Chapter 6 - The Unbroken Line
By three in the morning, the rain had stopped, leaving the charred remains of the northern cottage steaming under the cold moonlight. Fire crews and secure transports filled the clearing, their red and blue lights flashing against the dark pine trees.
Sal Valetti and his remaining men had been loaded into secure transport vans, bound for a private facility where they would answer for every crime they had committed against my family. Dante had been pulled from the burning house alive, heavily restrained, and placed under Marcus’s personal guard.
I sat on the dropped tailgate of an armored ambulance, a wool blanket wrapped around my shoulders, while a paramedic checked a minor burn on my left arm.
A few feet away, Ethan sat on a wooden crate, wrapped in his own thick blanket. Beside him sat Lily, fast asleep with her head resting on his shoulder, her tiny hands still holding her worn teddy bear. Sarah sat nearby, holding a cup of hot tea, her eyes fixed on her son and daughter with quiet relief.
Marcus walked over, holding a steel flask. He handed it to me without a word.
I took a long drink, the burning liquid warming my throat. "Is Rose..."
"She passed away twenty minutes ago," Marcus said quietly, staring at the embers of the cottage. "She held on until team two pulled the kids out of the cellar. She saw Ethan stand up on his own two feet for three seconds before she closed her eyes."
I looked down at the ground, a deep, heavy quiet settling over my heart. Rose Vance had spent five years hiding in the dark, guarding a secret that had finally restored my family’s soul.
"And Clara?" Marcus asked softly, looking at me. "Did Rose say anything else?"
I pulled Clara’s silver necklace from my pocket and held it up to the moonlight. "Clara died protecting our son, Marcus. She knew Dante was a parasite inside our organization, but she didn't have the proof to convince me before they moved against her. She sacrificed herself to give Rose time to hide Ethan's cure."
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Marcus placed a heavy hand on my shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. "The Valenti empire is clean now, Adrian. We wiped out Valetti's network tonight. There's no one left to threaten us."
"Not an empire, Marcus," I corrected him, looking back at Ethan, who was currently reaching down to gently rub his own right calf, a small, triumphant smile on his face. "A family. We are going home."
