CHAPTER FIVE
The room felt colder after the truth fell.
I could hear my own heartbeat echo against the stone walls, it was slow, heavily and uncertain.
I finally asked, "You haven't introduced yourself properly to me, I mean I don't even know your names, who are you people and why do you care so much about me?" Then the fair-hired man turned to me first with his expression which was softer now and almost apologetic. "Serem, we're not strangers but we're your blood, I mean your father's sons."
For a second, I forgot how to breathe. " Are you saying that you are all my brothers?" The one with the scar nodded. "Yh half-brothers, he hid you away far from us, far from all this, he actually kept us apart so no one could trace you through us because you were his secret, the one thing he swore to protect."
I wanted to speak but my throat suddenly became locked, then we heard a soft sound echoing from behind us. It was footsteps, dragging, slow that made the four men, I mean my brothers turned at once, someone coming from the tunnel's dark mouth. Just then a man stepped into the light, he was tall, he was soaked from the rain with his coat dark and heavy, his eyes met mine like we'd crossed paths in another life.
He looked at me not as a stranger would but as someone who had carried my name inside his guilt for too long. "I see she found the truth," he said quietly then the scarred one scowled. "You shouldn't be here."
"I had to come," he replied. "She deserves to know everything."
I swallowed. "Who are you?" I asked curiously.
He hesitated before answering. "A man who once stood beside your father." His voice cracked, he sounded like a man who was haunted by something that has never stopped bleeding.
My chest tightened. "You knew him?"
"Yes," he said. "And I failed him."
The words seemed to pull the light from the room, he stepped closer with his eyes dark with regret.
"Your father, Lorenzo Dante… he wasn't just a name whispered in fear, he built something powerful, something the world couldn't control that made men follow him because they believed in him not because they feared him."
He exhaled slowly. "That's why some wanted him gone."
"Who?". I asked curiously. "The council that called itself 'The Crown Syndicate'," he said bitterly. "They were jealous of his influence, they wanted all of what he had, the loyalty, the strength and unity but when they couldn't buy it, they thought the best they could do is to destroy it."
His jaw clenched. "They came to me and said they wanted peace and safety, I believed them and I told them where your father was hiding." His voice broke. "When I realized what I had done, it was already too late, he was already gone and before he died, he told me to find you and keep you hidden until you are strong enough to face the truth.
The words hit me like thunder. "You betrayed him," I whispered. He shook his head slowly. "No… I didn't, I couldn't have done that to him, we were closer than brothers but the truth was that I was used, I never meant for him to die, trust me I thought I was protecting him but they tricked me and I've carried that mistake ever since."
The fair-haired man's eyes flickered with understanding. "You were there that night."
He nodded. "Yes, I found him before he died." He looked at me again. "I tried explaining everything to him but he wasn't angry, he just said one thing before he closed his eyes."
My voice trembled. "What did he say?"
The man stepped closer then the light caught the scar across his cheek, the one I hadn't noticed before. His eyes softened with pain.
"He said, 'Tell Serena she can't escape
her family, her past, or her true identity even if you try to forget it or live differently, her "blood" which represents her heritage, lineage, and destiny will always pull her back.
Silence filled the room once again, this time it was so deep, heavy, and holy.
I felt like the words sink into me like roots.
For the first time, I understood what the tunnels, the photo, the black rose, all of it meant. My father didn't just leave a legacy but he also left a message for me to survive."
I looked up at the man. " You look quite familiar…" I said slowly. " Yes, I do and that's because I followed everywhere you go, I made it has a promise that I won't fail him the second time and that's was why I found you first"
"Oh I remember, the man from the store," I said and then he nodded, "What's your name because you didn't get to tell me then.bHe hesitated then finally said, "Ezra."
The name fit the silence, it sounded harp, steady, and real. "What about the ones who killed him" I asked, to be certain,
that no shadow still hunted my life.
"They scattered, I killed the leader but the rest escaped because without the leader they do not have any power or what so ever, he killed by sword and he died by sword," he said with confidence.
The chandelier flickered once more, casting fractured light across the maps and weapons. My brothers, Luca, Matheo, Damian and Enzo exchanged looks, it was silent but certain.
I ran to the edge of the table where my father's name was engraved then I felt the rough grooves of his legacy beneath my fingers.
"The hiding time is over," I said, my voice didn't shake this time. Ezra and my brothers gave a slow nod. "Then your story begins now, Serena Dante." The wind outside moaned through the cracks and carried the scent of rain and iron.
The hall fell still, quiet and waiting and for the first time, the silence didn't scare me,
It felt like home.