STOLEN REVENGE

Chapter Seventeen: The Forgotten Twin

"You have a twin sister."

The words hit the room like an explosion. For several seconds, nobody spoke. Dante simply stared at the screen, unable to process what he had just heard. His entire life had been built on lies, but this revelation felt different.

It was personal. It wasn't just another secret about the Circle or the Thirteen. It was family.

"What did you say?" Dante finally asked.

Isabella struggled against the restraints binding her hands. "You have a twin sister," she repeated. "She was taken from us the night we disappeared."

Luciano slowly closed his eyes. "She wasn't taken," he said quietly. "She was sacrificed."

The room fell silent. Valentina frowned. "Sacrificed? What does that mean?"

Luciano's expression grew darker than Dante had ever seen. "The original agreement between the Circle and the Thirteen required an heir to be raised within their ranks. When Isabella discovered their plans, we tried to flee with both children."

"And?" Sofia asked. "We failed." The painful memory was written all over Luciano's face. "Alessandro managed to escape with Dante.

Gabriel helped fake Isabella's death and hide her whereabouts. But the Thirteen captured your sister before we could reach the extraction point."

Dante clenched his fists. "So you've known all this time that she's alive?"

"No," Isabella answered through tears. "For twenty-five years, we believed she was dead."

The monitor suddenly flickered. Selene Black smiled behind her mask. "That is partly true," she said. "Your sister should have died many years ago."

"What do you mean?" Dante demanded.

"The Thirteen had other plans for her." Selene pressed a button on a small remote device, and the video feed changed.

A woman stood inside a dark training chamber, wearing black tactical gear. Her face was hidden beneath a silver mask engraved with the symbol of a serpent.

Despite the mask, Dante noticed something impossible at once. She had his eyes. His posture. His movements. It was like looking at a female reflection of himself.

"No," Dante whispered.

"The Thirteen raised her," Selene explained. "They trained her to become their greatest weapon."

"Who is she?" Valentina asked quietly.

Selene smiled. "We call her Nyx."

Gabriel recognized the name at once.

"The Ghost Blade," he whispered.

Sofia looked confused. "Who's Nyx?"

Luciano slowly sat down, visibly shaken. "Over the past decade, several of the world's most powerful political figures and crime bosses have disappeared without explanation.

Entire governments have fallen overnight. Intelligence agencies fear her more than they fear war."

"She's never been photographed," Gabriel added. "Nobody has ever survived meeting her."

Selene laughed softly. "Until tonight."

The masked woman slowly removed her helmet, and the room froze. She looked exactly like Dante. The same dark eyes. The same sharp features. The same empty stare. The only difference was a scar running across her left cheek.

Dante couldn't breathe. "My God," Valentina whispered.

Nyx stared straight into the camera. "Is this him?" she asked coldly. Her voice carried no emotion at all.

"Yes," Selene replied. "Meet your brother."

For the first time in her life, Nyx looked surprised. "My brother?" she asked quietly.

"His name is Dante Moretti." Nyx studied the screen carefully. "He doesn't look dangerous."

The comment almost made Sofia laugh despite everything. "She's definitely your sister," she whispered.

Dante ignored her. "Do you know who you are?" he asked Nyx. "I am Nyx of the Thirteen."

"No. That's who they made you become." She said nothing.

"You are Isabella Romano's daughter," Dante continued. "You are my sister."

Nyx's expression changed briefly before returning to its usual coldness. "I have no family."

The words broke Isabella's heart. "Please don't say that," she whispered through tears. "I've searched for you every single day."

Nyx looked at her without recognition. "I have no memories of you."

Selene smiled with triumph. "The Thirteen erased them long ago."

Luciano understood at once. "Memory conditioning," he said coldly.

"Precisely," Selene replied. "She was raised to become the perfect assassin. No emotions. No attachments. No weaknesses."

"She's been manipulated her entire life," Dante said angrily.

"Just like you," Selene answered.

Suddenly, an explosion shook the building again.

"They've breached the second floor!" Gabriel's men shouted through the radio. "We're running out of time," Gabriel warned.

Luciano turned to Dante and handed him another sealed envelope. "What's this?" "Everything Alessandro left for you."

Dante opened it carefully. Inside was a handwritten letter. He recognized the handwriting at once. Alessandro Moretti.

"My son," the letter began. "If you are reading this, then I have already failed to protect you from the truth."

Tears slowly filled Dante's eyes.

"I never cared whose blood ran through your veins. The day I held you in my arms, you became my son. Nothing will ever change that."

The room stayed silent as Dante kept reading.

"You will soon discover that being born into darkness does not mean you belong to it. Your mother gave you life. Luciano gave you blood.

But I gave you my name, because I believed you would become the man neither of us ever could."

Dante smiled sadly. "There is one final secret I must tell you," the letter continued. "The true heir of the Circle is not one child."

Dante stopped reading and looked at Luciano. "What?"

"The Covenant requires both heirs to stand together." Luciano nodded slowly. "Only the united bloodline of Isabella Romano can activate or destroy the Circle."

Everyone understood the meaning at once. Dante and Nyx would have to stand together to stop the Thirteen. Unfortunately, Nyx had been raised to serve them.

Selene smiled. "Which means you have an impossible choice to make."

"What choice?" Dante asked.

"Save your mother, or save your sister."

The live feed changed again. Two different locations appeared on the screen. Isabella was held in one. Nyx stood surrounded by armed operatives in the other.

"You have one hour," Selene announced calmly. "Choose which member of your family lives."

Before anyone could respond, Selene delivered one final blow.

"Oh, and Dante?" "Yes?" "If you choose wrong, your sister has been ordered to kill you herself."

The screen went black. And for the first time in his life, Dante Moretti understood that saving Raveno City might cost him the family he had only just found.