Chapter 3 - The Man Who Broke My Heart Tried to Save Me—But the Mafia King Revealed Why My Fiancé Had Really Chosen Me Six Years AgoDarius got Mireia out through a maintenance tunnel beneath the bank.
Three of his security men were injured.
One attacker was captured.
The others escaped.
By noon, Mireia sat inside Darius's penthouse wearing borrowed sweatpants and holding a cup of coffee she had forgotten to drink.
Her life no longer felt like hers.
Darius stood near the window speaking to Nico.
“The attacker?”
“Won't talk.”
“Identity?”
“Private contractor. Former military.”
“Employer?”
“Shell company.”
“Connected to Covenant?”
“Almost certainly.”
Mireia looked up.
“What about my father?”
Darius ended the conversation.
“On his way.”
“Good.”
He studied her.
“You should rest.”
“No.”
“You haven't slept.”
“Neither have you.”
“I’m accustomed to it.”
“That's not healthy.”
“I didn't claim it was.”
The elevator opened.
Robert Dalton entered.
Mireia stood.
Her father looked twenty years older than he had the night before.
“Is it true?”
He stopped.
“Mireia.”
“Is Serafina Villano my mother?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt even though she already knew.
“Is Jonathan Dalton my father?”
“Yes.”
“Are you my uncle?”
Robert's eyes filled.
“Biologically.”
Mireia laughed bitterly.
“That's an interesting qualifier.”
“I raised you.”
“You lied to me.”
“To protect you.”
“For twenty-nine years?”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe Catherine was my mother.”
“She is your mother.”
Mireia stopped.
Robert's voice broke.
“She held you when you were sick. She sat beside your bed after nightmares. She taught you to read. She cried on your first day of school.”
Mireia's anger faltered.
“She didn't give birth to you. But don't erase what she is because of what we hid.”
Mireia looked away.
He was right.
That made everything harder.
“Why didn't you tell me when I became an adult?”
“Fear.”
“That's not enough.”
“No.”
Robert lowered his head.
“It isn't.”
Darius remained silent.
This was Mireia's confrontation.
He wouldn't steal it.
She appreciated that.
“What happened to Elena?”
Robert sat.
“She disappeared after Serafina died.”
“Is she alive?”
“I don't know.”
“Who killed Serafina?”
Robert looked at Darius.
“Your father believed it was the Romano family.”
Darius's jaw tightened.
“But?”
“It wasn't.”
“Who?”
Robert swallowed.
“Caleb's father.”
Mireia froze.
“What?”
“Thomas Mercer.”
Caleb's father.
The man who had hugged her at Christmas.
The man who had called her daughter.
The man who had paid for half the wedding.
“No.”
Robert nodded.
“He was young then. His father ran Covenant operations.”
Mireia felt sick.
“Did Caleb know?”
“I don't know.”
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Darius held out his hand.
She shook her head.
“My phone.”
Then answered.
“Hello?”
“Mireia.”
Caleb.
She closed her eyes.
“How did you get this number?”
“You've had the same number for seven years.”
Right.
Her brain wasn't functioning.
“What do you want?”
“You're with Villano.”
“Yes.”
“You need to get away from him.”
Darius's eyebrow lifted.
Mireia almost laughed.
“Why?”
“Because my father says Darius killed his own mother.”
Darius's face went cold.
Robert whispered, “Lie.”
Mireia continued.
“What else does your father say?”
“That the Villanos are manipulating you.”
“Interesting.”
“Mireia, please.”
She heard something in Caleb's voice.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Where are you?”
Silence.
“Caleb?”
“At my father's house.”
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
Then a different voice entered.
Thomas Mercer.
“Hello, Mireia.”
Darius stood.
Nico moved toward the phone-tracing equipment.
Mireia's stomach twisted.
“Mr. Mercer.”
“I understand you've learned some family history.”
“Some.”
“Your father was a brave man.”
“You killed him.”
Silence.
Caleb shouted something.
A crash.
Then Thomas spoke calmly.
“That's an ugly accusation.”
“Is it false?”
“Come ask me.”
Darius shook his head.
Mireia ignored him.
“Where?”
“Mireia.”
Darius's voice was low.
She covered the microphone.
“I’m not actually going alone.”
Approval flickered in his eyes.
Interesting how quickly siblings learned each other.
Thomas gave an address.
An old Mercer estate outside Chicago.
The call ended.
Robert stood.
“You can't go.”
Mireia looked at him.
“I've spent twenty-nine years living inside decisions other people made for me.”
“Mireia—”
“No.”
She grabbed her coat.
“I’m done.”
Darius stood beside her.
“So am I.”
They went together.
The Mercer estate looked abandoned.
It wasn't.
Darius's men surrounded the property.
Mireia entered wearing a wire.
Inside, she found Caleb.
His face was bruised.
His hands were tied.
“Mireia.”
She stopped.
“What happened?”
“My father.”
Thomas emerged from the shadows.
“Always dramatic, Caleb.”
Mireia stared at him.
“Let him go.”
Thomas smiled.
“Still compassionate after what he did?”
“What he did to me doesn't give you permission to hurt him.”
Caleb looked at her.
Shame entered his face.
Thomas laughed.
“You really don't know.”
Mireia's skin prickled.
“Know what?”
“Why Caleb dated you.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“No.”
Mireia looked at him.
“Caleb?”
He said nothing.
Thomas smiled.
“I told him to.”
The floor seemed to move.
“What?”
“When Caleb was twenty-three, I learned who you were.”
Mireia stared at Caleb.
“You knew?”
Caleb's eyes filled.
“Not everything.”
“How much?”
“That your biological parents were connected to something my father wanted.”
Mireia stopped breathing.
Thomas continued.
“I needed someone close to you.”
“So you used your son.”
“Caleb was enthusiastic.”
Caleb jerked against the restraints.
“Shut up.”
Thomas smiled.
“Because he was already obsessed with Alyssa.”
Mireia felt physically sick.
Thomas continued.
“I told him dating you would put him near the Dalton family. Near Alyssa too.”
Mireia looked at Caleb.
Six years.
Six years of birthdays.
Vacations.
Christmas mornings.
Apartment hunting.
Wedding planning.
All of it contaminated.
“Is that true?”
Caleb was crying.
“At first.”
Mireia stepped backward.
“At first?”
“I fell in love with you.”
“No.”
“I did.”
“No.”
“Mireia—”
“You don't get to say that anymore.”
His face crumpled.
“I wanted out after the first year.”
“Then why didn't you leave?”
“My father threatened Alyssa.”
Silence.
Mireia stared.
Thomas's smile disappeared.
Caleb continued.
“He said if I didn't stay close to you, he'd use her.”
Mireia's anger fractured.
Not forgiveness.
Never that quickly.
But complexity.
Caleb had betrayed her.
He had also been controlled.
Both could be true.
Thomas raised a gun.
“Enough.”
Darius entered behind him.
“You talk too much.”
Thomas spun.
Darius fired first.
The bullet struck Thomas's shoulder.
Chaos erupted.
Security stormed the room.
Mireia dropped behind furniture.
Caleb knocked Thomas's legs out from beneath him.
Nico restrained him.
Within seconds, it was over.
Darius crossed immediately to Mireia.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He checked anyway.
Brother.
The realization hit her strangely.
Caleb remained tied.
Mireia approached.
He looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
She untied him.
His eyes filled with hope.
Mireia saw it.
“Don't.”
The hope died.
“I’m helping you because nobody deserves what your father did.”
“I understand.”
“That doesn't erase what you did to me.”
“I know.”
“You lied for six years.”
“I know.”
“You let me think I was crazy.”
His face twisted.
“I know.”
“And loving me eventually doesn't make the beginning disappear.”
Caleb nodded.
Tears fell.
“I know.”
Mireia stepped back.
“I hope you become someone better.”
“Without you.”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Mireia walked away.
Outside, Darius waited.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She stared.
He almost smiled.
“Alyssa said the same thing.”
“She's smart.”
“So apparently is my brother.”
Darius grimaced.
“We're not using that publicly yet.”
She laughed.
Then her phone rang.
Alyssa.
Mireia answered.
“Mireia?”
“Yes.”
Alyssa was crying.
“What happened?”
“Someone came to my apartment.”
Mireia's heart stopped.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“What did they want?”
“They didn't come for me.”
“What?”
Alyssa swallowed.
“They left someone outside my door.”
“Who?”
A woman's voice came through the phone.
Older.
Weak.
“Mireia?”
Mireia froze.
She knew without knowing.
May you like
The woman continued.
“My name is Elena Dalton.”
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