The old family estate seemed to hold its breath as the truth crashed down around Aria like shattered glass. Dante’s father — the man everyone believed dead for years — stood before them, wounded but alive, his cold smile a twisted mirror of his son’s. Sofia lay bleeding on the floor a few feet away, her warning cut short by the gunshot. Aria’s gun trembled in her hands as she tried to process the impossible.
“Father,” Dante growled, his voice like ice as he kept his weapon trained on the older man. “You died. I watched the funeral. I buried you.”
The older man laughed weakly, clutching his bleeding shoulder. “Death is the ultimate disguise when you need to rebuild an empire from the shadows. You were always too emotional, son. Too attached to this girl. She was never meant to survive thi
