CHAPTER 5: BLOOD TIES
CHAPTER 5: BLOOD TIES
Vincent Lombardi stood motionless beside the floor-to-ceiling windows of his penthouse.
Chicago glittered beneath him.
Normally, the view calmed him.
Tonight, it felt like a warning.
His phone rang again.
Another captain.
Another problem.
"Sir, Sebastian's convoy just left the estate."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"Destination?"
"We don't know."
The line went silent.
Then came the words Vincent had dreaded.
"He's moving personally."
For the first time in twenty years, Sebastian Lombardi was not hiding behind walls.
He was coming.
And Vincent knew exactly why.
Across the city, a convoy of black SUVs tore through the streets.
Inside the lead vehicle, Sebastian sat forward in his seat.
His legs ached.
The therapy sessions with Clare had begun unlocking muscles long trapped beneath layers of scar tissue and manipulation.
Every movement felt like fire.
But he welcomed the pain.
Pain meant life.
Pain meant the prison was breaking.
Gabriel sat beside him.
"We can still handle this quietly."
Sebastian shook his head.
"No."
"He's had twenty years."
Gabriel understood.
This was no longer business.
This was personal.
Meanwhile, Clare remained at the estate with Oliver.
She tried focusing on her son's medication schedule.
It was impossible.
Something felt wrong.
The threat against Oliver hadn't come from Vincent.
She was certain of it.
The timing didn't fit.
The handwriting didn't fit.
The level of desperation didn't fit.
Someone else was involved.
Someone hiding behind the larger conspiracy.
As she reviewed the documents recovered from Sebastian's records, one page caught her attention.
A surgeon's signature.
Dr. Alan Mercer.
The lead physician from Sebastian's original operation.
According to official records, Mercer had died fifteen years earlier.
Yet a recent financial transfer showed monthly payments continuing to an account under a different name.
Clare's stomach dropped.
The surgeon wasn't dead.
Someone had hidden him.
And if Mercer was alive, he might know everything.
At that exact moment, Sebastian's convoy arrived beneath Vincent's tower.
Twenty armed men emerged.
Gabriel led the way.
Security guards quickly stepped aside.
Nobody wanted to be caught between Lombardi family members.
The elevator ride to the penthouse felt endless.
Then the doors opened.
Vincent was waiting.
Alone.
No bodyguards.
No weapons.
Just a glass of whiskey in his hand.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Vincent smiled.
"Sebastian."
The younger man's face remained expressionless.
"Uncle."
The word sounded more like an accusation.
Vincent glanced toward the wheelchair.
Then noticed something.
Sebastian was standing.
Barely.
Leaning on a cane.
But standing.
The older man's face lost all color.
For the first time, genuine fear flashed across his eyes.
"You've been recovering."
"Funny thing about that."
Sebastian took another painful step forward.
"The doctors said recovery was impossible."
Silence.
Vincent placed his glass down carefully.
"Who told you?"
"I found the implant."
Vincent closed his eyes.
Just for a second.
A tiny crack in decades of composure.
When he opened them again, the truth was waiting there.
"I never wanted this."
Sebastian laughed.
The sound was cold.
"You crippled me."
"I saved you."
The room exploded with tension.
Gabriel moved slightly closer.
Ready.
Waiting.
Vincent raised both hands.
"You think I planted that bomb?"
Sebastian didn't answer.
"Your father was already dead."
The confession hung in the air.
"What?"
Vincent looked exhausted.
Older than he had ever appeared.
"The bomb wasn't my operation."
"Then whose?"
Vincent hesitated.
And for the first time in twenty years, he spoke a name nobody had heard in decades.
"Salvatore Ricci."
Gabriel froze.
Every color drained from his face.
Sebastian stared.
Impossible.
Salvatore Ricci had been the former head of the Ricci Syndicate.
Officially, he had been killed shortly after the bombing.
Officially.
Vincent shook his head.
"He's alive."
The room went silent.
"You're lying."
"I wish I was."
Vincent walked toward the window.
"The bomb was his idea."
"Your father was supposed to die."
"You were supposed to die too."
Sebastian felt his pulse pounding.
"Then why am I here?"
May you like
Vincent's expression darkened.
"Because I stopped them."
