Silence answered her.
And silence was answer enough.
Then Celeste spoke again.
“Dominic doesn’t even know the truth. Isn’t that tragic? He spent his life worshipping his father without realizing what kind of monster he really was.”
Elena’s face turned pale for the first time.
“You should not have called here.”
“But I wanted Ava to understand something before tomorrow.”
Ava’s heart pounded harder.
“What happens tomorrow?”
Celeste laughed again.
“You’ll see.”
The line went dead.
Thunder exploded overhead.
For a long moment, nobody moved.
Then Elena whispered something Ava never expected to hear.
“We have to get you out of New York.”
Ava blinked. “What?”
“Elena Vane’s death nearly destroyed this family once already,” Elena said sharply. “If Celeste intends to expose everything publicly, there will be war inside the council by morning.”
Ava stared at her.
“You think Dominic’s enemies will use this?”
“They already are.”
As if summoned by the words, headlights suddenly flooded across the front windows.
Three black SUVs stopped outside the house.
Elena cursed under her breath.
Ava’s pulse spiked.
Men stepped out into the rain.
Armed.
Not Moretti security.
Different.
Older.
More dangerous.
“Elena,” Ava whispered, “who are they?”
But Elena already knew.
“The Barzini family.”
Ava’s blood turned cold.
The Barzinis had hated the Morettis for decades.
And they never arrived peacefully.
The front gate burst open violently.
One of the men shouted from outside.
“Mrs. Moretti! We only want to talk!”
Elena grabbed Ava’s wrist instantly.
“Upstairs. Now.”
“What—”
“Move.”
Ava struggled to climb the staircase quickly as Elena locked doors behind them. The baby kicked hard again, panic echoing through her body.
Voices thundered below.
Glass shattered.
Then came a gunshot.
Ava gasped.
Elena shoved open a hidden panel inside the upstairs study.
A narrow passage waited behind it.
“There’s a tunnel leading to the docks,” Elena said quickly. “Go.”
“You’re coming with me.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“Listen carefully.” Elena gripped her shoulders fiercely. “Whatever happens tonight, protect that child. Do you understand me?”
Another crash shook the house.
Men were inside now.
Ava’s breathing turned uneven.
“Elena—”
“GO!”
Footsteps thundered downstairs.
Ava had no choice.
She disappeared into the passage just as shouting erupted beyond the study door.
Darkness swallowed her instantly.
The tunnel smelled of damp stone and saltwater. Tiny lights lined the walls as Ava moved carefully forward, one hand against her stomach.
Behind her, muffled yelling echoed through the hidden corridor.
Then—
A gunshot.
Another.
Ava stopped breathing.
Tears burned her eyes.
But she kept moving.
Because now she understood something terrifying.
This was never about an affair.
This was revenge decades in the making.
—
Across Manhattan, Dominic Moretti stood inside his penthouse office destroying everything in sight.
A whiskey glass shattered against the wall.
“Find her!” he roared.
Twenty men stood frozen in silence.
“She vanished after leaving the old house,” one finally admitted. “Our people got there too late.”
Dominic’s expression darkened murderously.
“Too late for what?”
The guard swallowed.
“There was an attack.”
Every muscle in Dominic’s body went rigid.
“What kind of attack?”
“The Barzinis.”
The room became deathly still.
Dominic walked forward slowly.
“And my mother?”
No one answered immediately.
Which told him everything.
For the first time in years, genuine fear crossed Dominic Moretti’s face.
He grabbed the guard by the collar violently.
“Where is Ava?”
“We don’t know!”
Dominic shoved him away.
His mind raced instantly.
Barzinis.
Celeste.
His mother.
The old house.
Suddenly pieces began locking together with horrifying clarity.
Then his phone buzzed.
One message.
Unknown sender.
Dominic opened it.
Attached was a photograph.
Ava.
Standing alone at the docks beneath the rain only minutes earlier.
Below the picture was a single sentence:
Now you know how it feels to lose your family.
Dominic’s eyes went black with fury.
Because beneath the message sat a final signature.
—Celeste Vane
And for the first time since childhood, Dominic realized he had underestimated someone capable of destroying him completely.
—
At the Brooklyn docks, freezing rain poured over the harbor as Ava stumbled out from the tunnel entrance hidden beneath an abandoned warehouse.
The city skyline glowed faintly through the storm.
She wrapped her coat tighter around herself, shaking from exhaustion.
Then headlights appeared.
A black car rolled slowly toward her.
Ava backed away instantly.
The driver’s door opened.
Dominic stepped out.
Rain drenched him within seconds, but he barely seemed to notice.
For a moment they simply stared at each other across the empty dock.
Ava saw something in his face she had not seen in years.
Not arrogance.
Not control.
Fear.
“Ava,” he said hoarsely.
She took another step backward.
“Don’t.”
Dominic stopped moving immediately.
“I know you hate me right now.”
“You humiliated me in front of the entire world.”
“I know.”
“You lied to me for months.”
“Yes.”
“And now your family secrets are getting people killed.”
Lightning flashed across the harbor.
Dominic’s voice dropped lower.
“My mother is missing.”
Ava’s anger faltered briefly.
“Missing?”
“We found blood in the house.”
Silence crashed between them.
Ava closed her eyes painfully.
Then Dominic said the words she least expected.
“I didn’t know about Celeste’s mother.”
She looked at him carefully.
And for once…
He sounded honest.
Rain poured harder between them.
Dominic stepped closer slowly.
“She targeted me from the beginning,” he said. “Every business deal. Every meeting. Every move she made was calculated.”
Ava laughed bitterly through tears.
“And you still kissed her.”
Dominic had no answer.
Because there wasn’t one.
Finally he spoke quietly.
“I thought I was untouchable.”
Ava stared at him beneath the storm.
“That’s the problem with kings,” she whispered. “Eventually they forget the kingdom can burn.”
A black helicopter suddenly thundered overhead.
Both of them looked up sharply.
Dominic’s expression changed instantly.
“That’s not mine.”
The helicopter circled once above the docks.
Then a spotlight slammed down directly onto Ava.
Voices crackled through loudspeakers.
“Dominic Moretti! Step away from her!”
Snipers.
Dominic shoved Ava behind a cargo container instantly.
Gunfire exploded across the dock.
Metal screamed.
Glass shattered.
Ava covered her stomach instinctively as Dominic drew a pistol and fired back toward the shadows.
Chaos erupted everywhere.
More vehicles surged onto the pier.
Men shouting.
Bullets tearing through steel.
Dominic grabbed Ava’s hand.
“Run!”
They sprinted through the rain together as the harbor transformed into a battlefield behind them.
And somewhere above the storm, hidden inside the helicopter, Celeste Vane watched everything unfold with cold satisfaction.
Because this was only the beginning.
And before the night ended…
One Moretti would betray the other.
…If you want to know what happened next, please type “YES” and like for more.