CHAPTER 2 — The Blood That Never Dried
Vincent and Isabella barely had time to breathe before the cellar door burst open.
A flashlight swept across the room.
Someone had found the tunnel.
"Down there!"
Gunfire exploded through the darkness.
Concrete shattered.
Wine bottles burst like grenades.
Vincent shoved Isabella behind a stone pillar and fired twice.
Both bullets found their targets.
But Marcus had brought far more men than Vincent expected.
This wasn't a family betrayal.
It was a military operation.
They escaped through another passage leading into the old church behind the mansion.
Rain poured outside.
Lightning flashed across stained glass windows.
Inside the abandoned chapel...
Isabella finally told the truth.
Twenty-four years earlier...
Vincent had been invited to a peace meeting with the Romano family.
He never arrived.
Someone intercepted him.
Someone used his name.
That night every Romano was slaughtered.
Every witness blamed Vincent Torino.
The war that followed built Vincent's empire.
But it had all been based on a lie.
"The man who planned everything..."
Isabella whispered,
"...needed you and my father to destroy each other."
Vincent clenched his jaw.
"Who?"
Before she answered...
an old priest slowly stepped from the shadows.
Vincent instantly recognized him.
Father Gabriel.
The man who had baptized Marcus.
The man everyone believed had spent forty years helping orphaned children.
The priest smiled.
"You finally figured it out."
Vincent's blood froze.
The priest removed his silver cross.
Inside it was a tiny encrypted drive.
"I started both families."
"I ended both families."
"I made kings."
"I buried kings."
"You two were simply useful."
Vincent couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Father Gabriel wasn't a priest.
He had been laundering mafia fortunes through charities for decades.
Every war.
Every betrayal.
Every assassination.
Had earned him billions.
Marcus walked into the church carrying a rifle.
He smiled at Vincent.
"I'm sorry, Uncle."
"But history only remembers winners."
Vincent lowered his gun.
Marcus smiled wider.
Then—
BOOM!
The church doors exploded inward.
Dozens of black SUVs surrounded the building.
Snipers covered every window.
Marcus laughed.
"My men."
Vincent quietly smiled.
"No."
"They're mine."
Marcus turned around.
Every sniper pointed directly at him.
The entire assault team removed their masks.
Not one of them belonged to Marcus.
Every single soldier answered to Isabella.
Marcus looked at her in disbelief.
"You... you're just a maid."
She slowly removed her apron.
Beneath it...
she wore tactical armor.
"For three years..."
she said calmly,
"I've been cleaning much more than floors."
END OF CHAPTER 2
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HOOK FOR CHAPTER 3:
Marcus thought he had trapped Vincent... until the maid revealed who she really worked for—and the name shocked everyone.
