Chapter 8 - THE BROTHER WHO STEPPED OUT OF THE DARK
Vincent had taken eleven people hostage in the hospital lobby.
Elias watched the security feed from a maintenance office.
“He wants Claire,” Marco said.
“No. He wants Lorenzo.”
Adeline looked toward her mother.
Claire was pale but conscious.
“You know how to contact him.”
Claire didn’t answer.
“Mom.”
“I promised to keep him away.”
“People could die.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“He has a wife.”
Elias looked at her.
“Lorenzo?”
“Yes.”
“Children?”
“One daughter.”
Adeline closed her eyes.
Another family had been living under the shadow of a secret none of them created.
Elias crouched beside Claire.
“I’m not going to hurt him.”
“You don’t know what Roberto told him.”
“What did he tell him?”
“That if you ever found him, you might see him as a threat.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“My father didn’t know me very well.”
Claire studied his face.
“No. I think he knew exactly who you could become.”
She removed a small pendant from her neck.
Inside was a tiny tracking device.
“I activate this, Lorenzo will know something happened.”
Elias nodded.
Claire pressed it.
They waited.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Then the hospital’s emergency speakers cut out.
Gunshots erupted downstairs.
Marco checked the monitor.
“Someone entered through the loading dock.”
A man moved across the screen.
Tall.
Black coat.
Dark hair.
He fought like someone professionally trained.
Within seconds, two of Vincent’s men were down.
Elias stared.
The stranger turned toward a security camera.
Beneath his left ear was a crescent-shaped birthmark.
Adeline whispered:
“Lorenzo.”
Elias didn’t move.
His younger brother had just stepped out of a secret twenty-four years old.
They descended toward the lobby.
Vincent stood near the front entrance holding a pistol to a nurse’s head.
Lorenzo was behind a column.
Elias entered from the opposite side.
Vincent laughed.
“Finally. Both Ferrante sons in one room.”
Elias raised his gun.
“Release the nurse.”
“You always did sound like Roberto.”
Lorenzo spoke from the shadows.
“And you always talked too much.”
Vincent fired.
The nurse dropped.
Elias fired back.
Chaos exploded.
Marco’s men moved.
Lorenzo tackled Vincent from the side.
The pistol skidded across the floor.
Elias reached them.
For a moment, the brothers looked at each other.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Same stunned recognition.
Vincent laughed from the floor.
“Beautiful.”
Lorenzo punched him.
Hard.
“Shut up.”
Security restrained Vincent.
Elias continued staring at Lorenzo.
“You knew about me.”
“All my life.”
“Why didn’t you come?”
“Because Claire told me you were safer if I stayed dead.”
Elias looked toward Claire.
She lowered her eyes.
Lorenzo stood.
He was thirty-seven, only fourteen months younger than Elias.
“You took a bullet for Adeline tonight.”
Elias’s expression shifted.
“You were at the ballroom?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew Vincent was moving.”
Lorenzo reached inside his coat.
Elias’s men raised their guns.
Lorenzo slowly removed a flash drive.
“This is what he wanted.”
“What is it?”
“The complete Ferrante ledger.”
Elias stared.
“You had it?”
“For nineteen years.”
“Why?”
“Because our father gave it to Claire.”
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened.
“And because the ledger proves Vincent was never the real traitor.”
Elias felt something cold settle in his stomach.
“Who was?”
Lorenzo looked toward Salvatore, who had just entered the lobby with two guards.
“Ask him.”
Everyone turned.
Salvatore stopped.
Lorenzo spoke quietly.
May you like
“Vincent stole money.”
“But Salvatore ordered the murders.”
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