Chapter 10 – THE BLOODLINE

The diner was dead silent. The smell of maple syrup suddenly made me feel nauseous.

Anthony stared at the gold rosary on the counter. Then he looked at me, his eyes tracking every feature on my face—my cheekbones, my eyes, the slight tilt of my left shoulder.

“Oh my God,” Anthony breathed, stepping backward. “It’s you.”

“What’s me?” I demanded, grabbing his jacket. “Anthony, what are you talking about? Who was my mother to Evelyn?”

Vincent burst back through the kitchen door, his phone gripped tightly in his hand. “The judge signed the order. We exhume the casket at—” He stopped, seeing my sister. “Chloe? What are you doing here?”

Anthony didn’t let him finish. He picked up the gold rosary and threw it onto Vincent’s chest. Vincent caught it, looked at the name Sophia, and froze.

“Daniel didn’t pick Mia out of a hat, Vince,” Anthony said, his voice laced with disbelief. “Look at her. Look at the photo of Mom. Really look at it.”

Vincent looked at the photograph of the woman in Rome. Then he looked at me.

His eyes widened in shock.

“Sophia,” Vincent whispered. “Mom’s little sister.”

I stumbled backward, hitting the edge of the counter. “What? No. My mother didn’t have a sister. She grew up in foster care.”

“Because Mom abandoned her,” Vincent said, his voice breaking. He looked at me with a profound, devastating realization. “Evelyn Caruso was your aunt, Mia. Which makes you and Chloe our first cousins.”

My knees gave out. Chloe caught me, pulling me up.

“That’s impossible,” I cried. “Why wouldn’t we know? Why would my mother be in foster care if her sister was married to a Chicago mob boss?”

Rose stepped slowly out of the kitchen. She looked at the rosary, and a fresh wave of tears filled her eyes.

“Because Evelyn couldn’t let your mother near this life,” Rose said quietly. “When Evelyn married Salvatore, she saw the monster he was. She knew that if Salvatore found out she had a baby sister, he would use Sophia as leverage. He would marry her off to one of his capos.”

Rose walked over and gently touched my cheek. “Evelyn staged a fight. She legally disowned Sophia when Sophia was just a child, forcing her into the state system. She broke her own heart to keep your mother safe from the mafia.”

“But Daniel knew,” Anthony realized, pacing the floor. “Daniel knew Evelyn was secretly tracking Sophia’s life. When Sophia died in that car crash… Daniel must have kept tabs on you and Chloe.”

“He brought me into the mansion,” I whispered, putting the pieces together. “He gave my sister the scholarship. Why? Was he trying to take care of us?”

“No,” Vincent said darkly. “He was holding you hostage.”

Vincent slammed his fist onto the counter. “Daniel used you to control my mother! He faked her death twenty-two years ago, smuggled her to Italy, and has been keeping her there ever since. He knew that if she ever tried to escape or contact us, he would reveal your identities to the rival families. He was using Evelyn’s nieces as a threat to keep her in exile!”

The Reversal was sickening.

Daniel wasn’t the mastermind trying to protect Rose. He was a parasite who had stolen Vincent’s mother, faked her death, and held her captive in a gilded cage in Rome by holding a gun to my head without me ever knowing it.

“That’s why he bought the second plane ticket,” I said, realization dawning. “He wasn’t going to take Rose to Rome. He was going to Rome to disappear with Evelyn. He’s obsessed with her.”

“He doesn’t have a ticket anymore,” Anthony said. “He’s in federal custody.”

Vincent’s phone suddenly buzzed. It was a text from Daniel’s encrypted number.

Vincent looked at the screen. All the color drained from his face again.

“What is it?” I asked.

Vincent slowly looked up.

“Daniel isn’t in custody,” Vincent whispered. “The FBI agents who arrested him last night… they weren’t real FBI. They were mercenaries on Daniel’s payroll. He faked his own arrest to get away from us.”

Chloe screamed as the front window of the diner suddenly shattered inward.

A heavy, military-grade smoke grenade bounced across the floorboards.

Thick, blinding gray smoke filled the room in seconds.

“Get down!” Vincent roared, drawing his gun and pushing me and Chloe to the floor.

Anthony kicked over a heavy wooden table, dragging Leo and Rose behind it as the front door was kicked open.

Through the stinging smoke, two men in tactical gear stepped in, wielding suppressed submachine guns.

But they weren’t aiming at Vincent.

They walked straight toward me.

“Grab the girls,” a voice echoed from the street. It was Daniel. “Evelyn will sign over the offshore trusts the second I put a gun to her nieces’ heads.”

One of the mercenaries reached through the smoke, grabbing Chloe by the hair. She screamed in terror.

I grabbed a jagged piece of the broken coffee mug from the floor and drove it into the mercenary’s calf.

He roared in pain, dropping Chloe, but kicked me hard in the ribs. I fell backward, gasping for air.

Vincent popped up from behind the counter, firing two rapid shots. The mercenary dropped.

But the second gunman swung his weapon directly at Vincent.

Before he could pull the trigger, a shotgun blast deafened everyone in the room.

The second gunman flew backward out the shattered window, landing dead on the sidewalk.

The smoke began to clear.

Standing by the kitchen door, holding a smoking, double-barreled shotgun, was Rose Bennett.

Her hands weren’t shaking anymore.

“I told you once, Daniel!” Rose screamed into the street. “You don’t touch my family!”

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