Chapter 12 - The Uncle With the Serpent RingDante moved in front of Alina and Leo.
Michele’s smile did not change.
“Put down the gun,” he said.
“You first.”
“You have always believed courage and stupidity were different things.”
“They are.”
“Not in this room.”
Victor Hale stepped beside him. His eyes rested on Alina with quiet satisfaction.
“She looks like Rosa,” Victor said.
“She looks like the key,” Michele replied.
Alina’s hands curled into fists. “You ordered the fire.”
Michele studied her. “Your memory is better than I expected.”
“You killed my parents.”
“I killed one man. Your mother chose her own ending.”
“She was alive for three days.”
“And she used those three days to hide you.”
Michele walked slowly into the vault. He touched the nearest photograph, a little boy with a missing front tooth.
“Rafael built the network because he believed power was the only form of safety. Your mother believed secrets could protect people. She was wrong.”
“You sold children.”
“I moved them for men who already owned the world. The difference is that I charged them.”
Alina felt sick.
Dante’s voice was low. “Where is Luca?”
“Alive, perhaps. Dead, perhaps. It depends on how sentimental my men felt when they found him.”
Dante raised his weapon.
“If you shoot me, Victor shoots the woman.”
Victor aimed at Alina.
Leo began to cry.
Michele looked at the baby with irritation. “Silence him.”
“Touch him and I’ll kill you,” Dante said.
“There is the heir I remember.”
“Leo is not your heir.”
“No. He is leverage.”
Michele produced a small key from his pocket. “The final account requires a third signature. The child’s birth pattern completes the sequence.”
“You’re not taking him.”
“I don’t need to.”
Michele nodded toward Victor.
Victor moved forward.
Alina stepped back until she felt the cold metal shelf against her spine. Dante reached behind him without looking and touched her wrist.
A warning.
Wait.
Victor came within six feet. “You should have stayed hidden, Lina.”
“You should have stayed in prison.”
His mouth twisted. “Prison is a story. Men like us leave when the right people sign papers.”
“You are not a man. You are a coward who hides behind orders.”
Victor’s hand tightened around his weapon.
Michele glanced at him. “Do not damage the key.”
That was the first crack.
Alina saw it.
Victor hated being commanded.
Dante saw it too.
“You never liked my uncle,” Dante said.
Victor’s eyes shifted. “I serve the family.”
“You serve whoever pays you.”
“Your father paid me.”
“My father is dead.”
“His money is not.”
Michele turned toward the vault’s central console. “Enough.”
He inserted the key. A panel opened in the floor, revealing a circular scanner.
“Bring me the baby.”
Clara lifted Leo, but she did not move. Her eyes met Alina’s.
Alina understood.
The room had three exits: the main door behind Michele, a narrow ventilation passage near the shelves, and the scanner chamber beneath them. If Clara could reach the vent, she might get Leo out.
Dante’s thumb pressed against Alina’s wrist again.
Now.
Alina threw the glass vial from the black case at the lights.
The vault went dark.
Gunfire erupted.
Dante pulled Alina down. Clara ran toward the ventilation passage. Victor fired at the movement, but Dante struck his wrist, sending the bullet into the ceiling.
Michele shouted orders.
In the darkness, Alina heard metal crash and someone groan. Dante seized her hand and dragged her through the shelves.
“Where is Leo?” she whispered.
“Clara has him.”
“We can’t leave her.”
“She knows the exit.”
They reached the central console. Dante slammed his palm against the scanner. The system activated, filling the vault with red light.
His tattoo glowed.
Alina placed her hand beside his.
The scanner displayed a message.
SECOND BLOODLINE DETECTED.
Michele appeared through the red haze, his gun aimed at Dante’s head.
“Step away from the console.”
“You need us alive,” Dante said.
“For the moment.”
“Then you should know the vault has begun uploading.”
Michele’s face changed.
The ledgers around them had been connected to the console. A green light blinked above the door.
“You’re bluffing.”
“Ask your technician.”
Michele looked toward Victor.
Victor hesitated.
That was enough.
Dante fired at the ceiling sprinkler pipe. Water exploded across the room. Sparks shot from the console. Michele stumbled backward.
Alina and Dante ran toward the ventilation passage.
Victor grabbed Alina’s coat.
She twisted, drove her elbow into his throat, and pulled free. He reached again, but Dante struck him with the butt of his gun.
They entered the narrow passage just as Michele fired.
The bullet struck Dante’s shoulder.
He stumbled.
Alina caught him.
“You’re hit.”
“Keep moving.”
“You’ll bleed out.”
“Then move faster.”
Behind them, Michele shouted through the tunnel.
“You cannot outrun the dragon!”
Alina looked back at the glowing mark beneath Dante’s skin.
May you like
“Maybe we don’t have to outrun it,” she said.
Then she pulled Dante into the darkness.
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