Chapter 4 - the shadow over beacon hill
Sophia lowered her hand, a sad, exhausted smile gracing her features. "Your father didn't die in that explosion either, Roman. He built this bunker twenty years ago to protect our family from the syndicate elders in New York."
"My father has been dead for five years!" Roman said, his voice rising in controlled fury. "I buried him myself! He never told me you were alive! He let me believe I was an orphan!"
"He had to," Sophia said softly, her voice cracking with emotion. "Because if the New York families knew I survived the hit, they would have used me to force your father to hand over the Boston docks. He kept me hidden here for my own safety... but after he died five years ago, the mechanism locked from the outside. Only a Duca bloodline key can open the main gate."
Roman looked down at the brass key in his hand. "My father left this key to me in his final will. He told me it was for a safe deposit box in Zurich."
"He lied to protect you until you were strong enough to hold the Boston throne," Sophia explained, looking up at her son with maternal warmth. "He knew if you opened this door too soon, the enemies inside your own inner circle would strike."
Suddenly, the faint sound of a gunshot echoed from the upper floors of the mansion.
BANG!
Roman’s head snapped toward the staircase behind him. His eyes flared with lethal fury.
Mia and Grace were upstairs.
"Romy, go!" Sophia urged, her face pale with terror. "They're here! They know you've found the key!"
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Roman didn't waste a second. He turned on his heel, sprinting back up the stone steps toward the private study. He burst through the open bookcase just as a tall, muscular man in a dark tactical suit stepped into the room holding a silenced pistol.
It was Marco—Roman's second-in-command and most trusted lieutenant.
