Chapter 2 - Shadows in the Parisian Restaurant
The heavy chandeliers overhead cast a dim, golden glow across the polished mahogany floor of the crowded dining room.
Dante Valari stood rigidly beside his table, his dark eyes locked onto the small silver bracelet dangling from the infant's wrist.
The background noise of clinking silverware and murmuring patrons seemed to fade into absolute silence around them.
“You’re telling me that Gabriel left a child behind before he supposedly died in that warehouse explosion?” Dante demanded quietly.
Clara clutched little Mia closer to her chest, her knuckles turning bone-white against the black fabric of the baby carrier.
“He didn't want to leave us, but people inside your own family hunted him down before he could protect us,” Clara whispered fiercely.
Dante’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched violently along his cheekbone beneath his dark, closely trimmed beard.
He knew his older brother Gabriel had been branded a traitor by the syndicate council five years ago.
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The official report claimed Gabriel burned to ashes inside an abandoned shipping container on the outskirts of Marseille.
Yet seeing this baby wearing the exact silver heirloom carved by their grandfather shattered every lie Dante had swallowed.
