Chapter 10
Lorenzo stared at Samuel.
“What do you mean, me too?”
Samuel’s face tightened.
Thomas looked away.
Dante saw it.
Another secret.
Samuel took one breath.
Then another.
“Your father never chose between you.”
Lorenzo stopped moving.
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Samuel continued.
“He refused.”
Lorenzo’s voice hardened.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
Thomas whispered:
“Samuel.”
“Enough.”
The doctor looked toward him.
“Sixteen years of lies is enough.”
The room went completely still.
Samuel turned toward both brothers.
Their father had never ordered Lorenzo removed because he was weak.
He had never designated Dante sole heir.
The official story both men had been fed was false.
Their father wanted both sons raised together.
One to lead outward operations.
One to control internal structure.
Two brothers.
Shared power.
The family elders rejected it.
Too dangerous.
Too unstable.
Too much chance of rivalry.
So they created rivalry themselves.
Thomas.
Samuel.
Three senior captains now dead.
They convinced Isabella that Lorenzo was in danger.
They helped her flee with him.
Then told Dante she died.
Years later, they told Lorenzo Dante had been chosen over him.
Two boys.
Two lies.
One future war prepared in advance.
Lorenzo’s face emptied.
“No.”
Samuel looked at him.
“Your father spent years trying to find Isabella.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Dante’s voice went cold.
“You helped hide them.”
Thomas nodded once.
Lorenzo turned toward him.
“You told me he wanted me gone.”
Thomas’s breathing shook.
“We believed separation was safer.”
“For who?”
No answer.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“For who?”
Thomas finally snapped.
“For everyone!”
His voice cracked through the room.
“You were both children born into men who would kill for your names.”
Thomas’s hands shook.
“Two heirs meant two factions.”
“So you made us enemies instead.”
Dante’s voice was quiet.
Thomas looked at him.
“Yes.”
The major twist settled over the room.
Dante and Lorenzo had spent their lives believing their father created the fracture.
He had not.
The men tasked with preserving the family did.
Lorenzo looked toward Vivienne.
His breathing became uneven.
She stared back.
Suddenly uncertain.
Everything he built his revenge around had shifted.
Dante watched him.
“Now what?”
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened.
“What?”
“You wanted my chair because you believed it was stolen from you.”
Silence.
Dante stepped closer.
“It wasn't.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“That changes nothing.”
But it changed everything.
Dante saw it.
Vivienne saw it.
Marcus too.
Lorenzo needed his hatred intact.
Without it, he had to face the choices he made himself.
Dante looked toward Ava.
Then back at him.
“You chained my daughter after the lie stopped being necessary.”
Lorenzo’s nostrils flared.
“I didn't know.”
“No.”
Dante’s gaze hardened.
“You didn't want to know.”
Silence.
Samuel lowered his head.
Thomas whispered:
“We all made choices.”
Dante turned toward him.
“Yes.”
Then toward Vivienne.
“Some of you enjoyed yours.”
She lifted her chin.
Still defiant.
“I don’t regret proving what you are.”
Dante stared.
“What am I?”
Her lips curled.
“A man who will burn a family for one little girl.”
Dante’s expression did not change.
Lorenzo looked at her.
Something flickered in his eyes.
Doubt.
For the first time, her cruelty no longer served his grievance.
It only looked cruel.
Then Ava whispered:
“Daddy?”
Dante turned.
She was holding something.
A small black object.
Found inside the pocket of her cardigan.
A key.
Dante frowned.
“That yours?”
She shook her head.
Samuel’s face changed.
Thomas went pale.
Lorenzo stared.
Dante held it up.
“What does it open?”
Samuel whispered:
May you like
“Isabella’s room.”
Dante’s mother had been inside the estate sometime tonight.
