Chapter Ten – Blood on the Edge
Face to face with the ghost,
I saw the darkness I'd been running toward all along.
Adriano's gun pressed cold against my temple.
His eyes burned with something I'd never seen — hatred, pain, and a twisted kind of love.
"You left," he said, voice low, almost a growl. "You walked away when this family needed you."
"I came back," I said, voice steady despite the gun. "To fix what you broke."
He laughed bitter, shaking his head.
"You don't get it. This family was never ours. It belonged to the darkness. To Dad. To the sins he buried."
He shoved me hard against the wall.
"I'm not here to kill you, Luca. I'm here to save you—from yourself."
I spat in his face.
"I'm nobody's charity case."
Suddenly, Mercy burst in, gun blazing.
Shots cracked.
Adriano pushed me aside and dove for cover.
"You're dead," I growled.
We circled each other, blood pounding in my ears.
Then, Adriano pulled out a folder.
"You want to know why I disappeared? Why I left?"
I shook my head.
He slapped it on the table.
Photos. Documents. Evidence.
Proof that Dad wasn't just a kingpin.
He was a monster.
A man who'd built his empire on betrayal and blood sacrifice — including the sacrifice of his own son.
"Dad wanted me gone," Adriano said, voice low. "He made sure of it. But I survived. And now I'm here to end his legacy."
I stared at the photos—at my father's cold eyes.
The line between enemy and family blurred.
Some legacies die in fire.
Others die in blood.
Mine was about to burn.