AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There are secrets here you’re meant to learn,” Bianca murmured as she joined me. “We can’t leave without exploring the inside.”
I couldn’t, even if she begged me. This was the first time a glimmer of hope about my ancestry and legacy dared to flare into life inside me since my father’s murder.
“We don’t have much time, Manic.”
Maddog’s words reminded me that blood would spill on these grounds tonight. An enemy would die at my hands, and I wanted nothing more than to make Carlo suffer.
“I know. I’ll get Bianca settled and join you at the entrance.”
Maddog nodded, allowing me to take the lead. He knew enough about my past to piece together the tragic circumstances surrounding my disfigurement and mask. My loss weighed on my shoulders like a heavy cloak I could never shed. Until I avenged my father and the crimes against me, I would carry that burden.
“Where am I supposed to stay?” Bianca asked, her voice betraying a tremor.
My palm rested against her cheek. “Inside my family mausoleum.”
“Merda,” she cursed.
“It’s safe. I swear it. I know it’s creepy, but this is part of me and my bloodline. I can feel the connection.”
Her nose scrunched as she nodded. “Okay.”
I kissed the tip before walking to the heavy bronze door and shoving it open. A creak followed as the edge brushed across the stone floor. Dust blew around us and settled as crisp wind swept through the interior for the first time in years. Maybe decades. I had no idea how long ago this structure was built.
Bianca sneezed, sniffling as she walked farther inside. “Dio mio!”
“What is,” I began but never finished speaking because I found what she stared at, gazing in shock at the nameplate on the wall. My body had never been entombed inside this mausoleum, but someone had paid for my burial despite the lack of a body.
Someone who cared.
The thought shocked me to the point that I jolted.
Bianca reached the same conclusion. “You have a family member alive, Benny. I can feel it.”
A relative of my father? My mother? Or did my line die out, and a friend came here instead? But why not take me back to Italy?
“Fuck, Binc.”
“I know. We’ll figure it out,” she promised. “Right after—”
Maddog’s shout cut her off.
“Manic!”
