Chapter 5 - THE MAN BEHIND THE WALL
I turned.
The tunnel was empty.
Then a bullet struck the metal door.
Vincent shoved Daniel behind the concrete pillar.
“DOWN!”
Gunfire erupted.
The underground room exploded into chaos.
I fired toward the muzzle flash.
Two shots.
Three.
Then silence.
Vincent moved first.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
He disappeared into the tunnel.
Elena dropped beside Daniel.
I covered them.
“Is he hurt?”
“No.”
Daniel's eyes were open.
Too calm.
“Dad?”
“I'm here.”
“Is the bad man coming?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Elena.
“Then she'll know what to do.”
I looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Elena's face hardened.
She grabbed a flashlight.
“There's another exit.”
“Where?”
“Behind the wall.”
She struck a section of brick.
A hidden panel shifted.
I stared.
“How many secrets does this hospital have?”
“Enough to bury a lot of people.”
We pulled Daniel through.
The passage was narrow.
We moved quickly.
Behind us, gunfire erupted again.
Vincent shouted my name.
“GABRIEL!”
I stopped.
“Vincent!”
No answer.
I wanted to turn back.
Elena grabbed me.
“He told you to go.”
“He's my man.”
“He's buying us time.”
“He's family.”
She stared at me.
“Then trust him.”
We kept moving.
The passage opened into an old underground station.
Abandoned subway tracks stretched into darkness.
Daniel coughed.
Elena immediately wrapped her jacket around him.
I watched her.
“You care about him.”
She looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I promised his mother.”
My entire body stiffened.
“You knew her.”
“Yes.”
“What's her name?”
Elena hesitated.
Then said:
“Isabella.”
The name hit me.
Isabella Romano.
A woman I'd known once.
A woman I believed had betrayed me.
A woman who disappeared six years ago.
I remembered the night.
A storm.
A car accident.
A message saying Isabella was dead.
I had never seen her body.
I had never questioned it.
Because my father had personally told me she was gone.
I looked at Daniel.
“Isabella is your mother?”
Elena nodded.
My knees nearly failed.
Six years.
Six years I'd believed my son had been abandoned.
Six years I'd hated a dead woman.
And all along…
She might have been alive.
A train horn sounded in the distance.
Impossible.
The abandoned tracks trembled.
Elena's eyes widened.
“That's not a train.”
“What is it?”
She grabbed Daniel.
“Get back.”
A black armored vehicle emerged from the tunnel.
It wasn't a train.
It was a private rail car.
Its doors opened.
Four armed men stepped out.
Behind them came a man in a gray suit.
Tall.
Scar on his left hand.
He smiled at me.
“Hello, Gabriel.”
I raised my gun.
He laughed.
“You still haven't figured out who your real enemy is.”
I aimed at his head.
“Give me one reason not to kill you.”
He pointed at Daniel.
“Because if you kill me, your son dies anyway.”
Then he looked at Elena.
“And she knows why.”
Elena went white.
The man smiled.
“Tell him, Elena.”
She whispered:
“Your father ordered Isabella's death.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“He didn't want her to reveal what Daniel was.”
“What is he?”
Elena looked at my son.
May you like
Then at me.
“He is the heir to something much bigger than your empire.”
