A LOVE WRITTEN IN BLOOD

THE CHOICE

"Run.”

Victor’s voice cut through the darkness, and Joan did not question him. She grabbed Marco’s hand and pulled him toward the corridor while Victor moved behind them. The alarms screamed through the station, and somewhere outside, engines roared to life. Joan could hear footsteps approaching from the opposite platform. “Which way?” she shouted. “Left,” Victor answered. “There’s another exit.”

They hurried through a narrow passage filled with dust and broken equipment. Marco struggled to keep up, still weakened from whatever had happened to him earlier. Joan supported him while Victor checked every corner before allowing them forward. Behind them, something crashed. “They’re coming,” Marco said. “I know,” Victor replied. “Keep moving.”

They entered the tunnel. Halfway through, a gunshot echoed behind them. Victor stopped. “Keep going.” Joan turned. “Victor—” “Go!” His voice left no room for argument. She continued with Marco, but after several steps she heard another shot. Then silence.

“I’m going back.”

Marco grabbed her arm. “No.” “He’s alone.” “And you’ll make it worse.” Joan looked toward the darkness. Every instinct told her to keep moving, yet leaving Victor behind felt wrong. Before she could decide, Victor appeared at the end of the tunnel. His breathing was steady, but there was a fresh cut near his eyebrow. “I said keep going.” Joan stared at him. “You’re bleeding.” “It’s nothing.” “You always say that.” Victor almost smiled. “Because usually it is.”

They reached the river road and climbed into one of the waiting vehicles. Victor took the driver’s seat while Joan sat beside Marco in the back. Rain struck the windows as the car sped away from the station. “The case.”

Victor’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “What about it?” “You said it could destroy both families.” “I said it contained proof.” “Proof of what?” Victor looked at him through the mirror. “I don’t know yet.” Joan leaned forward. “Then why were you afraid of it?”

Victor remained silent.

Joan watched him carefully. “You recognized it immediately.” “Yes.” “From your father’s study.” “Yes.” “Then you know more than you’re telling us.”

Victor slowed the vehicle as they approached a red light. “My father had a locked room in the old Valenti estate. Nobody was allowed inside.” “Not even you?” “Especially not me.” Joan frowned. “Why?” “Because he believed I would eventually become like him.”

The light changed. Victor continued driving.

“What did he mean?” Joan asked.

Victor’s expression hardened. “My father believed power could only be protected through fear. He trained me to understand people, to anticipate betrayal, and to never hesitate when someone threatened the family.” Marco looked at him. “And did it work?”

Victor’s eyes remained on the road.

“Yes.”

Joan felt a strange chill. “What happened in that room?”

“My father kept records. Names. Payments. Agreements. Secrets about people who owed him favors.” Victor paused. “But one night, I found something he never intended me to see.”

“What?”

“A photograph.”

Joan’s attention sharpened. “Of who?”

“My father. Your father. And a third man.”

“Who?”

Victor shook his head. “I never learned his name.”

Marco frowned. “Could he be the leader of the Raven?”

“Maybe.”

The car suddenly swerved.

Victor slammed the brakes. Tires screamed against the wet road. A black vehicle had appeared ahead, blocking the street. Another rolled out behind them.

“We’re surrounded,” Marco whispered.

Victor reached beneath his seat and pulled out a weapon. “Stay down.”

Joan’s heart hammered. “How did they find us?”

“The tracker.”

“What tracker?”

Victor looked at her. “The case.”

Joan understood. “They knew we opened it.”

“No,” Victor said. “They knew we found it.”

The doors of the black vehicles opened. Several figures stepped into the rain. Victor studied them through the windshield. “They’re not Raven soldiers.”

“How do you know?” Joan asked.

“Because the Raven never sends this many people.”

Marco looked confused. “Then who are they?”

Victor’s expression changed.

“The Bellini family.”

Joan stared at him. “That’s impossible.”

“Is it?”

One of the men stepped forward and removed his hood.

Joan recognized him.

“Uncle Stefano.”

Marco’s face went pale.

Stefano raised his hands, signaling the others to remain still. He walked toward Victor’s car. Victor lowered his weapon but did not put it away.

Joan opened the door.

Victor caught her wrist. “Don’t.”

She looked at him. “He’s my uncle.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s safe.”

Stefano stopped several feet away. “Joan, get out.”

Victor stepped between them. “Explain yourself.”

Stefano’s eyes hardened. “You should be asking why the Raven wants her alive.”

“I already know.”

“No. You don’t.”

Joan stepped around Victor. “Then tell me.”

Stefano looked at her for a long moment. “Your father didn’t hide the list because he wanted to expose the Raven.”

“Then why?”

“Because he was one of them.”

Silence fell.

Marco shook his head. “No.”

Stefano continued. “Your father joined the Raven years ago. So did Victor’s father. They helped build it before realizing what it had become.”

Joan felt as though the ground had disappeared beneath her. “My father was part of the Raven?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did he try to destroy it?”

“Because they ordered him to sacrifice his own family.”

Joan’s breath caught. “What?”

Stefano looked toward Victor. “Your father refused. Victor’s father did too. That was the beginning of the betrayal.”

Victor stepped forward. “Who ordered it?”

Stefano hesitated.

“Say the name.”

“I don’t know.”

Victor’s expression darkened. “You’re lying.”

“I swear I’m not.”

A sharp c***k echoed through the rain.

Stefano staggered backward.

Joan screamed.

Victor immediately pulled her behind the car. The men around Stefano scattered, searching the surrounding buildings.

“Sniper,” Victor said.

Another shot struck the vehicle.

Marco ducked. “What do we do?”

Victor looked toward the river. “We move.”

He grabbed Joan’s hand and pulled her away from the road. Marco followed with two guards while Stefano disappeared into the rain.

Joan looked back. “We can’t leave him!”

Victor didn’t stop. “If he’s smart, he’ll survive.”

They reached an abandoned warehouse beside the river and slipped inside. Victor shut the door behind them. Everyone remained silent while rain pounded against the roof.

Joan turned toward him. “You knew my father was part of the Raven.”

“I suspected.”

“You lied to me.”

“I protected you.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

Victor looked at her. “I know.”

She stared at him, anger battling fear inside her. “What else haven’t you told me?”

Victor took a slow breath.

“My father believed the Raven had infiltrated both families.”

Marco stepped closer. “How far?”

“Far enough that we can’t trust anyone.”

Joan remembered the letter.

If Victor Valenti ever finds you, trust him.

She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. “Then why would my father tell me to trust you?”

Victor looked at the sentence.

“I don’t know.”

A phone began ringing.

Everyone froze.

It was coming from inside the black case.

Joan stared at Victor.

“We left it at the station.”

Victor slowly shook his head.

“No.”

The ringing continued.

“It followed us.”

He approached the case carefully. It was sitting on a wooden table near the warehouse wall, wet from the rain.

Marco stepped backward.

“That’s impossible.”

Victor stared at it.

“Not impossible.”

He opened the case.

Inside was a small phone, a collection of photographs, and a sealed envelope bearing the Bellini family crest.

The phone stopped ringing.

Then a message appeared.

YOU HAVE ONE HOUR.

Joan’s blood ran cold.

Another message appeared beneath it.

CHOOSE WHO LIVES.

Victor looked at Joan.

For the first time since she had met him, he seemed genuinely afraid.

A final message appeared.

JOAN OR MARCO.

Joan stared at the screen.

“No.”

Victor reached for the phone.

“It’s a trap.”

Joan shook her head. “They want me to choose.”

Victor looked at her. “You’re not choosing anyone.”

“They’ll kill Marco.”

“Then we find them first.”

Joan looked at the sealed envelope.

“What if the answer is inside?”

Victor picked it up carefully.

The Bellini crest was stained with something dark.

He opened the envelope.

Inside was a single photograph.

Joan stared at it.

Her father stood beside Victor’s father.

Behind them was the Raven symbol.

And between the two men stood a young boy.

Victor looked at the photograph.

His face went completely still.

Joan whispered, “Who is that?”

Victor did not answer.

Marco stepped closer.

Then his expression changed.

“That’s Victor.”

Victor shook his head.

“No.”

Joan looked at him.

The boy in the photograph was younger, but unmistakably him.

Victor stared at the picture as though seeing a forgotten part of himself.

Then he noticed something written beneath it.

THE HEIR WAS NEVER THE TARGET.

Victor’s eyes lifted slowly.

Joan asked, “Then who was?”

A phone rang again.

This time, it was Joan’s.

She answered without thinking.

A distorted voice whispered through the speaker.

“Your father was protecting the wrong child.”

The call ended.

Joan looked at Victor.

Neither spoke.

Outside, thunder rolled over Ravenhurst.

And somewhere in the city, someone who knew the truth was already watching them.