Page 76 of Vengeance

Gabriel smiled sadly. "The Royal Bastards had already lost people trying to stop Dante."

Elena nodded. "Your father, Savage, was the first honest man I'd met in years." She smiled at Chloe. "He told me something I'll never forget—dead women don't stop monsters." Vengeance could almost hear Savage saying it. "Dante wouldn’t see me as a threat anymore if I was dead, so we staged my murder."

Gabriel continued. "Doc falsified dental records, and Bowie helped move the supposed body,” he said.

"Savage personally buried an empty coffin,” Elena said.

Chloe's eyes widened. "My dads both knew?"

Elena nodded. "They hated lying to you, but if Dante suspected, he would've killed all of you." She walked toward Vengeance. "I watched you grow up."

He frowned. “That doesn’t make any of this better.”

She opened an old file, and inside were hundreds of photographs of him—in school plays, having birthdays, and even playing flag football as a kid. "I never stopped being your mother."

His knees nearly buckled. "You weren’t there for any of it,” he insisted.

"No, I wasn’t. I couldn't hold you when you fell or hurt yourself." She broke completely. "I couldn't tell you I loved you." She pressed trembling fingers against one photograph of him at fifteen. "But every birthday, I celebrated.” She smiled sadly. He had no idea that she was watching him grow up. She had beenthere for it all—every Christmas, every accomplishment, every scar that he got from a lesson learned. She knew all of it, but that didn’t change the fact that he had to grow up without a mother. He had to grow up with a father who was a monster.

"I wanted to come home,” she insisted.

"Why didn't you?" he asked.

"Because Dante wasn't the real enemy." The room fell silent, and Vengeance stared at her.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Elena crossed to the largest map, and at its center was a photograph—not of Dante, but of another man. He was a familiar face from television, and Chloe gasped. "Senator Charles Whitmore,” she said.

Vengeance's stomach dropped. "He created Black Veil,” Elena said. "Dante only managed the operations."

Gabriel spoke quietly. "But Whitmore built the network. He had all the power—the politicians, judges, buyers, and enough money to run the whole thing. Dante answered to him." Every piece suddenly fit into place. The judges who'd ignored evidence, and the FBI agents who'd disappeared. They'd been chasing the wrong king.

"Dante was never the head,” Vengeance breathed.

"No." Elena looked directly at Vengeance. "He was the sword, but Whitmore was the hand holding it."

Before anyone could speak, one of the computer monitors beeped, and Gabriel rushed over to it. His face drained of color. "No.”

Elena was already moving. "What is it?"

"Our surveillance camera picked up something,” Gabriel said. The screen displayed security footage from outside the church. A black SUV had just stopped in front of the building, and about six men poured out of it and into the street. They were armed, and from the look of them, they weren’t Dragons. Theywore black tactical gear and no patches except for one—a black veil wrapped around a skull.

Elena closed her eyes. "They found us."

Gabriel looked at her. "How?" She stared at the monitor and then slowly looked at Vengeance.

"The drone,” Vengeance whispered as his blood turned cold. It was the one that he noticed above the burning cabin. It hadn't been Dante watching, but someone higher up in the Black Veil’s ranks.

A phone rang on the operations table, and no one moved. The caller ID displayed only one word.

DANTE

Elena answered, and Vengeance felt like he couldn’t even breathe. She put the call on speaker, and Dante’s laughter filled the room. The sound was calm, almost affectionate. "You know—” His voice echoed through the bunker. "I always wondered when you'd finally choose him over me."

Elena said nothing. "I suppose I should thank you for making our family reunion possible."

Another quiet laugh filled the room. "You've saved me weeks of searching."