Chapter 7 - The Ghost of the Raven
The revelation hung heavy in the room like a sudden draft of freezing air.
Lily looked between Victor and Marcus, sensing the profound shift in the atmosphere. "Victor... who sent that? If your father died twenty years ago..."
"My father didn't die in an accident, Lily," Victor said, his eyes staring blankly at the silver watch in his palm. "Twenty years ago, he ran the same shipping empire I run today. He was betrayed by his inner circle—ambushed inside Warehouse 12 at the old docks and burned alive. I was fourteen years old. I survived because he hid me in a steel cargo container until the sirens came."
Lily’s heart broke for the young boy who had suffered such unimaginable horror. She stepped closer, laying a gentle hand on his uninjured shoulder. "You thought everyone involved was dead?"
"I thought I had killed everyone involved," Victor corrected grimly. "Over the last fifteen years, I hunted down every man who was in that warehouse that night. The last one died five years ago in a prison in Chicago."
"Then who has the watch?" Marcus asked, his hand resting instinctively on his holster. "Thorne?"
"No," Victor said, shaking his head. "Thorne was an opportunist. He didn't have access to my family’s private history. Someone else is back. Someone who was in that room twenty years ago and survived."
"It could be a trap, Boss," Marcus warned. "They’re using your father’s memory to bait you out of the estate."
"I know it's a trap," Victor said, standing up from his chair. His posture straightened, the vulnerability vanishing instantly, replaced by the formidable underworld kingpin he had been trained to be. "But whoever has that watch knows the truth about how my family fell. And I will burn down half the city before I let them walk away with my father's memory."
"I'm coming with you," Marcus said immediately.
"No," Victor commanded. "If we roll up to Warehouse 12 with a tactical team, whoever sent this will vanish into the shadows again. I go alone."
"Victor, no!" Lily cried out, grabbing his arm tightly. "You can't go alone! That's exactly what they want!"
Victor turned to face Lily. He looked at her frightened, beautiful face, feeling a fierce ache in his heart. For twenty years, he had lived only for vengeance and survival, completely unconcerned with whether he lived to see tomorrow. But now, looking at Lily, he realized he had something precious to live for.
He raised his hand, gently brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"I have to clear the past, Lily," Victor whispered softly. "If I don't face this ghost, it will haunt us forever. It will hang over this house, over your safety, over our future."
May you like
"Then promise me," Lily wept, her fingers clutching his coat collar. "Promise me you'll come back to me. Don't let the past take you away from what we're building here."
Victor leaned down, leaning his forehead gently against hers. "I promise you, Lily. On my life."
