“Then what is she?” Elena pointed at me. “A daughter created to unlock a bank?”
Matteo lowered his head.
“That was Salvatore’s plan.”
I walked toward the sleeping child.
Her hand rested over Buttons. Yellow paint remained beneath one fingernail.
My entire life had been designed around control.
Yet the most important part of me had existed for three years without my knowledge.
I knelt beside her.
Lily stirred.
“Mister Big House?”
My throat closed.
“Yes.”
“Did you find Daddy?”
I looked back at Matteo.
He nodded slowly.
“He’s here.”
Lily sat up and saw him.
Her cry of joy pierced the cathedral.
She ran into Matteo’s arms.
He held her tightly, eyes closed.
Whatever blood said, he had raised her in stories, protected her from shadows, and returned from death for her.
He was her father too.
Lily looked at my mother.
“Who is that lady?”
Isabella smiled through tears.
“Someone who has waited a long time to meet you.”
Lily considered this, then offered her Buttons.
“You can hold him.”
My mother took the rabbit as though receiving forgiveness from heaven.
A bell rang above us.
Not the cathedral bell.
An alarm.
Matteo stood immediately.
“They found us.”
The main doors exploded inward.
Armed men flooded the nave.
I pulled Lily behind the stone altar while Matteo and my guards returned fire. Isabella dragged Elena toward the crypt stairs.
A voice echoed from the balcony.
“Enough!”
Salvatore stood above us.
Vincent was beside him.
My father held a detonator.
“There are charges beneath the cathedral,” he said. “Lower your weapons.”
I looked toward the old columns.
He had prepared this place years ago.
Of course he had.
One by one, we lowered our guns.
Salvatore descended the staircase with the dignity of a king entering court.
His gaze settled on Lily.
“So much trouble for such a small key.”
I stepped between them.
“She is not a key.”
“That is precisely what she is.”
“She is my daughter.”
He smiled.
“And at last, you understand your purpose.”
Vincent moved toward Elena.
Matteo blocked him.
“You betrayed us.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
“I protected this family.”
“You shot at Adrian.”
