
“Lily…” He repeated it as if testing a sacred word. He reached out, gently lifting my small right hand. On my inner wrist was a tiny, horseshoe-shaped birthmark. When Moretti saw it, his breath caught violently in his throat. “She kept you hidden in my own house… for three years.”
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Before he could say more, the heavy oak doors banged open. Dr. Vance rushed in, medical kit in hand, followed by four armed men. But as the doctor pulled out his syringes, the mansion's emergency sirens began to howl through the walls. Red lights flashed outside the tinted windows.
Julian burst back into the room, his gun drawn, face pale as ash. “Boss! We have a breach at the eastern gate! It’s Vincenzo. He knows she’s here!”
