CHAPTER 6 — The Daughter Nobody Knew Existed
The woman led Elena through hidden tunnels beneath the opera house.
Finally, they emerged in an abandoned subway station.
Vincent arrived seconds later, furious.
"Who are you?"
The stranger removed her hood.
She looked almost Elena's age.
Late twenties.
Sharp blue eyes.
A scar crossed her left eyebrow.
"My name is Sofia Bellini."
Vincent stared.
"No..."
She nodded.
"I'm Luca's daughter."
Silence.
"I spent my entire life pretending to be dead."
She handed Elena an old photograph.
Three smiling children stood beside a lake.
One was Vincent.
One was a little girl.
The third...
Was Daniel Torres.
On the back of the photo were handwritten words.
"Protect them until they're old enough to choose."
Elena looked up.
"What does that mean?"
Sofia took a deep breath.
"Your father and Vincent's mother built a secret escape plan."
"For who?"
"For every child trapped inside the organization."
"Luca discovered it."
"He murdered everyone involved."
Vincent felt sick.
"My mother..."
Sofia nodded slowly.
"She didn't die in a car accident."
"She was executed."
Vincent stumbled backward.
Everything he believed about his family collapsed in seconds.
Then Sofia revealed the final truth.
"You think Luca wants the empire."
"He doesn't."
"He wants something much bigger."
She unfolded a satellite map.
Red circles covered ports across North America, Europe, and Asia.
"What is this?" Elena whispered.
Sofia answered with visible fear.
"Luca spent twenty years turning the Moretti empire into a global criminal network."
"And tomorrow night..."
"He sells it."
"To the highest bidder."
The auction would take place aboard a luxury cruise ship in international waters.
The buyers weren't just mafia families.
They were billionaires.
Corrupt officials.
Private military contractors.
People powerful enough to disappear entire governments.
Vincent slowly loaded his pistol.
Then unloaded it again.
He placed it on the table.
"No."
Elena looked at him.
"What are you doing?"
He met her eyes.
"If we fight them with guns..."
"We lose."
"So how do we stop them?"
Vincent smiled for the first time since leaving the diner.
"We destroy the only thing every criminal values more than power."
"Their trust."
As the three unlikely allies prepared to infiltrate the most dangerous gathering of organized crime in modern history, none of them noticed the tiny blinking light hidden beneath the table.
May you like
A transmitter.
Someone had been listening to every word.
