CHAPTER 6 – THE LETTER WRITTEN TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO
CHAPTER 6 – THE LETTER WRITTEN TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO
By sunrise, the mansion looked like the aftermath of a war.
Emergency crews filled the grounds.
The surviving traitors were bound in handcuffs.
Victoria sat under armed guard, her elegant white dress stained with ash and tears.
For the first time since Dominic had met her...
She had nothing to say.
Dominic ignored her.
His entire attention remained on Elena.
Doctors finished removing the bullet from her shoulder inside a temporary medical unit.
"You need rest," one physician insisted.
"I need five minutes."
She pushed herself upright despite the pain.
Dominic entered the room carrying Sophia, while Lucas refused to leave Elena's bedside.
The little boy silently held her uninjured hand.
She smiled faintly.
"I've seen worse."
Lucas finally spoke.
"You got hurt because of us."
"No."
Elena gently brushed his hair aside.
"I got hurt because someone finally gave me something worth protecting."
Dominic looked away, unable to hide the emotion in his eyes.
One of the Shadow Wolf operatives entered carrying a fireproof metal case recovered from the collapsed bunker.
"We found this."
Elena immediately recognized it.
"It survived..."
She entered a six-digit code.
Inside lay only one item.
An old envelope.
Yellowed with age.
Its seal bore the Moretti family crest.
Across the front, written in fading ink, were five words.
For Dominic's twenty-fifth birthday.
Dominic frowned.
"I'm forty."
Elena nodded.
"I know."
"Someone made sure you never received it."
His hands trembled as he opened the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
The first line stole the air from his lungs.
If you are reading this, then I have already failed to protect you.
It was his father's handwriting.
Dominic continued reading.
Everything you know about our family is built on lies.
Your mother was not murdered by rival families.
She was executed by people inside our own organization.
His breathing grew uneven.
The empire you inherited was never ours.
We were only its caretakers.
The next sentence made everyone in the room freeze.
Your real inheritance is not money.
It is a list of names powerful enough to destroy governments.
Dominic slowly looked up.
"What list?"
Elena closed the envelope.
"The one Adrian Varga has been hunting for twenty-five years."
"But where is it?"
She met his eyes.
"I thought your father hid it beneath this mansion."
She glanced toward the smoking ruins outside.
"I was wrong."
Sophia, who had been quietly listening, tugged on Dominic's sleeve.
"Daddy..."
He looked down.
"What is it, sweetheart?"
The little girl hesitated.
Then she reached inside the pocket of her stuffed rabbit—the same worn toy she had carried everywhere since she was a baby.
"I found this inside Bunny a long time ago."
She pulled out a tiny silver key no bigger than her thumb.
"I didn't know who it belonged to."
Elena's face turned completely pale.
She recognized the engraving immediately.
A tiny white wolf.
The emblem no one outside the Shadow Wolves had ever seen.
Elena whispered, almost to herself,
"He trusted a child..."
Before anyone could speak again, one of the operatives rushed into the room.
"Commander!"
He was out of breath.
"We intercepted a transmission."
Elena took the radio.
A distorted voice crackled through the speaker.
"Package One has failed."
A pause followed.
Then another voice—cold, unmistakable, and terrifying.
"Activate Package Two."
The room fell silent.
The operative swallowed hard before adding,
"We traced the signal."
He looked directly at Dominic.
May you like
"It didn't come from outside the estate."
"It came from someone standing inside this medical camp."
