Leon laughed.
“No. Viktor merely opened the door. Your family did the rest.”
Gabriel entered the chapel with his agents.
“Put the weapon down.”
Leon’s smile widened.
“You still think this is an arrest.”
He pulled Damian upright by the hair.
“This is an inheritance.”
The chapel doors slammed shut behind us.
Hidden locks clicked.
Then figures emerged from the confessionals, the choir loft, and behind the altar.
Servants.
Guards.
Drivers.
Men and women who had worked inside Grayhaven for years.
All of them carried weapons.
The betrayal was not one person.
It was half the house.
Lila trembled against me.
Damian looked around at the familiar faces.
His voice was hollow.
“How long?”
Leon pressed the pistol harder against his skull.
“Since your father taught us that loyalty was only another word for obedience.”
Viktor aimed at Leon.
“Release him.”
Leon laughed.
“Your ring does not command anyone anymore.”
I looked at Viktor.
“What does the ring mean?”
He answered without taking his eyes from Leon.
“It belonged to a secret protection circle created by Damian’s mother. People inside Grayhaven who swore to protect innocent families from Damian’s father.”
Damian stared at him.
“My mother died when I was eight.”
“No,” Viktor said.
The word struck the chapel like lightning.
“She disappeared.”
Damian went completely still.
Leon’s smile vanished.
Viktor continued.
“Your father told you she was dead because she discovered what he was doing through the harbor.”
Damian’s lips parted.
“Where is she?”
A woman stepped from behind the altar.
She wore a long black coat. Her silver hair was tied neatly at the nape of her neck. Age had softened her face, but not her eyes.
Damian’s eyes.
The same dark, severe gaze.
The same scar near the brow.
She looked at him as though she had been waiting eighteen years to breathe.
“My son.”
Damian forgot the gun against his head.
He stared at her.
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“Damian.”
He shook his head.
“You are dead.”
“I was supposed to be.”
Leon turned his weapon toward her.
That was his mistake.
Damian twisted, struck Leon’s wrist, and drove his shoulder into the man’s chest.
The pistol fired into the ceiling.
Chaos exploded.
Gabriel’s agents opened fire.
Viktor dragged me behind a stone column.
The stained-glass window shattered inward.
Lila screamed without sound.
Damian tackled Leon across the altar steps.
His mother pulled a hidden blade from her sleeve and cut Damian’s restraints.
Leon swung the pistol toward her.
Damian fired first.
The bullet struck Leon’s shoulder.
He collapsed.
The remaining traitors dropped their weapons as federal agents surrounded them.
For several seconds, only the rain could be heard.
Damian stood before his mother, breathing hard.
She reached toward his face.
He stepped back.
The pain in her eyes was immediate.
“You left me,” he said.
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“Your father threatened to kill you if I returned.”
“So you watched from the shadows?”
“Every day.”
Damian’s voice rose.
“You watched me become him.”
She shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks.
“No. I watched you fight not to.”
Damian’s expression shattered.
He turned away.
Then Leon began to laugh from the chapel floor.
Everyone looked at him.
“You still don’t understand,” he said through clenched teeth. “The poison was never meant to kill Damian.”
Dr. Petrov’s final warning echoed in my mind.
