Chapter 12: The Bullet That Changed Everything
Pain burned through my shoulder.
I pressed my hand against the wound, staring at the blood spreading between my fingers.
Sophia was screaming.
Dante had Richard pinned to the chapel floor, one hand around his throat, while Michael rushed toward me.
“Grace! Look at me!””
“I can't—”
“Stay awake.””
He pressed a folded cloth against my shoulder.
I bit down on a cry.
Across the room, Dante's voice thundered.
“Who killed Daniel?””
Richard laughed beneath him.
“Your mother knows.””
Dante struck him once.
“Tell me!””
Richard spat blood onto the floor.
“Lucia gave the order.””
The words silenced the chapel.
Dante slowly released his grip.
“No.””
Richard coughed, struggling to sit up.
“Your father wanted Daniel dead. Lucia arranged it. I carried out the order.””
Dante stared at him.
“You're lying.””
“Ask her.””
Michael turned toward the entrance.
“Where is she?””
Richard smiled.
“Waiting for the police.””
Dante's face twisted.
“You expect me to believe my mother ordered Grace's father murdered?””
“I expect you to understand that the Russo family has never been as innocent as you wanted to believe.””
Dante looked toward me.
I was sitting against the wall, pale and shaking, while Michael tried to stop the bleeding.
“Grace,” Dante whispered.
I met his eyes.
“Find out if he's lying.””
Then the world tilted.
The last thing I saw before darkness swallowed me was Dante reaching for me.
When I woke, I was beneath fluorescent lights in a private hospital room.
My shoulder throbbed beneath a thick bandage. A heart monitor beeped beside the bed, and the smell of antiseptic made my stomach turn.
Dante sat in a chair near the window.
His white shirt was stained with blood that wasn't his.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he stood.
“You're awake.””
“Unfortunately.””
His mouth twitched, but the expression disappeared almost immediately.
“How do you feel?””
“Like someone shot me.””
“I'm sorry.””
I looked at him.
“Did you find out whether Richard was lying?””
Dante lowered his eyes.
“Not yet.””
“Where's Sophia?””
“With Elena. She's safe.””
“And Michael?””
“Recovering from surgery. The bullet missed his vital organs.””
I exhaled.
“And Richard?””
“In custody.””
I studied Dante's face.
“What happened after I passed out?””
He looked toward the window.
“My mother arrived at the chapel. Richard was taken away before she could speak to him.””
“And?””
Dante turned back to me.
“She admitted that she helped cover up your father's death.””
The words settled between us.
I closed my eyes.
My mother had spent years protecting me from a truth that had followed me into adulthood. Now the truth had reached across the distance and taken a piece of my body with it.
“Why?”” I whispered.
Dante sat beside the bed.
“She says your father discovered that Richard was using the family businesses to finance a network of corrupt officials. He threatened to expose him.””
“So she ordered him killed?””
“She says she agreed to a plan to frighten him into leaving the country. She claims she didn't know Richard intended to kill him.””
I stared at the ceiling.
“That doesn't bring him back.””
“No.””
“Does she understand that?””
Dante's expression softened.
“I think she's beginning to.””
A knock sounded at the door.
Lucia entered slowly, her hands clasped in front of her.
She looked smaller than she had in the chapel.
“Grace,” she whispered.
I turned my face toward the wall.
“Please leave.””
She stopped.
“I know you don't want to see me.””
“Then why are you here?””
“To tell you the truth.””
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone in your family seems to have a different definition of truth.””
Lucia accepted the accusation without protest.
“Your father came to me twenty-two years ago. He showed me documents proving Richard was using the Russo organization to buy judges and silence witnesses.””
“Why didn't he go to the police?””
“Because Richard had people inside the department. Daniel knew that if he went public without protection, he would be killed.””
“So he came to you.””
“Yes.””
“And you betrayed him.””
Lucia lowered her head.
“I did.””
The admission hurt more than any excuse could have.
She explained that Daniel had asked her to help him move his wife and infant daughter out of Manhattan. Lucia agreed, but Richard discovered the plan. He threatened to expose evidence connecting Daniel to the family's illegal activities unless she cooperated.
“I believed I could negotiate,” Lucia whispered.
“I thought if I gave Richard the location of one meeting, he would leave Daniel alone.””
“And instead?””
“Daniel was murdered that night.””
I turned toward her.
“Did you know Richard would kill him?””
“No.””
“Did you ever report it?””
Lucia's eyes filled with tears.
“No.””
“Then you helped him get away with it.””
She nodded.
“Yes.””
For a long time, the room remained silent.
Finally, I asked the question I had been afraid to ask.
“Did my mother know?””
Lucia hesitated.
“Margaret discovered what I had done. She took you and left the family. She never forgave me.””
I swallowed hard.
“Good.””
Lucia flinched.
I didn't apologize.
Dante moved closer to the bed.
“Grace, the original records are in police custody now. Richard's confession was recorded by the chapel security system. The financial documents connect him to the warehouse fire and several other crimes.””
“And your mother?””
Dante's jaw tightened.
“She'll answer for her part.””
Lucia looked at him.
“Dante—”
“Don't ask me to protect you.””
She lowered her head.
“I won't.””
After she left, Dante sat beside me in silence.
I watched him for a long time.
“Are you going to arrest your own mother?””
“If the evidence proves she committed a crime, yes.””
“Even though you love her?””
He looked down at his hands.
“Especially because I love her. I can't keep pretending that protecting my family means hiding what they've done.””
For the first time, I saw the man he might become if he stopped treating fear as a form of loyalty.
I reached for his hand.
He took it carefully, avoiding the IV line.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“For what?””
“For not asking me to forgive her.””
Dante squeezed my fingers.
“You don't owe anyone forgiveness.””
The door opened again.
This time, Michael entered in a wheelchair, his face pale but his eyes bright.
“I hate hospitals,” he announced.
Dante shook his head.
“You nearly died twice in one week.””
“And both times, I survived. You should be grateful.””
Dante laughed quietly.
It was the first genuine laugh I'd heard from him.
Michael turned toward me.
“I'm sorry about your father.””
I studied him.
“Did you know him?””
“No. But I knew Margaret. She visited me once before I disappeared. She told me that if anything happened to Daniel, I should protect you.””
“Why didn't you?””
His face fell.
“Because I was too busy trying to survive.””
I understood that answer more than I wanted to.
Before I could respond, Dante's phone rang.
He answered.
“What is it?””
His expression changed.
“Are you certain?””
He stood abruptly.
Michael straightened in his wheelchair.
“What happened?””
Dante looked at me.
“Richard's confession wasn't the only recording recovered from the chapel.””
My stomach tightened.
“What else was there?””
Dante hesitated.
Then he played a short audio file.
A woman's voice filled the room.
Lucia's voice.
“If Daniel must die, make sure Grace never learns who her real father was.””
The recording ended.
I stared at Dante.
“Who was my real father?””
He looked as though he wished he could protect me from the answer.
“Grace, your mother never told you because she believed he was dead.””
“Who?””
Dante turned the phone toward me.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
It showed my mother standing beside a younger man outside the Russo estate.
The man had Dante's eyes.
Michael's smile.
And the same scar that ran across Richard Vale's cheek.
Dante whispered the name.
“Richard Vale.””
I stopped breathing.
My uncle wasn't merely the man who had killed my father.
He was my biological father.
And suddenly, every secret in the Russo family became something far more terrifying.
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Because Richard hadn't threatened me simply to obtain the trust.
He had been trying to silence his own daughter.
