Chapter 6 - COME HOME
Lorenzo had never been afraid of a building.
Kira couldn't stop thinking about the four plates.
Kira spent the drive staring at the photograph.
Before they entered the estate, Lorenzo stopped Kira.
"If anything happens, you run."
"No."
"Kira."
"No."
He stared at her.
"I'm not leaving you."
He exhaled.
"You make this difficult."
"You like difficult."
"I apparently do."
She smiled.
Then he touched her forehead gently.
"Stay close."
"I will."
For the first time, he wasn't giving an order.
He was asking.
And she answered by taking his hand.
"Your mother knew Adrian."
"Apparently."
"Did she know he was alive?"
"I don't know."
"You're saying that a lot."
"Because someone erased half my life."
Kira looked at him.
"Then we'll rebuild it."
He smiled.
"You're very optimistic."
"No. I'm stubborn."
"That I believe."
They stopped at a roadside diner.
For ten minutes, nobody mentioned the Crown.
Kira ordered pancakes.
Lorenzo ordered coffee.
Ethan ate enough for three people.
Kira laughed.
"You always eat like that?"
Ethan shrugged.
"I'm stressed."
Lorenzo looked at him.
"Good answer."
Kira smiled.
"See? You're becoming family."
Lorenzo almost choked on his coffee.
Ethan laughed.
The ordinary moment mattered.
It reminded them that they were still people.
Not evidence.
Not targets.
Not pieces on a board.
People.
Then Lorenzo's phone rang.
He listened.
"Someone accessed the Moretti bank archives."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
He ended the call.
Kira's smile vanished.
"Where?"
"Chicago."
"Then we go back."
Lorenzo nodded.
He started the car.
Behind them, a black sedan appeared.
It followed for forty miles.
When Lorenzo finally stopped, the sedan was gone.
On the road lay a silver coin.
Ethan picked it up.
He recognized it.
"The man from my childhood."
Kira looked at him.
"Marcus?"
Ethan shook his head.
"No."
He looked terrified.
"Adrian."
Someone had prepared that dinner before they arrived.
Someone had known they would come.
She followed Lorenzo through the estate.
"How did you know this place would be empty?"
"I didn't."
"Then why come?"
"Because Adrian wanted me here."
"You're using yourself as bait."
"Yes."
Kira stopped.
"That's reckless."
"I've done worse."
"I believe you."
He turned.
"You should be angry."
"I am."
"At me?"
"At everyone."
He nodded.
"Fair."
They entered the library.
A portrait of Lorenzo's father hung above the fireplace.
Kira stared at it.
"Your father looks like you."
"People said that."
"Did he love you?"
Lorenzo's expression changed.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"He taught me how to survive. He never taught me how to live."
Kira felt something in his words.
"You can learn."
He looked at her.
"From whom?"
"Maybe from someone who doesn't know how either."
He smiled.
"That's a terrible lesson."
"It's what I have."
They found a hidden staircase behind the bookshelf.
At the bottom was a narrow corridor.
Kira followed.
A steel door waited at the end.
The second key fit.
Inside was a room filled with boxes.
Lorenzo opened one.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
Police reports.
Every page carried the same black crown.
Kira found a folder marked with her mother's name.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Her own.
But the father's name had been blacked out.
She looked at Lorenzo.
"Why would they hide this?"
He took the document.
"Because your father was using another identity."
"Which one?"
Before he could answer, the lights went out.
Adrian's voice came through a hidden speaker.
"You should have stayed away."
Lorenzo looked around.
"Where are you?"
"Close."
Kira whispered, "This room has cameras."
Adrian laughed.
"Of course it does."
Then the speaker went silent.
A door slammed upstairs.
Lorenzo pulled Kira close.
"We're leaving."
They climbed back toward the kitchen.
But the main hall was filled with smoke.
Someone had started another fire.
Lorenzo broke a window.
Cold air rushed in.
They escaped through the garden.
Kira looked back.
The estate burned behind them.
Adrian had destroyed the one place that held his family's history.
Or so he thought.
Ethan held up the folder.
"I grabbed this."
Kira stared.
"You did?"
He nodded.
"Mom's file."
Lorenzo opened it.
Inside was one photograph.
Isabella stood beside a man.
The man was young.
Lorenzo recognized him.
"That's Adrian."
Kira frowned.
"Who's the woman beside him?"
Lorenzo's face went pale.
"My mother."
The photograph was dated twelve years earlier.
One year before his father's death.
Kira whispered, "She knew."
"Apparently."
The phone rang.
Adrian again.
"You found the picture."
Lorenzo answered.
"What do you want?"
"The truth."
"You've spent eleven years lying."
"Because the truth would have killed you."
"Try me."
Adrian paused.
"Your father wasn't my enemy."
"Then who was?"
"You."
The line ended.
Lorenzo stared at the phone.
Kira touched his arm.
"What did he mean?"
"I don't know."
But for the first time, he looked genuinely uncertain.
He was afraid of what memories waited inside one.
The Moretti estate had been empty for years.
His father had died there.
His brother had disappeared there.
His mother had left after the funeral and never returned.
Now someone had sent them an invitation.
Come home.
Kira stood beside him in the cold.
"You don't have to go inside."
He looked at her.
"Yes, I do."
"Why?"
"Because someone is using my family against me."
He took her hand.
It was the first time he had done it without thinking.
Kira noticed.
Neither of them let go.
Inside the estate, dust covered the furniture.
But one room was different.
The dining room had been prepared for dinner.
Four plates.
Four glasses.
A candle burning in the center.
Kira whispered, "Someone was expecting us."
Lorenzo nodded.
A voice came from the staircase.
"Of course."
A man stepped into view.
Adrian Moretti.
Lorenzo stared at his brother.
He looked older than the photograph but unmistakably familiar.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Different expression.
"Adrian."
His brother smiled.
"You always were slow."
Lorenzo's hand moved toward his weapon.
Adrian raised his.
"Don't."
Kira stepped forward.
"Where is my mother?"
Adrian looked at her.
"Your mother is alive."
"Where?"
"Safe."
"You kidnapped her."
"I saved her."
Kira shook her head.
"From whom?"
Adrian smiled.
"From everyone."
Lorenzo's voice became cold.
"You joined the Crown."
"I inherited it."
"You're lying."
"No."
Adrian walked toward the table.
"Our father built the empire. Walter betrayed him. Isabella discovered the truth. You blamed the wrong man."
"Then who killed him?"
Adrian looked at Lorenzo.
"Our uncle."
Lorenzo froze.
"The family never knew."
"Because I made sure they didn't."
Kira felt overwhelmed.
"Why involve us?"
Adrian's eyes moved to her.
"Because Isabella had the final ledger."
"And she gave it to me?"
"No."
He smiled.
"She gave it to your mother."
Kira realized something.
"Which means you need me."
Adrian nodded.
"Your mother divided the evidence into pieces."
"Where?"
"She never told me."
"Then why bring me here?"
"Because she told me something else."
He leaned forward.
"She said Kira would know."
Kira shook her head.
"I don't."
"Think."
She closed her eyes.
Memories surfaced.
Her mother singing while baking.
Her mother hiding a key inside a flour jar.
Her mother telling Kira that some recipes should never be written down because the right people remembered them.
The bakery.
Kira opened her eyes.
"The old bakery."
Adrian smiled.
"Exactly."
Lorenzo stepped between them.
"You won't touch her."
Adrian laughed.
"That's the difference between us."
"What?"
"You think you're protecting her."
He looked at Kira.
"She is the key."
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot cracked.
Adrian disappeared.
Lorenzo grabbed Kira.
"Run."
They moved through the dark corridors.
Kira heard men entering through the rear door.
They reached the kitchen.
Lorenzo stopped.
A familiar smell filled the room.
Cinnamon.
Kira stared.
Their mother used to bake cinnamon rolls every Sunday.
A note sat beside the oven.
For Kira.
She opened it.
The message was short.
The truth is beneath the floor.
Lorenzo pulled up the old boards.
Underneath was a metal box.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
One showed Walter.
Another showed Adrian.
The third showed Kira's father.
And the last showed Lorenzo's father standing beside a woman Kira had never seen.
On the back:
THE FIRST QUEEN.
Lorenzo stared.
"Who is she?"
Kira shook her head.
A phone rang.
Her mother's voice came through.
"Kira, listen carefully."
"Mom!"
"You cannot trust Adrian."
"Where are you?"
"Don't ask."
"We're coming."
"No."
Her voice broke.
"If you love me, stay away from the river."
The line died.
Lorenzo looked at Kira.
"The river."
She nodded.
Then a message appeared on his phone.
One location.
A warehouse on the Chicago River.
Lorenzo grabbed his coat.
"We're going."
Kira stared at him.
"You heard her."
"I heard her."
"She told us not to."
"Which means she knew someone was listening."
He looked at her.
"And now I know exactly where they'll expect us."
For the first time, Kira understood the way Lorenzo's mind worked.
He wasn't walking into a trap.
He was turning it around.
But when they reached the warehouse, they found Isabella standing alone beneath a single light.
And behind her stood Walter.
Not the Walter they knew.
A younger man.
Same face.
Different identity.
May you like
He smiled at Lorenzo.
"Welcome home."
