GUARDED BY MY POSSESSIVE MAFIA BROTHERS

Chapter 13: The Mother Who Came Back From the Dead

The countdown on Dominic’s phone showed forty-seven minutes.

We drove toward the abandoned Bellini television station in two vehicles. Dominic drove the first car with Dante beside him. Luca, Noah, and I sat in the back.

Marco, Sofia, and Father Gabriel followed us with the remaining guards.

No one spoke for several minutes.

Dante stared through the windshield as though he could force the truth to appear on the road ahead.

Luca finally broke the silence.

“You saw our mother three weeks ago, and you told no one?”

Dominic kept his eyes on the road. “I wasn’t certain it was her.”

“You just said you saw her.”

“I saw a woman with Vittoria’s face. In our world, that does not guarantee anything.”

Dante turned toward him. “Did you speak to her?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know she’s behind this?”

“She met Rocco at the television station. Two days later, my men were killed and Antonio’s files disappeared.”

“You hired Rocco,” I said. “Why?”

“To retrieve the cassette before Vincent found it.”

“Why didn’t you approach Dante?”

Dominic glanced at him.

“Because I believed he helped Vittoria kill Antonio.”

Dante’s hand moved toward his weapon.

Luca leaned forward. “Can we delay the brother-against-brother murder until after we stop our resurrected mother?”

“He isn’t my brother,” Dante said.

Dominic gave a cold smile. “Antonio’s blood says otherwise.”

“Blood means nothing.”

The words hit me more deeply than he intended.

Dante noticed.

“That is not what I meant, Elena.”

“I know exactly what you meant.”

His expression softened. “You are my sister.”

“But not because of blood?”

“No. Because I chose you.”

The anger inside me weakened, but it didn’t disappear.

I looked out the window.

“You also chose what I was allowed to know.”

Dante said nothing.

Noah’s hand rested near mine on the seat. He didn’t touch me, but the small distance between us offered more comfort than Dante’s promises.

Dominic observed us through the mirror.

“Antonio’s daughter and a journalist,” he said. “He would have hated that.”

“I’m beginning to consider that a compliment,” Noah replied.

The television station appeared beyond the trees.

The five-story building had been abandoned for nearly fifteen years. Broken satellite dishes covered the roof, and the faded Bellini Broadcasting logo remained above the entrance.

Several windows glowed with white light.

The countdown showed thirty-eight minutes.

Dominic stopped the vehicle behind a row of empty warehouses.

“We go through the service tunnel.”

Dante examined the building. “How many men?”

“At least twelve.”

“And the surveillance system?”

“Rocco reactivated it.”

“You know a great deal about his operation.”

“I financed most of it.”

Luca sighed. “Excellent. Our unknown brother accidentally funded our mother’s criminal television station.”

“I did not know Vittoria was alive.”

“That sentence is becoming less believable every time you repeat it.”

Marco’s vehicle stopped behind us.

Father Gabriel remained inside while Sofia approached with Marco.

“We should divide into three groups,” Marco said. “One disables security, one reaches the broadcast room, and one searches for Vittoria.”

Dante looked at him differently now.

Marco had confessed that Antonio was his biological father, making him another secret De Santis son. The man who had served our family for years was suddenly our brother.

Or half brother.

Or possibly another liar.

Dante’s voice was cold. “You will stay with Father Gabriel.”

“I know the building.”

“So does Dominic.”

“You still don’t trust me.”

“I don’t trust anyone.”

His eyes briefly moved toward me.

I pretended not to notice.

Marco stepped closer. “I spent twenty years protecting you.”

“And twenty years hiding the fact that you were Antonio’s son.”

“Your mother threatened my family.”

Luca’s expression darkened. “What family?”

“My adoptive parents. Vittoria promised to kill them if I told anyone.”

“Are they alive?” I asked.

Marco shook his head. “They died six years ago.”

“Then why did you continue hiding the truth?”

“Because by then, Dante was the head of the family. If I announced that I was Antonio’s illegitimate son, every enemy would claim I wanted his position.”

“Did you?” Dominic asked.

Marco stared at him.

“If I wanted the throne, I had hundreds of opportunities to kill Dante.”

Dante’s jaw tightened. “That is not the defense you think it is.”

A message appeared on Dominic’s phone.

Thirty minutes remaining.

Beneath the countdown, Vittoria had written:

I HOPE ALL MY CHILDREN ARE TOGETHER.

A photograph followed.

Vittoria sat behind a desk inside the broadcasting studio.

She looked older than the woman I remembered, but unmistakably alive. Her dark hair was streaked with silver. A scar crossed the left side of her neck and disappeared beneath her red dress.

Rocco stood behind her, holding Antonio’s cassette.

On the wall were four live video feeds showing the roads around the station.

“She knows we’re here,” Noah said.

“Then secrecy is no longer useful,” Dante replied.

He loaded his weapon.

I caught his arm. “If we attack directly, she might begin the broadcast early.”

“And if we wait, she gets what she wants.”

“What does she want?”

“All of us inside the same building,” Dominic said.

Luca looked at him. “Why?”

“To finish what she started.”

Dante turned toward the station. “Then we make her believe she has succeeded.”

The service tunnel began beneath one of the warehouses. Dominic unlocked a rusted metal door, revealing stairs that led underground.

Sofia remained with Father Gabriel and the guards. Marco insisted on joining us despite Dante’s order.

We entered the tunnel in a single line.

The passage was narrow and wet. Old cables ran along the walls.

Dominic led us.

Dante walked directly behind him with his gun aimed at his back.

“This family has serious trust problems,” Noah whispered.

“You noticed?” I replied.

After several minutes, we reached a steel door.

Dominic entered a code.

The light changed from red to green.

“There are dressing rooms on the other side,” he said. “The main studio is two floors above us.”

“What about the control room?” Noah asked.

“Fourth floor.”

Noah looked at me. “If I can reach it, I may be able to stop the broadcast.”

“You’re coming with me,” Dante said to him.

Noah frowned. “So you can threaten me while I work?”

“So I can make certain you do not take Elena with you.”

“I’m not luggage,” I said.

Dominic opened the door.

Before Dante could answer, a guard appeared on the other side.

Marco struck him before he could shout. Luca caught the man’s weapon as he fell.

We entered the building.

Dusty mirrors lined the abandoned dressing rooms. Old costumes hung from broken racks, their colors faded by time.

A television switched on above us.

Vittoria’s face appeared on the screen.

“My beautiful children,” she said. “Welcome home.”

Dante fired at the television.

The screen exploded.

“That was mature,” Luca said.

Vittoria’s voice continued through speakers in the hallway.

“Dante, still destroying anything that frightens you.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” he shouted.

“You should be.”

A security door slammed behind us.

Then gas began pouring from the vents.

“Cover your mouths!” Noah warned.

Dominic pulled open a maintenance panel. “The emergency shutoff is on the second floor.”

“We don’t have time,” Dante said.

Luca kicked the dressing-room door, but it didn’t move.

My eyes began burning.

Vittoria’s voice remained calm.

“Only Antonio’s true children may continue. Everyone else must remain behind.”

A second door opened at the end of the hallway.

Beyond it was a staircase.

Dominic ran toward it. Dante grabbed my hand and followed. Noah stayed beside me while Luca and Marco covered us.

The moment we crossed the doorway, it began closing.

Noah pushed me through first.

Dante, Luca, Marco, and Dominic reached the other side.

Noah did not.

The security door slammed between us.

“Noah!” I struck the metal.

He appeared behind the small glass window.

Smoke surrounded him.

“Find the control room!” he shouted.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Dante pulled me away from the door.

“Dominic, open it.”

“The controls are on Vittoria’s system.”

Noah covered his mouth with his sleeve.

His face was disappearing behind the gas.

I pointed my gun at Dominic. “Open that door.”

“Elena—”

“Do it!”

Dominic studied me for a moment.

Then he reached into the damaged wall and pulled two cables free. Sparks flew from the panel.

The security door opened several centimeters.

Luca and Marco grabbed it and pulled.

Noah crawled beneath the opening just before it slammed shut again.

I dropped beside him.

“Are you hurt?”

“I’ll survive.”

Dante dragged him upright.

“You risked your life for her.”

Noah coughed. “You sound surprised.”

“I’m deciding whether I dislike you slightly less.”

“Please don’t become emotional.”

Luca looked between them. “This is almost romantic.”

“Stop talking,” Dante and Noah said together.

The speakers crackled.

Vittoria laughed.

“Still collecting men who are willing to die for you, Elena? You truly are Isabella’s daughter.”

I looked toward the nearest camera.

“Come out and face us.”

“All in good time.”

The countdown appeared on a screen at the end of the hallway.

Twenty-one minutes.

We climbed to the second floor.

Two guards waited near the staircase. Luca shot the weapon from the first man’s hand while Marco tackled the second.

Dominic removed a key card from one of them.

“We separate here,” he said. “Dante and Noah go to the control room. Luca and Marco disable the security system. Elena comes with me to the studio.”

“No,” Dante said immediately.

“I need Elena,” Dominic replied. “Vittoria will not reveal herself unless she sees her.”

“She is not bait.”

“I can speak for myself,” I said.

“You are not going anywhere with him.”

“Your mother specifically asked for Antonio’s children,” Dominic said. “She wants Elena alive.”

Dante grabbed his coat.

“She raised Elena. That does not make her incapable of killing her.”

Vittoria’s voice interrupted us.

“Dante, you have eighteen minutes to send Elena into Studio One. If she is not there, Rocco will broadcast Antonio’s confession.”

A second screen turned on.

Rocco inserted the cassette into an old tape player connected to the broadcasting system.

The timer showed eighteen minutes.

“Studio One is on this floor,” Dominic said.

“I’m going,” I told Dante.

“No.”

“If we keep arguing, the tape will be broadcast.”

“I will find another way.”

“You always say that, and your other way usually involves locking me somewhere.”

“Elena—”

“I spent my entire life obeying you because I believed you knew everything. You didn’t even know your own mother was alive.”

Pain crossed his face.

I regretted the cruelty, but not the decision.

“I’m going into the studio,” I continued. “You can protect me by stopping the broadcast.”

Dante looked ready to refuse again.

Then Noah touched his shoulder.

“She’s right.”

Dante turned slowly. “Be careful.”

Noah raised both hands. “I enjoy being alive.”

After several seconds, Dante placed a small communication device into my ear.

“Keep this on.”

“I will.”

“If anything goes wrong—”

“I call you.”

“No. You run.”

I nodded, although we both knew I might not obey.

Dominic and I walked toward Studio One while the others climbed to the upper floors.

The studio doors were open.

Bright lights blinded me as I entered.

An elegant dining table stood in the center of the empty set. Two chairs had been placed opposite each other.

Vittoria sat in one of them.

Rocco stood beside the broadcasting equipment with Antonio’s cassette in his hand.

My feet stopped moving.

For twelve years, I had remembered Vittoria inside a coffin. Her body had been covered because the fire had made it impossible for us to see her face.

I had cried beside an empty grave.

Now she smiled at me as though she had returned from a short journey.

“Elena.”

My throat tightened.

“You’re alive.”

“Obviously.”

I hated the casualness of her answer.

“You let us bury you.”

“It was necessary.”

“You let Dante and Luca believe their mother was dead.”

“They survived.”

“They suffered.”

“Suffering made them powerful.”

Dominic entered behind me.

Vittoria’s smile disappeared.

“You brought the forgotten child.”

“You sound disappointed,” Dominic said.

“You were supposed to die with Teresa.”

He raised his weapon.

Rocco immediately aimed at me.

“Drop it,” Vittoria ordered.

Dominic lowered the gun.

I stared at her. “You tried to kill him when he was a child?”

“I protected my sons’ inheritance.”

“By murdering another child?”

“Do not pretend Isabella was more merciful. She knew Dominic existed and still accepted Antonio’s protection.”

“She didn’t try to kill him.”

“No. She merely took his home, his father, and his future.”

Dominic’s expression remained unreadable.

“Teresa died because of you.”

“Teresa died because she believed Antonio loved her enough to challenge his family.”

Vittoria looked at me again.

“That was Isabella’s mistake too.”

I approached the table.

“What do you want?”

“Sit.”

“No.”

Rocco pressed the weapon closer to Dominic’s head.

I sat opposite Vittoria.

She reached across the table as though she wanted to touch my face. I moved away.

“You used to call me Mama,” she said.

“I thought you loved me.”

“I did.”

“Then why did you lie to me?”

“Because love is easiest when the other person knows only the version of you they can accept.”

“That isn’t love.”

Her expression hardened.

“You sound like Isabella.”

“I hope I do.”

The communication device in my ear crackled.

Dante’s voice was faint.

“We’re inside the control room. Keep her talking.”

Vittoria placed Antonio’s silver ring on the table.

“I gave you everything Isabella could not. A name. A home. Brothers who would destroy the world for you.”

“And then you abandoned us.”

“I did not abandon you. I watched you.”

A chill moved through me.

“The anonymous birthday gifts,” I whispered.

“The white roses every year.”

“Those were from you?”

“I never forgot my daughter.”

“I wasn’t your daughter. I was your weapon.”

Vittoria’s smile vanished.

“Dante became weak because of you. Every decision he made was shaped by his fear of losing you. Luca became reckless because he believed you would always forgive him. Antonio’s sons destroyed each other while protecting Isabella’s child.”

“You wanted them divided.”

“I wanted them obedient.”

Rocco glanced toward the countdown.

“Ten minutes.”

Vittoria picked up Antonio’s ring.

“Your father planned to give everything to you.”

“I was a baby.”

“He created a trust in your name. When you turned twenty-five, ownership of the De Santis legal businesses would transfer to you.”

My heart pounded.

“Why?”

“Guilt. Antonio confused it with love.”

“And you wanted the inheritance.”

“I wanted what belonged to my sons.”

Dominic laughed bitterly. “Which sons? The ones you raised or the ones you manipulated?”

Vittoria ignored him.

“The transfer occurred three days ago, Elena. You now control the De Santis Group.”

I stared at her.

Dante had never mentioned it.

“Did he know?”

“Of course. That is why he increased your security. He feared Vincent would discover the truth.”

Once again, Dante had hidden something from me.

Vittoria leaned closer.

“Sign ownership over to me, and I will destroy the cassette.”

Rocco placed a document and pen on the table.

“If I refuse?”

“Antonio’s confession goes live. Dante will be blamed for Isabella’s murder. Luca will be exposed for every man he killed. Marco’s true identity will destroy the family’s alliances. Dominic will be hunted by every organization he betrayed.”

“And Noah?”

Vittoria smiled knowingly.

“The journalist will be executed for trespassing before the police arrive.”

My hands curled beneath the table.

In my ear, Dante whispered, “Do not sign anything.”

Rocco looked toward a camera.

“I found their signal.”

He pressed a button.

Pain exploded inside my ear. The communication device sparked, and I pulled it out.

“Your brothers can no longer help you,” Vittoria said.

The countdown showed five minutes.

I picked up the pen.

Dominic stared at me. “Elena, don’t.”

“If I sign, everyone lives?”

Vittoria nodded.

“And you destroy the tape?”

“In front of you.”

I lowered the pen toward the paper.

Then the studio lights went out.

Gunfire erupted above us.

Rocco grabbed the cassette.

Dominic overturned the table and pulled me behind it as bullets shattered the studio windows.

Dante’s voice came through the darkness.

“Elena!”

“I’m here!”

Emergency lights turned red.

Luca entered through one door while Marco came through another. Noah appeared on the balcony above the studio.

Rocco ran toward the broadcasting console.

Dante fired, striking his shoulder.

Rocco fell but managed to press the play button.

Antonio’s voice filled the station.

“If you are hearing this, then I am already dead.”

The live-broadcast symbol turned red.

Noah reached the control panel.

“I can’t stop it!”

Vittoria pulled a gun from beneath her dress and aimed at me.

“You should have signed.”

Dante stepped into her path.

Vittoria fired.

The bullet struck him in the chest.

“No!”

Dante collapsed.

I ran to him as Luca shot at Vittoria, but she escaped through a door behind the set.

Blood spread across Dante’s shirt.

His eyes remained open, but his breathing was weak.

“Elena,” he whispered.

“Don’t speak.”

He grabbed my wrist.

“The tape.”

Antonio’s confession continued playing over the speakers.

“I betrayed every woman I claimed to love, but Isabella was not killed by Vincent Valenti or my son Dante.”

Everyone stopped.

Even Rocco looked toward the speakers.

Antonio’s recorded voice continued.

“The person responsible was my wife, Vittoria De Santis.”

A shot sounded from the control booth.

Noah disappeared from the balcony.

At the same moment, the station doors locked automatically.

A new countdown appeared on every screen.

THREE MINUTES UNTIL BUILDING DEMOLITION.

Rocco began laughing through his pain.

“You finally heard the truth.”

I pressed my hands against Dante’s wound.

“Who activated the explosives?” Luca demanded.

Rocco looked toward the door through which Vittoria had escaped.

“Your mother.”

Smoke began rising from beneath the studio floor.

Dante’s eyes closed.

“Dante!”

He didn’t respond.

The countdown changed to two minutes and fifty-nine seconds.

Vittoria was escaping.

Noah had been shot.

Antonio’s confession was being broadcast to the entire city.

And my brother was dying beneath my hands.