Chapter 6 - THE UNCLE'S BETRAYAL“The man who taught me how to strike was the man who struck my mother.”My stomach churned with a sickening realization. Julian Vance. The man I called Uncle. The man who handed me my first gun when I was twelve years old and whispered in my ear that the Scarlattis killed my mother.

It had been him all along.

Julian had started the fire to kill my mother for fleeing the family cartel, saved me only when he realized my father’s vast hidden inheritance required a direct blood heir, and manipulated me for two decades into destroying his rivals for him!

“Boss!” Marcus yelled, ducking behind cover as glass slammed down around us. “We’re surrounded! There’s at least thirty heavy mercenaries outside! We can’t hold the estate!”

“We don't need to hold it,” I said, my voice turning darker than the night sky. My pain vanished, replaced by an absolute, lethal clarity. “Get Elena and Nora down to the underground vault behind the wine cellar. Activate the iron blast doors.”

“What about you, sir?”

“I’m going to end twenty years of deception.”

I sprinted up the stairs, ignoring the hail of bullets cutting through the plaster walls. I reached the staff quarters, bursting inside. Elena was huddled in the corner, holding a terrified Nora in her arms.

“Elena, listen to me,” I commanded, scooping Nora into my arm and grabbing Elena’s hand. “Marcus is going to take you to the subterranean safe room. It has food, water, and reinforced titanium walls. No one can touch you there.”

“Mr. Luca!” Nora cried, wrapping her tiny arms around my neck. “Come with us! Don’t stay in the dark!”

I looked down at her red, raw hands—the hands of a child who was willing to suffer cold water to save her mother.

“I have to clean a stain, Nora,” I whispered, kissing her small forehead. “A stain that should have been washed away twenty years ago.”

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I handed her to Marcus, who ushered them quickly down the hidden staircase behind the bookshelf. As the heavy steel doors slid shut, sealing them in absolute safety, I pulled two tactical combat knives from my vest and strapped an extra rifle to my back.

Julian wanted a war? I was about to give him an apocalypse.