And suddenly, for the first time, she heard weakness inside his anger.
“You’re scared,” she said.
Silence.
Dante looked at her.
Amelia continued.
“You’re terrified.”
“Watch yourself.”
“You hit me because I walked away.”
“Shut up.”
“You hunted Ethan because he knew what you were.”
“I said shut up.”
“You threatened a four-year-old because every grown adult in your life eventually sees what you are.”
Raymond shouted, “I MADE YOU!”
“No.”
Her voice remained steady.
“You almost killed me.”
Silence.
“But you didn’t.”
She ended the call.
Her hands immediately began shaking.
Dante stepped forward.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Good answer.”
Rebecca’s technical team had traced the call.
Warehouse district.
South Chicago.
Federal and local tactical units moved.
Dante was ordered to remain behind.
He hated it.
But he obeyed.
An hour later, officers found the warehouse.
Empty.
Except for one chair.
One phone.
And one printed photograph placed beneath a lamp.
It showed Dante leaving the hospital.
A red circle had been drawn around his head.
On the back:
YOU STOLE MY FAMILY. I TAKE YOURS.
Amelia read it.
“What family?”
Dante went still.
He had no wife.
No children he knew of besides possibly Ben.
His mother was dead.
Then realization struck.
“Lucia.”
“Who?”
“My sister.”
Dante called immediately.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
His security team raced toward Lucia Castellano’s townhouse.
The front door was open.
Her living room was empty.
Her purse sat on the table.
Her phone lay smashed on the floor.
And beneath it was a message written in black marker.
TRADE ETHAN FOR LUCIA. MIDNIGHT TOMORROW.
Amelia looked at Dante.
His face had gone white.
She had never heard him mention a sister.
“You said you didn’t have family.”
“I said I had more rooms than I needed.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Lucia left Chicago years ago because of me.”
“Because of what you do?”
His silence was answer enough.
Dante stared at the photograph of the message.
Raymond had finally found leverage.
And for the first time, Amelia understood something terrifying.
Dante Castellano might be powerful.
He might have money, security, connections, and a name people feared.
But power did not protect you from loving someone.
It merely gave your enemies more expensive targets.
At 6:15 the following morning, the hospital called.
The DNA results were ready.
Amelia opened the envelope alone.
Probability of paternity:
99.9998%.
She closed her eyes.
Dante Castellano was Ben’s father.
But before she could tell him, Dante received a video.
Lucia appeared tied to a chair.
Raymond stood behind her.
And Conrad Voss stood beside him.
The two enemies they believed were fighting each other had been working together all along.
