Chapter 5: Amelia’s Final Recording
Chapter 5: Amelia’s Final Recording
Lily's tiny fingers clung to Declan's coat.
"Daddy..."
"...Grandma scares me."
The word Daddy echoed louder in Declan's heart than the rifles surrounding them.
He gently lifted his daughter into his arms.
"No one is taking you."
Not tonight.
Not ever again.
Across the clearing, Celeste folded her gloved hands.
"Declan."
"Put the child down."
"You've already lost one family."
"Don't lose another."
Declan stared at her with a calm that frightened even Victor.
"You lost the right to call yourself her grandmother."
Celeste sighed.
"I expected this."
She nodded toward Adrian Kane.
"Proceed."
Instantly, the Black Ravens spread into attack formation.
Laser sights danced across every tree.
Victor whispered,
"There are at least thirty."
"We have five."
The odds were impossible.
Clara suddenly remembered something.
"The rabbit."
Declan looked down.
"What?"
"Lily's rabbit."
"The one she's holding."
Lily hugged the worn stuffed toy tighter.
"It's Bunny."
"Mama made it."
Clara's eyes widened.
"No..."
"Amelia sewed something inside."
Celeste's expression changed for the first time.
"Take the rabbit."
Adrian moved.
So did Declan.
The first shot shattered the silence.
Victor fired before Adrian could reach the truck.
Chaos exploded across the clearing.
Bullets ripped through tree trunks.
The elderly couple scrambled for cover.
Declan shielded Lily beneath his body while Clara crawled toward them.
"Give me Bunny," she shouted.
Lily hesitated.
"But it's mine."
"I know."
"It's also your mother's secret."
Another bullet struck the truck.
Glass rained over them.
Lily finally handed over the rabbit.
Clara tore open a seam along its back.
Something small dropped into her hand.
A black memory card.
Celeste's face went pale.
"Stop her!"
Three mercenaries charged.
Victor emptied his magazine, dropping one.
Declan tackled another with one arm while still protecting Lily with the other.
Years of violence returned to him like instinct.
He fought not as a mafia boss—
But as a father.
Clara found a portable media player inside the truck.
Her hands shook as she inserted the card.
The screen flickered.
Then—
Amelia appeared.
She was sitting in her hospital bed.
Weak.
Pale.
But smiling.
The recording had been made only hours before she died.
"If you're watching this..."
"...then someone betrayed us."
Declan felt the world disappear.
It was Amelia's voice.
Alive.
Warm.
Real.
She looked directly into the camera.
"Declan..."
"I know you'll blame yourself."
"Don't."
"They lied to you."
"Our daughter is healthy."
"I've asked Clara to protect her."
Amelia coughed violently before continuing.
"If anything happens to me..."
"...it wasn't an accident."
Celeste slowly backed away.
Adrian looked toward her.
His confidence fading.
Amelia continued,
"I overheard your mother speaking with Dr. Halvorsen."
"They planned to tell you Lily died."
"They said you would become easier to control."
Declan closed his eyes.
Every terrible suspicion...
Confirmed.
Then Amelia spoke words no one expected.
"There's one more truth."
"I never told you because I hoped we'd never need it."
She reached toward the camera.
"My father..."
"...never died."
Declan's eyes snapped open.
What?
"He disappeared twenty-seven years ago."
"He built evidence against the Moretti Syndicate."
"Everything is hidden inside..."
Static interrupted the recording.
The screen glitched.
Then returned.
"...the Saint Gabriel Chapel."
The exact chapel where they now stood.
The recording ended.
Silence swallowed the battlefield.
Even the mercenaries lowered their weapons.
Everyone slowly turned toward the old chapel.
Celeste's voice became sharp.
May you like
"Destroy it."
Immediately.
