Chapter 14
The sky was ash-gray above the Rossi estate, a looming shadow of the empire it once represented. The gates hung half open, scorched and bent from the earlier siege. Black smoke curled from broken windows. The walls that had raised me now stood cracked and bleeding.
This was my home once.
Now it was just a tomb.
I stepped through the gates without flinching, my boots crunching over broken glass and bullet casings. Around me, my allies in black moved like shadows-silently dismantling the last line of resistance. The loyalists of Don Matteo fired from balconies and behind overturned furniture, but it was pointless. We were too many.
Lothario walked on my right, blood on his sleeves. Sam followed close behind, loading his gun with cold focus.
I didn’t look at them. My eyes were locked on the grand double doors at the front of the mansion
This was where it began.
This is where it ends.
‘MARIAN! DON MATTEO!” I shouted, my voice like thunder cracking through the burning air. “Are you really going to keep hiding behind your men like cowards?”
A Rossi guard lunged at me from the shadows. I didn’t hesitate-I sidestepped, pivoted, and
ired.
3ang.
He dropped before he even hit the ground.
Gunfire cracked above-another sniper. Before I could aim, Lothario raised a struggling Rossi man in front of him like a shield. The bullet tore through the man’s back.
Lothario tossed the corpse aside like trash.
‘Cowards!” I yelled again, my voice echoing through the marble halls. “You ruined my mother’s ife-my life! Now you’re afraid to face me?! COME OUT!”
Then, from the central hall, I saw him.
Don Matteo.
He stepped out with his usual calm arrogance, dressed in a suit too clean for the chaos around nim. His eyes met mine, and instead of fear, I saw a familiar performance in his gaze.
He smiled gently-like a father.
“Ivanna,” he said, voice smooth like poisoned honey. “You poor, broken girl. Look at what you’ve become. You think this is justice? Shooting your way into your own home? Your mother would cry if she saw you like this.”
I almost laughed.
I stepped forward, eyes locked with his, gun still in hand. “You’re still pretending? After all this time?”
He raised his arms, as if to calm me. “Whatever lies you were told-”
This Time Work Di
50.29%
12:07 am P P P P .
BANG.
I shot the floor inches from his feet. He flinched, finally.
“Enough,” I said. “Stop acting like you didn’t know. I know the truth. I have the proof. Do you really think I was unconscious when you and Chris planned my downfall? I heard everything. I remember everything. And now-”
I reached into my coat, pulled out a phone, and held it up.
‘-all your dirty secrets are in here. Bank records. Illicit deals. Bribed politicians. Trafficking logs Your empire is already gone. The only thing left… is for the public to see what their beloved Dor Matteo truly is.”
He went still.
‘You,” he snarled.
glared back. “Eye for an eye, Matteo. You made me lose my dignity, my mother, my life. Now it’:
your turn.”
thumbed the screen. “I make one call, and this city will bury you.”
But then-
A slow, mocking clap broke through the air.
And a voice-sharp, venomous-rang out behind the columns.
‘Well said, sister.”
Marian.
She stepped forward, dragging Chris by the collar. He was gagged, hands bound behind his back blood smeared across his temple. One of her guards held a pistol pressed to his temple, steady
as a guillotine.
She smiled like the devil in pearls.
‘Well, well,” she purred. “Look at you. All grown up, all vengeful. But still soft. I knew you’d come or us, and I knew you’d hesitate. You always had that bleeding heart, Ivanna.”
didn’t blink.
Marian tilted her head. “Still pretending, huh? I saw your face. When you saw him, you paused.
That’s all I needed to know.”
She waved her hand lazily.
‘Lower your gun, little sister,” she ordered. “Or I’ll have his brains painted across this marble. And while you’re at it, call off your men. Tell them to stand down.”
I didn’t move.
My grip on the gun didn’t loosen. But I didn’t shoot either.
Chris looked at me-bruised, bleeding, defeated. There was no anger in his eyes now. Only something hollow… and heavy.
Marian pulled the gag down, expecting him to beg.
But his voice came out soft. Tired.
“Ivanna…”
6114
U/ al
He met my eyes.
“I know you don’t believe me. And maybe… maybe you shouldn’t. But I need to say this.”
He struggled to lift his head. His voice was shaking. “I failed you. I failed her. Our mother. I le myself get swept into their lies. I knew things felt wrong. I knew she didn’t deserve what happened. But I was… weak. And scared. And I let it happen.”
I stayed still, my gun unwavering.
Chris gave a broken laugh. “You always looked up to me. Even when I didn’t deserve it. And ruined that. I ruined you.”
Tears welled in his eyes. “If I could trade places with her, I would. I mean that. I don’t care wha happens to me anymore-I just needed to tell you I’m sorry. For everything. For not fighting harder. For being a coward. For being your brother in name… but never in truth.”
His chest heaved.
I’m sorry, Ivi.”
And then-
He moved.
So fast, Marian barely had time to react.
Chris grabbed the wrist of the guard holding the gun to his head. He yanked it downward wisted the grip-and for a split second, turned the weapon toward himself.
BANG!
The shot rang out.
Blood sprayed.
Marian screamed.
And everything froze.
12:07 am P P P P
