Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER WHO NEVER DIED
The emergency lights came on red.
The man who claimed to be Kira's father looked exhausted.
Kira stared at Marcus.
Ethan stood beside Kira after the attack.
Lorenzo looked at the people gathered around him. For years, he had protected his empire by keeping everyone at a distance. Now Kira stood in the middle of that distance, and he realized the walls he had built were no longer protecting him. They were keeping him from the life he had never admitted he wanted.
Kira looked at Ethan and smiled. Whatever secrets their family had carried, they would not decide who he became. He had earned his future one difficult year at a time. No organization, no inheritance, and no old family name could take that away from him.
"I don't want you to blame yourself."
"I don't."
"You do."
She sighed.
"Maybe a little."
Ethan smiled.
"Then blame me too."
She laughed.
He hugged her.
Lorenzo watched them from the doorway.
He understood something then.
Family wasn't always blood.
Sometimes it was the person who stayed when staying was difficult.
And sometimes it was the person who walked into your life by accident and refused to leave when danger arrived.
"You lied to us."
He smiled.
"I protected you."
"By pretending to be someone else?"
"By surviving."
Lorenzo stepped forward.
"Where is Adrian?"
Marcus laughed.
"You still think Adrian is the enemy."
"Then tell me who is."
Marcus looked at Kira.
"Your mother."
Kira's stomach dropped.
"Don't."
"She knew the Crown was going to collapse."
"She didn't cause it."
"No."
Marcus smiled.
"She caused the war."
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
"Enough."
Marcus raised his weapon.
"You should ask Isabella what happened the night your father disappeared."
Then the building shook.
An explosion rocked the lower floor.
Everyone ducked.
Marcus escaped through the rear door.
Lorenzo chased him.
Kira stayed with Ethan.
The fire spread quickly.
They escaped through a side stairwell.
Outside, Lorenzo stood in the snow.
Marcus was gone.
But he had left something behind.
A photograph.
It showed Isabella and Daniel.
On the back:
HE WAS NEVER YOUR FATHER.
Kira stared.
"What does that mean?"
Lorenzo looked at the picture.
"I don't know."
Ethan whispered, "Maybe we should find out before someone else dies."
He lowered his gun.
"I didn't know you would come with Lorenzo."
Kira stepped forward.
"You knew we were coming?"
"I knew someone would."
"How?"
"Because Walter has been watching the family for eleven years."
Lorenzo moved closer.
"Tell me your name."
The man hesitated.
"Daniel Lawson."
Kira stared.
The name felt unreal.
"Why did Mom say you were dead?"
"Because I wanted her to."
"That's not an explanation."
"I was working undercover."
"For whom?"
"The federal government."
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
Daniel continued.
"I infiltrated the Crown. I discovered they were using Moretti shipping routes to move money."
"And then?"
"Then they discovered me."
Kira whispered, "You left us."
"I thought leaving would keep you alive."
"You didn't even say goodbye."
"I watched you from a distance."
"Where?"
"Every city."
Kira's anger broke through.
"You watched us?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you help?"
"Because help would have exposed me."
Ethan stepped forward.
"That's a convenient excuse."
Daniel looked at him.
"You have your mother's courage."
"Don't say that."
"Why?"
"Because you didn't know her the way we did."
Daniel lowered his head.
"No. I didn't."
Lorenzo interrupted.
"What is the second key?"
Daniel reached into his coat.
"Not yet."
"Then when?"
"When Kira is ready."
She looked at him.
"I'm ready."
Daniel handed her the key.
It was warm from his pocket.
"This opens a room beneath the old Moretti estate."
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
"My father built it."
Daniel nodded.
"He stored everything there."
Kira stared.
"Everything?"
"Names. Payments. recordings. photographs."
"Why didn't you destroy it?"
"Because someday someone would need proof."
Lorenzo looked at Daniel.
"You."
Daniel nodded.
"I was supposed to give it to Isabella."
"But she disappeared."
"Yes."
The pieces were finally connecting.
Kira looked at the key.
"Then let's open the room."
Daniel shook his head.
"You don't understand."
"What?"
"Opening that room will tell them you're alive."
"Who?"
Daniel looked toward the window.
"The person who has been waiting for your family to return."
A car horn sounded outside.
Lorenzo's security chief shouted.
"Vehicles approaching!"
Everyone moved.
Lorenzo grabbed Kira's hand.
"Stay behind me."
The front doors burst open.
Men rushed inside.
Daniel fired.
Lorenzo returned fire.
Kira and Ethan moved Isabella toward the basement.
Then Kira saw something.
A man standing among the attackers.
Walter.
The same silver-haired man from the university.
He smiled.
"Hello, Kira."
She froze.
Lorenzo turned.
"Walter."
Walter raised a gun.
"Not Walter."
His voice changed.
"My name is Marcus Pruitt."
Lorenzo's face went cold.
Marcus smiled.
"Now we can stop pretending."
Kira heard a struggle inside her mother's room.
She reached for the door.
Lorenzo stopped her.
"Stay behind me."
He entered first.
The window was open.
The bed was empty.
Kira's scream echoed down the hallway.
"Mom!"
Lorenzo moved toward the window.
A rope hung from the fire escape.
Two floors below, a black sedan sped away.
He turned to his men.
"Lock down every exit."
Kira grabbed his arm.
"She's gone."
"We'll find her."
"You said that before."
"I know."
His voice softened.
"And this time, I won't stop."
They searched the hospital for forty minutes.
Nothing.
Then Ethan found a message written on the inside of Isabella's bedside drawer.
Three words.
TRUST THE BROTHER.
Lorenzo stared at them.
His face became unreadable.
Kira whispered, "Your brother?"
"My father had one son besides me."
"What happened to him?"
"He disappeared when he was seventeen."
"Name?"
"Adrian."
Kira frowned.
"Same as your father?"
"Yes."
"How do you know he's alive?"
Lorenzo looked at the phone.
"He called me."
Ethan stepped closer.
"Maybe he took Mom."
Lorenzo shook his head.
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because if he wanted her dead, she'd already be dead."
They left the hospital.
Back at Lorenzo's private residence, Kira finally exploded.
"You keep saying you'll protect us, but you won't tell me anything."
"I've told you more than I tell most people."
"I'm not most people."
"No."
He looked at her.
"You're the woman who hugged me before asking who I was."
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
"Don't use that against me."
"I wouldn't dare."
Then he became serious.
"Your mother trusted my family once. It nearly killed her."
"And now?"
"Now I'm asking you to trust me."
"Why?"
He took a breath.
"Because I don't know how to explain what happened when I was twenty-two."
He told her everything.
His father had built the family business through legitimate shipping contracts before expanding into criminal enterprises.
Lorenzo had wanted out.
His younger brother Adrian had wanted to take control.
Their father died suddenly.
Adrian vanished.
Walter stepped in.
Within months, a war began.
Isabella had been the only person who discovered Walter was working with an outside organization called the Crown.
She stole evidence.
Walter hunted her.
Lorenzo believed she died.
Kira listened silently.
Then she asked, "Why did my mother have the key?"
Lorenzo looked at it.
"I don't know."
Ethan interrupted.
"Maybe we should find out."
The key opened an old safety-deposit box.
Inside were documents.
Bank records.
Photographs.
And one envelope addressed to Kira.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Kira,
If Lorenzo has brought you here, then the truth is already moving faster than I can.
There is one thing I never told you.
Your father is alive.
Kira stopped breathing.
Ethan grabbed her shoulder.
"Keep reading."
He isn't the man you remember.
He is the reason I ran.
And he is the reason I trusted Lorenzo.
At the bottom was an address.
Lorenzo took it.
"Milwaukee."
Kira looked at him.
"Take me there."
He nodded.
The drive was tense.
When they arrived, they found an old apartment building.
A man waited outside.
He was tall.
Gray-haired.
Carrying a cane.
He looked at Kira.
Then Ethan.
His eyes filled with tears.
"My children."
Kira couldn't move.
"Who are you?"
The man swallowed.
"Your father."
She stared at him.
"No."
He nodded.
"I know."
"You were dead."
"I was supposed to be."
Lorenzo stepped forward.
"What happened to Isabella?"
The man looked at him.
"The Crown took her."
"Where?"
"To the Moretti estate."
Lorenzo's face hardened.
"Why?"
The man lowered his voice.
"Because the person leading the Crown is someone you have been calling family for eleven years."
Lorenzo's hand moved toward his weapon.
"Who?"
The man looked directly at him.
"Walter Pruitt."
Kira shook her head.
"Walter is already gone."
The man smiled sadly.
"Then you don't understand."
He looked past Lorenzo.
"Because Walter Pruitt is not the real Walter Pruitt."
A car engine roared behind them.
Gunfire erupted.
Lorenzo pushed Kira to the ground.
Ethan pulled their father behind a wall.
Bullets struck the building.
Then the shooters disappeared.
On the pavement lay a single black card.
The crown symbol.
May you like
And beneath it, four words.
COME HOME, LORENZO.
