Page 92 of Brutal Crown

I try to distract myself with work, with my wedding preparations, and with my personal investigation. But it’s no use. My thoughts keep circling the same drain, pulling me under. The guilt eating me up gets larger and larger each day, to the point where I can’t even sleep.

So instead of locking myself up in my office, sitting behind my desk, and pretending that I’m actually getting some work done, I decide to go to the one place I swore I’d never return to.

The old Romano chapel.

It sits in the farthest corner of the estate grounds, beyond the olive grove, tucked behind crumbling garden walls and a rusted iron gate. It’s a prohibited area. Only family members are allowed in.

The Romano chapel is long forgotten and unused, yet still standing. It hasn’t been used since Mama died. Dante had it locked up because it brought back too many sad memories of her. He barely talks about her anymore.

I remember the last time I came here like it was yesterday. I had been drunk on rebellion. Adriano brought me, saying it was the perfect place to plot our secret plan together.

I push open the old wooden door, and a loud creak echoes in the air. I step into the large room, and the scent hits me like a punch. Old incense, damp stone, and dust. It’s cold inside. The altar is empty, the stained glass windows are faded, but I remember everything that happened in here.

I walk over to the front, kneel in front of the altar, and run my hand along the base until I find it. One loose brick. I dig my fingers in, wrench it free, and reach into the cavity behind it.

I pull out the small, wooden box we hid in there and wipe off the dust coating its surface. Then, I open the lid.

Two forged passports. A silver rosary that looks like an old relic, but when I carefully open it, I find the thumb drive nestled inside. A folded sheet with bank account numbers. A list of safehouses mapped across countries. Everything Adriano left for Lia.

He trusted me with these. He believed in something better for the daughter he could never save. He left it up to me to complete the task he never had the chance to.

I remember everything exactly like it happened.

I discovered Adriano had double-crossed us long before anyone else. His journal, the secrets he knew. I should’ve turned him in. I should have told my father and the Elders. He would have been killed, him and his daughter.

Instead of revealing the truth, I decided to help him hide the evidence of all his findings. I remember the deal he offered me. If I helped him reveal the truth, he would help me escape. I saw beneath his pride a desperate man who wanted to protect his child. Beneath the rage that drove him, I also saw hope, and that ignited something in my chest.

I wanted that. I was sick of the blood, the blind obedience, and the brutal chains that bound me. La Mano Nerahad turned me into a monster of a man. I wanted out, and for the first time, there was a hope, a chance that I could get what I wanted.

So we spent months creating false identities, hiding money in secret accounts, and building safehouses where Adriano could escape to with Lia after the truth was revealed. And maybe, someday, I could use it to escape too.

We planned everything. Right here in this chapel.

And I failed him anyway.

I grip the box harder. My jaw clenches.

When my father found out about Adriano’s betrayal, everything came crumbling down. I wasn’t there fast enough, and he was already dead by the time I walked through his front door.

I couldn’t save him. So I did the next best thing. I saved her.

I convinced my father not to kill her. Instead, take her under the Romano roof as a servant just so I could keep my eyes on her. And I buried the escape plan here, waiting for the day she might need it.

And now? Everything is crumbling again.

Marco is making moves in secret. The Elders are watching our house now more than ever. And Lia is stuck in the crossfire like the pawn she is.

And it’s all my fault. I created a bigger mess simply because I couldn’t keep my hands and my dick to myself. Now she’s carrying a baby,mybaby, and I’m desperate to save her, now more than ever.

When I return to the main house, it’s late. Yet, I find her alone in the library, curled on one of the chairs by the fireplace with an open book on her lap. She thinks she can hide from me, but I’ve spent years of my life watching over her.

She doesn’t see me when I enter the room, but by the way her body stiffens, I know she knows I’m here.

She doesn’t look up when I stand before her.

“Lia.”

Her fingers tighten around the pages.