CHAPTER 8 The Blood Archive
The first gunshot shattered the glass beside the front door.
Sofia dropped instantly.
Matteo screamed.
“Down!”
Luca pulled them behind the stone wall beside the staircase while bullets ripped through the windows.
Outside, Dante had disappeared into darkness.
So had Carlo.
For several seconds, all Sofia could hear was gunfire.
Then silence.
Worse.
She pressed Matteo against her chest.
“It’s okay.”
Her voice shook.
“It’s okay, baby.”
“It loud.”
“I know.”
“Dante?”
Sofia’s heart twisted.
“He’s coming back.”
The promise left her before she knew whether she believed it.
Luca looked toward the door.
His face was hard.
Listening.
Counting.
Waiting.
Then two short gunshots sounded outside.
Pause.
One more.
Luca exhaled.
“What?”
Sofia whispered.
“Dante.”
“How do you know?”
“He always shoots like that.”
“That is an insane sentence.”
“Welcome to my life.”
A shadow moved near the broken window.
Luca raised his weapon.
“Identify.”
“Me.”
Dante.
Sofia almost collapsed.
He entered through the side door dragging Carlo with one arm.
Blood covered both of them.
Sofia’s stomach dropped.
“Dante.”
“I’m fine.”
She stared.
“You are literally covered in blood.”
“Most of it isn’t mine.”
“Why do you keep saying that like it helps?”
Carlo groaned.
Sofia rushed forward.
“Dad.”
Dante lowered him onto the floor.
A bullet had gone through Carlo’s shoulder.
Another had grazed his side.
Luca knelt beside him.
“Through-and-through.”
Dante looked toward the windows.
“How many?”
“Six outside.”
“Dead?”
“Four.”
“Two?”
“Ran.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“I want them.”
“Later.”
Luca pressed cloth against Carlo’s wound.
Carlo laughed weakly.
“You two still argue during gunfights.”
Sofia stared at him.
“Do not make jokes.”
He looked at her.
Pain filled his eyes.
Not only physical.
“Sofia.”
She stepped back.
Too much.
His face.
His voice.
Her childhood.
The recordings.
His betrayal.
She did not know which version of him was real anymore.
Perhaps all of them.
Dante saw her withdraw.
His expression hardened toward Carlo.
“You have one reason to remain alive.”
Carlo looked up.
“The archive.”
“Yes.”
“I expected that.”
“Then talk.”
Carlo glanced at Matteo.
“Not in front of the child.”
Dante immediately looked at Luca.
“Take Matteo.”
Sofia tightened her hold.
“No.”
Luca met her eyes.
“I’ll stay in the next room.”
She hesitated.
Matteo was crying quietly.
He did not need to hear any of this.
Sofia kissed his forehead.
“Mama will come soon.”
“No.”
“I’m right here.”
“Dante.”
Matteo reached toward him.
Dante froze.
Then crouched.
“I’m here.”
“You come?”
Dante looked at Sofia.
Then Luca.
“Two minutes.”
He took Matteo.
The boy immediately wrapped his arms around Dante’s neck.
Sofia’s chest hurt.
Dante walked him into the adjoining room.
She watched until the door closed.
Carlo noticed.
“He looks like him.”
Sofia turned.
“Don’t.”
“I only meant—”
“You do not get to talk about Matteo like you know him.”
Carlo looked down.
“No.”
“You knew he existed before I did.”
“Yes.”
“You knew the Circle was watching.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was being used.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me marry Dante anyway.”
Carlo closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“At least you’re finally honest.”
Dante returned.
His eyes went to her immediately.
Then to Carlo.
“Start.”
Carlo exhaled.
“The archive isn’t what you think.”
“You said genetic records.”
“It contains those.”
“What else?”
“Identity maps.”
Dante frowned.
“Explain.”
“Every family linked to the Circle has been tracked for generations.”
“Tracked how?”
“Births. Marriages. illnesses. deaths. inheritance. behavioral traits.”
Sofia felt sick.
“People as data.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Carlo looked at Dante.
“Because the Circle doesn’t think in years.”
“What does that mean?”
“They think in generations.”
Silence.
Carlo continued.
“Governments change. Markets collapse. criminal empires rise and disappear.”
His eyes shifted toward the black symbol on the bunker door.
“But families persist.”
Dante’s expression remained cold.
“So they breed influence.”
Carlo hesitated.
“That’s how some of them describe it.”
Sofia’s stomach turned.
“Breeding.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like what it is.”
Carlo said nothing.
Dante stepped closer.
“You said Sofia and I are the highest authorization pair alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Carlo looked at them both.
“Because your families were never supposed to unite.”
Dante’s brow tightened.
“That contradicts everything.”
“No.”
Carlo shook his head.
“The Circle wanted the union.”
“But?”
“They feared it too.”
Sofia frowned.
“Why?”
Carlo looked at Dante.
“The Moretti line carried force.”
Then at Sofia.
“The Bellini line carried access.”
“Access to what?”
“Political networks. banking families. judicial influence.”
Dante’s voice turned flat.
“That is hardly unique.”
“No.”
Carlo looked down.
“But Sofia’s maternal family added something else.”
Sofia froze.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Carlo hesitated.
“Your grandmother was Vescari.”
Silence.
Sofia stopped breathing.
“No.”
Dante looked at her.
Then Carlo.
“What did you say?”
Carlo swallowed.
“Sofia’s maternal grandmother was born Elena Vescari.”
Sofia stepped backward.
“No.”
Carlo continued.
“Gabriel Vescari was her brother.”
The room tilted.
Sofia stared at him.
“Gabriel Vescari was my great-uncle?”
“Yes.”
The man behind the Circle.
The man in the photograph.
The man whose voice had discussed her like livestock.
Family.
Her blood.
“No.”
Dante moved toward her.
Sofia raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
She looked at Carlo.
“Mom knew?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“She knew the name.”
“And?”
“Not the organization.”
Sofia laughed once.
“Everyone in this family knows just enough to ruin someone else’s life.”
Carlo looked wounded.
Good.
She wanted him to.
Dante turned back to him.
“Why does that matter to authorization?”
“Because the archive was created by Vescari and Moretti.”
Dante went still.
“My family?”
“Yes.”
“How far back?”
“Your grandfather.”
Dante’s face hardened.
Carlo continued.
“Antonio Moretti later tried to leave.”
“Which is why they killed him.”
“Possibly.”
Dante’s eyes became cold.
“Careful.”
Carlo nodded.
“I don’t know exactly how he died.”
“What do you know?”
“He discovered what the Circle planned for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“Why was I M-04?”
“Because you were the fourth viable Moretti successor.”
Dante stared.
“My brother?”
“M-03.”
Silence.
Marco.
Sofia watched something close in Dante’s face.
“Was Marco designated?”
“Yes.”
“And when he died?”
“You became primary.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“Did the Circle kill him?”
Carlo looked down.
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I truly don’t know.”
Dante stepped closer.
Carlo did not retreat.
“I know they benefited.”
“That’s not enough.”
“No.”
Dante looked away.
Sofia understood.
He wanted certainty.
Not because he needed another enemy.
Because grief needed a shape.
“Why me?”
she asked.
Carlo looked at her.
“You were S-17 because you were the seventeenth Bellini-Vescari candidate evaluated.”
“Candidate for what?”
“The union.”
“Were there others?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Sixteen before you.”
Sofia’s blood chilled.
“Girls?”
“Mostly.”
“What happened to them?”
Carlo hesitated.
“Some were incompatible.”
“That is not what I asked.”
His silence answered.
Sofia went pale.
Dante’s voice became lethal.
“What happened to them?”
Carlo swallowed.
“Some died.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“Children?”
“No.”
“Women?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Accidents. illness. disappearances.”
Sofia stared.
“They killed them.”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew enough.”
“Yes.”
The admission came quietly.
Dante’s hand curled into a fist.
“Why Sofia?”
“Because she scored highest.”
“Genetically?”
“Not only.”
Carlo looked at Dante.
“Psychologically.”
Dante’s expression changed.
Carlo continued.
“You were resistant to control.”
“So they chose someone I would love.”
“Yes.”
Sofia felt the words despite already knowing.
Carlo looked at her.
“And they needed someone who would eventually love you back.”
Dante laughed without humor.
“They predicted love.”
“They predicted attachment.”
“That is not the same.”
“No.”
Carlo’s gaze softened.
“That was their mistake.”
Sofia looked at Dante.
He looked back.
For a second, everything else disappeared.
Then Carlo coughed.
Blood touched his lips.
Sofia reacted instinctively.
She moved forward.
Then stopped.
Carlo noticed.
So did Dante.
“Sit him up,” Sofia said.
Dante did.
Luca returned with a medical kit.
“Matteo?”
Sofia asked.
“Asleep.”
“Already?”
“He had a long day.”
That broke something in her.
Children should not have long days involving explosions.
Luca began treating Carlo’s shoulder.
Dante returned to the subject.
“What does the archive require?”
“Two biometric keys.”
“Ours.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the Circle split access between bloodlines.”
Dante frowned.
“Meaning?”
“Moretti authorizes enforcement records.”
“Sofia?”
“Vescari authorizes lineage records.”
Sofia went cold.
“I’m Vescari?”
“Through your mother.”
“I am Sofia Bellini.”
“Yes.”
“Do not call me Vescari.”
Carlo nodded.
Dante looked toward the bunker.
“What happens if we open it?”
Carlo’s expression changed.
“That depends.”
“On?”
“Whether the deletion protocol is still active.”
Luca stopped.
“Deletion?”
Carlo looked at him.
“If unauthorized access occurs, the archive destroys itself.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“Data only?”
Carlo said nothing.
Sofia felt dread.
“What else is down there?”
Carlo looked toward the floor.
“Samples.”
“Blood?”
“Yes.”
“DNA?”
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
“Everyone.”
Sofia stared.
“Matteo?”
Carlo closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Her body went cold.
Dante moved instantly.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit.”
“The clinic probably transferred it.”
Dante grabbed Carlo’s shirt.
“You knew.”
“I knew the protocol. I didn’t know they had his sample.”
“You knew they would take it.”
“Yes.”
Sofia stepped between them.
“Dante.”
“He let them touch our son.”
“I know.”
“He knew.”
“I know.”
Dante looked at her.
She understood the rage.
She shared it.
But Carlo dying on the floor would not answer anything.
“Later.”
Dante stared.
“Later?”
“Yes.”
She looked at her father.
“Much later.”
Carlo closed his eyes.