Chapter 17 - The Father's Sins
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The underground facility smelled of damp concrete and ozone.
Damon walked down the dim corridor, his footsteps echoing ominously. He stopped in front of a heavy steel door and swiped a keycard. The locks disengaged with a heavy thud.
Silas was sitting on a metal cot in the corner of the small, windowless cell. He looked pale, gaunt, and entirely broken. The arrogance was completely gone, replaced by the hollow stare of a man who knew he was never seeing the sun again.
“Have you come to kill me finally, Damon?” Silas rasped, not looking up.
“No,” Damon said, stepping into the cell. “I came to ask you a question. Who wears the silver crown?”
Silas’s head snapped up. Genuine, unadulterated terror flashed in his eyes. He scrambled backward against the concrete wall, clutching his knees to his chest.
“How do you know that name?” Silas whispered, trembling violently.
“Answer the question, Silas,” Damon demanded, stepping closer. “You didn't orchestrate Elena’s murder alone. You didn't have the connections to pay off the medical board or scrub Naomi’s records. Who backed you?”
Silas let out a hysterical, broken laugh.
“You think you won, Damon?” Silas sneered, tears leaking from his eyes. “You think locking me in here stopped the plan? I was just the trigger man. The architect is untouchable.”
“Give me a name,” Damon growled, grabbing his brother by the collar of his prison shirt.
“It was her father, you idiot!” Silas screamed, spitting blood onto the floor. “Elena’s own father! The head of the European Syndicate! He wears a silver Rolex with a crown emblem! He ordered her death because she was going to expose his human trafficking rings to the feds!”
Damon dropped his brother, stumbling backward in absolute horror.
Elena’s father. Don Valerius. The man who had wept at her funeral. The man who had hugged Damon and promised revenge.
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Valerius had ordered the execution of his own daughter to protect his criminal empire, and he had used Silas’s jealousy as the perfect weapon.
“He knows about the girl now, Damon,” Silas laughed darkly from the floor. “He knows Zuri is alive. And he won't leave a loose end.”
