CHAPTER 3 — THE HOUSE BECOMES A BATTLEFIELD
CHAPTER 3 — THE HOUSE BECOMES A BATTLEFIELD
The front door exploded inward with a deafening crash.
Heavy footsteps thundered across the kitchen floor above the crawlspace.
Marco didn't even glance toward the noise.
Instead, he handed the old journal to his most trusted bodyguard.
"Whatever happens, this leaves the house."
The man nodded.
"With my life."
"You'll need more than that."
Another crash echoed upstairs.
Furniture shattered.
Someone screamed.
Gunfire erupted.
The entire house shook.
Julian Castellano had arrived.
Marco climbed out of the crawlspace first, drawing both pistols in one smooth motion. By the time Claire was carefully lifted out by two bodyguards, the kitchen already looked like a war zone.
Cabinets were splintered.
Glass covered the floor.
Bullet holes spread across the walls.
Smoke drifted through the room.
Julian stood in the doorway surrounded by nearly twenty armed men.
His expensive gray suit was stained with rain, but his smile hadn't changed.
"Brother."
Marco's expression remained unreadable.
"You should've stayed away."
Julian laughed.
"You broke into my house."
"I found a woman chained beneath your kitchen."
"I know."
The casual answer stunned everyone.
Julian looked directly at Claire.
"I'm disappointed."
She instinctively stepped backward.
"You were always stronger than I expected."
Marco moved between them.
"You kidnapped her."
Julian shrugged.
"I preserved her."
Claire felt sick.
"You destroyed my life."
"No."
He smiled.
"I delayed the truth."
Marco tightened his grip on his pistol.
"The truth about Elena?"
Julian's smile disappeared.
For the first time...
He looked surprised.
"So you found the journal."
Nobody answered.
Julian sighed.
"That complicates things."
Behind him, one of his men quietly raised a rifle.
Marco noticed first.
"Down!"
The kitchen exploded into violence.
Automatic gunfire ripped through the walls.
Marco shoved Claire behind the marble island as bullets tore apart the cabinets.
His bodyguards fired back with disciplined precision.
Two of Julian's men fell immediately.
Another dove behind the refrigerator.
The kitchen filled with smoke, flying wood, and shattered dishes.
Claire covered her ears as the world dissolved into chaos.
Marco fired twice.
One attacker collapsed.
Another screamed.
Julian himself barely moved.
He simply watched the battle unfold like a businessman observing negotiations.
Then he spoke.
"Kill everyone."
His men rushed forward.
The firefight became hand-to-hand combat.
Marco slammed one attacker into the dining table hard enough to break it in half.
Another came at him with a knife.
Marco caught his wrist.
Twisted.
Bone snapped.
The knife fell.
One punch ended the fight.
Claire stared in disbelief.
The rumors hadn't exaggerated.
Marco wasn't just powerful.
He was terrifying.
But Julian wasn't trying to win the gunfight.
He was looking for something.
His eyes scanned the room.
Searching.
Finally he smiled.
"There."
One of his men sprinted toward the bodyguard carrying the journal.
Marco realized the plan instantly.
"The journal!"
Too late.
The attacker tackled the bodyguard.
The leather book slid across the blood-covered floor.
Straight toward Julian.
Julian bent down...
His fingers touched the cover...
Then another hand grabbed it first.
Claire.
Without thinking, she had thrown herself across the floor.
The journal was now clutched tightly against her chest.
Julian stared at her.
Then laughed.
"You really don't know what you're holding."
"I know enough."
"No."
His smile became almost sympathetic.
"You've just sentenced yourself to death."
CHAPTER 4 — THE FIRST PAGE OF THE JOURNAL
Marco reached Claire just as another wave of bullets shattered the windows.
He pulled her behind the overturned kitchen table.
"You all right?"
She nodded, trembling.
"The journal..."
"Keep it."
"What?"
"Don't let anyone else touch it."
Julian heard him.
His smile widened.
"So you still don't understand."
Marco ignored him.
Instead he looked at Claire.
"Open it."
She hesitated.
"Now."
With shaking fingers, Claire opened the ancient leather journal.
The first pages contained faded handwriting.
Dates.
Names.
Financial records.
Nothing unusual.
Then she reached the middle.
Something slipped out.
A folded photograph.
She unfolded it.
Her breath caught.
A young woman smiled into the camera.
Dark hair.
Gentle eyes.
Standing beside an older man wearing the Castellano family crest.
Marco froze.
"Elena..."
Claire looked closer.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
The woman looked almost exactly like...
Her own mother.
"No..."
Claire whispered.
"That's impossible."
Marco stared at her.
"What did you say?"
"My mother..."
Her hands began shaking uncontrollably.
"...looked exactly like her."
Silence.
Julian slowly lowered his weapon.
For the first time since entering the house...
He looked genuinely afraid.
Marco noticed.
"Why are you scared?"
Julian answered quietly.
"Because she finally said it."
Marco frowned.
"Said what?"
Julian looked directly at Claire.
"Tell me your birthday."
Claire blinked.
"What?"
"Your birthday."
"I..."
She swallowed.
"...October eighteenth."
Julian closed his eyes.
A long silence followed.
Marco's voice became deadly calm.
"Explain."
Julian laughed bitterly.
"You really never knew."
"Knew what?"
Julian pointed toward Claire.
"She's not here because she was kidnapped."
Claire stared at him.
"What are you talking about?"
"You were never the hostage."
His smile slowly disappeared.
"You were the evidence."
Marco felt the blood drain from his face.
Julian continued.
"The woman you call your mother..."
"...wasn't your mother."
Claire couldn't breathe.
"No..."
"She adopted you."
Marco stepped closer.
"And Elena?"
Julian looked at his brother.
"The DNA results are inside that journal."
Claire slowly opened another folded envelope hidden between the pages.
Inside lay several laboratory reports.
Across the top of the first page were the words:
PATERNITY CONFIDENTIAL
She looked down.
Then stopped breathing.
Her own name appeared beside another.
Mother: Elena Castellano
The room became completely silent.
Claire's hands went numb.
The journal slipped from her fingers.
Marco caught it before it hit the floor.
He read the report.
Again.
Then a third time.
Finally he looked at Claire.
Not as a stranger.
Not as a victim.
But as family.
Outside...
More engines pulled into the driveway.
This time they weren't Julian's.
A convoy of black armored SUVs surrounded the house.
One bodyguard looked through the broken window.
His face turned pale.
"Boss..."
Marco never looked away from Claire.
"What is it?"
"The Council is here."
Every gangster in the room froze.
Even Julian stopped smiling.
May you like
Because there was only one reason the secret ruling council of the Castellano empire ever appeared in person.
Someone had just been identified as the rightful heir.
