Chapter 9 - Blood Ties
The words detonated in Elena's mind with greater force than the explosives that had brought down the bedroom above.
""Your... brother?"" she breathed, her mouth dry. ""Julian was an only child. He told me he grew up in state care.""
""He lied to keep you clean,"" Luca said, pulling himself up against the damp wall of the drainage conduit. Dr. Aris approached, quickly wrapping a tourniquet around his bleeding bicep, her face set in grim lines. ""Julian broke away from the family syndicate thirty years ago when Hector took control through a bloody coup. He changed his name, buried his past, and tried to live as a ghost. But the bloodline doesn't wash out, Elena. It always comes back to collect its tribute.""
""Then you... you are my uncle,"" she said, the realization settling over her like a heavy, cold shroud.
Luca turned his head, his slate eyes meeting hers through the dim amber glow of the flashlight. ""Half-uncle. Julian and I shared a father, not a mother. But in this family, half-blood is still an iron chain. That is why Mateo targeted you. He wasn't just abusing a penniless girl; he was deliberately torturing Julian Vance's daughter to break the last remaining heirs to the Moretti throne.""
He looked toward the infant sleeping soundly in the doctor's embrace.
""And that boy,"" Luca added, ""is the final piece of the legacy. The rightful owner of every shipping route, every offshore fund, and every shadow alliance from here to Sicily.""
Suddenly, the doctor held up a hand, freezing in place.
From deep within the tunnel ahead of them—the supposedly abandoned drainage tunnel that led to the coastal highway—came the distinct sound of sloshing water.
Footsteps. Many of them. Splashing through the underground runoff with disciplined, synchronized precision.
Luca immediately drew his backup weapon, a small, matte-black subcompact tucked at his ankle. ""Hector didn't just assault the house from the ridge. He had men waiting in the storm drains.""
""Can we go back?"" Elena asked frantically, looking at the monolithic steel door behind them.
""The bulkhead is sealed,"" Luca said, stepping in front of her, shielding her and the child with his broad frame once more. ""There is only forward. Or straight into the dirt.""
From the shadows ahead, a flashlight snapped on, blinding them. But the voice that called out was neither Mateo’s nor Hector’s.
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It was a woman’s voice—cool, mocking, and instantly recognizable.
""Late as usual, little brother,"" the woman murmured from the darkness.
