The rage hits me like a wave. White-hot. Blinding. My vision narrows to a single point—the guard standing closest to me. I could take his gun. Put three bullets in Alejandro's chest before the others reacted. Die in a hail of gunfire, but at least I'd take the man who murdered my family with me.
Except.
Except Giuseppe murdered my family. Giuseppe ordered the hit. Giuseppe used Alejandro the same way he used me—as a weapon pointed at his own mistakes.
And Giuseppe is already dead.
I can't kill a corpse.
"The Sartoris," I say slowly. "Lorenzo. Bruno. Nico. They knew?"
"I don't know." Alejandro spreads his hands. "Giuseppe kept secrets from everyone. But someone in that family has access to his old files. Someone triggered my investigation three months ago by accessing records that should have stayed buried."
Vittoria.
She's been digging through Giuseppe's archives for years. Looking for leverage. Looking for truth.
Did she find this? Did she know what she was uncovering?
"I spent twenty years," I hear myself say, "killing for a man who raped my mother. Who ordered my family's execution. Who took me in like a stray dog and trained me to be his attack animal."
The words taste like ash.
"I fought for the Sartori name." My voice rises. "I bled for it. I killed dozens of people—hundreds—to protect a legacy built on my mother's violation."
Alejandro watches me. Silent. Patient.
"They must have laughed," I say. "Giuseppe and whoever else knew. Watching me work myself to the bone. Watching me prove my loyalty over and over. The bastard son, so desperate for family he'd murder anyone who threatened the man who destroyed him."
The folder slips from my hands and falls to the floor, papers scattering.
"I was a joke to them." My hands curl into fists. "A fucking joke. The orphan boy who didn't know he was killing to protect his father's secrets. Who didn't know his entire life was a lie."
The guards shift. Hands moving toward weapons.
Alejandro raises a palm. They freeze.
"You understand now," Alejandro says quietly. "Why I brought you here. Why I showed you the truth."
I turn to face him. My half-brother. The man who pulled the trigger on my family. The man who was just as manipulated as I was.
"What's the plan?"
Alejandro smiles.
It's not a pleasant expression. There's too much pain in it. Too much rage barely contained beneath the surface.
"The Sartoris took everything from both of us," he says. "Giuseppe is dead, but his legacy lives on. His sons. His empire. The family that benefited from our suffering while we bled in the dark."
I wait.
"I want them destroyed," Alejandro says. "Not just killed—destroyed. Their businesses. Their reputation. Their power. Everything Giuseppe built on the backs of women he violated and children he abandoned."
"And you need me for this."
"You know them better than anyone." Alejandro leans forward. "You know their weaknesses. Their secrets. Their vulnerabilities. You've spent twenty years learning exactly how to protect them."
"Which means I know exactly how to break them."
