Chapter 5 - The Uncle Who Raised Wolves
Gabriel Torino lived in a country estate surrounded by vineyards and armed men.
For years, the property had been presented as a peaceful retreat. Family dinners were held beneath olive trees. Business disputes were settled over wine. Dominic had learned to ride a horse there. Vincent had fired his first pistol in the lower field under Gabriel’s supervision.
Now Vincent approached the estate knowing every warm memory had been staged by a man capable of kidnapping a child.
He did not go alone.
Gabriel had demanded solitude, but Vincent had stopped obeying family orders the night Dominic died.
Marco drove an armored vehicle through the northern service road. Tony took five men toward the vineyard. Elena remained in a secure medical facility under guard.
Vincent carried no visible weapon as he walked toward the main house.
The front doors stood open.
Gabriel waited in the dining room.
He was sixty-two, silver-haired, broad-shouldered, and still physically imposing. He wore a dark suit without a tie. A glass of wine rested beside his hand.
Sophie sat at the far end of the table.
Her wrists were not tied, but a man with a crowned serpent tattoo stood behind her.
Rocco Vale.
Alive.
Burn scars covered the left side of his face and neck. One eye had turned milky white.
“Uncle Vincent,” Sophie said.
The title stopped him.
She had never called him that before.
Gabriel smiled.
“She learns quickly.”
Vincent looked at Sophie.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Rocco placed one hand on her shoulder.
She flinched.
Vincent’s voice lowered.
“Remove your hand.”
Rocco grinned.
“You don’t give orders here.”
Gabriel lifted two fingers.
Rocco removed his hand.
“Sit,” Gabriel said.
Vincent remained standing.
“I came for Sophie.”
“And I want the ledger.”
“You already know I don’t have it.”
“I know Elena divided it. I know Dominic helped her. And I know one piece was hidden for you.”
Vincent looked at the table.
Three place settings.
A family dinner.
Gabriel had always loved symbols.
“Why did Dominic have to die?”
Gabriel’s expression barely changed.
“Because he was sentimental.”
“He discovered you were stealing.”
“I was building.”
“You laundered money through judges, police officers, and city contracts.”
“I created insulation. The Torino organization survived because men in clean offices owed us favors.”
“You trafficked people.”
Sophie looked up.
Gabriel sighed.
“Rocco expanded into areas I did not approve.”
Rocco laughed softly.
Vincent looked at him.
“Then why is he standing behind a child?”
“Because he’s useful.”
“No,” Vincent said. “Because he knows what you are.”
Gabriel’s eyes hardened.
“Dominic said the same thing.”
The room seemed to contract.
“What happened in the car?” Vincent asked.
Gabriel swirled his wine.
“He confronted me. He believed evidence would change you. He planned to hand everything to federal investigators.”
“So you killed him.”
“I tried to reason with him.”
“You cut his brakes.”
Gabriel looked almost offended.
“Rocco cut the brakes.”
Rocco’s grin widened.
“Your brother cried out your name when the car went through the barrier.”
Vincent crossed half the room before armed men emerged from the side doors.
Six weapons aimed at his chest.
Sophie gasped.
Vincent stopped.
Rocco leaned close to the girl.
“See? Even monsters can be trained.”
Sophie turned and bit his hand.
Rocco shouted and slapped her.
The sound exploded inside Vincent.
He moved before anyone could react.
A pistol dropped from his sleeve into his palm.
He shot the closest guard in the shoulder, overturned the table, and used the heavy wood as cover.
Gunfire shattered glass and tore through chairs.
Sophie crawled beneath the table.
Vincent fired twice more.
A side window burst inward as Tony’s men attacked from the vineyard.
Marco entered through the kitchen.
The dining room became smoke, splinters, and screams.
Rocco seized Sophie by the back of her shirt and dragged her toward the hallway.
Vincent shot at him but missed as Gabriel pulled Sophie behind a stone column.
“Enough!” Gabriel shouted.
He pressed a gun against her head.
The room fell silent.
Sophie’s face was white, but she did not cry.
Gabriel backed toward the staircase.
“Drop your weapons.”
Vincent set his pistol on the floor.
Tony and Marco did the same.
Gabriel smiled.
“There. We can still behave like family.”
“You stopped being family eight years ago,” Vincent said.
Gabriel’s expression twisted.
“I made you. Your father was in prison. Your mother was drowning in grief. I taught you how power worked.”
“You taught me fear.”
“And you built an empire with it.”
Vincent looked at Sophie.
“No. I built a prison.”
Gabriel stepped onto the staircase.
“You will bring me the ledger within twenty-four hours.”
“You won’t keep her that long.”
“I kept Elena hidden for three days.”
“And lost her.”
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
Rocco appeared behind him, bleeding from the hand.
“Kill Torino now.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“We still need him.”
“You need the girl. He’s just a problem.”
Vincent watched them.
There it was.
A fracture.
Rocco’s loyalty had never belonged to Gabriel. Men like Rocco served only cruelty and opportunity.
“You hear that?” Vincent said to Gabriel. “Your dog thinks he owns the house.”
Rocco aimed his gun at Vincent.
Gabriel turned slightly.
That was enough.
Sophie stomped hard on Gabriel’s foot and threw herself sideways.
Vincent grabbed his weapon from the floor.
Two shots fired.
Gabriel’s bullet struck the wall.
Vincent’s hit Rocco in the chest.
Rocco staggered but remained standing, protected by a vest.
Marco rushed the staircase.
Tony fired at the remaining guards.
Sophie crawled beneath the railing.
Vincent reached her and pulled her behind him.
Gabriel disappeared through an upper hallway.
Rocco retreated after him.
A hidden steel door slammed shut.
Marco tried the handle.
“Locked.”
Vincent lifted Sophie.
She wrapped both arms around his neck.
“I knew you’d come.”
He held her tighter.
Through the wall came the sound of an engine.
Tony looked toward the window.
“They have an underground exit.”
Vincent carried Sophie outside.
Behind the mansion, a black helicopter rose above the trees.
Rocco leaned from the open door and fired downward.
Vincent covered Sophie with his body as bullets tore through the courtyard stones.
The helicopter climbed and turned east.
Gabriel’s voice boomed from hidden speakers across the estate.
“You have twenty-four hours, Vincent. Bring the ledger to Saint Andrew’s Cemetery, or Elena dies.”
Vincent looked at Sophie.
“Elena is safe,” Marco said.
“Gabriel doesn’t know that,” Vincent replied.
But another voice came over the speakers.
Elena’s voice.
“Vincent!”
Sophie jerked in his arms.
“Mom!”
The message continued.
“They took me from the hospital. Don’t give them—”
A blow silenced her.
Vincent turned to Tony.
“How?”
Tony looked devastated.
“Someone inside the security detail.”
The speakers crackled.
Gabriel returned.
“Midnight tomorrow. Dominic’s grave.”
Then silence.
Sophie began shaking.
Vincent carried her away from the burning dining room and placed her inside the armored car.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“For not protecting your mother.”
Sophie wiped her face.
“You saved me.”
“I should have saved both of you.”
She reached into her pocket.
“I took this from the mean man.”
She held out a small flash drive.
Rocco must have dropped it when she bit him.
Vincent took it.
Back at the safe house, Marco connected the drive to an isolated computer.
The screen displayed encrypted folders, maps, financial records, and surveillance photographs.
One photograph showed Elena being moved from the medical facility.
Another showed the traitorous security guard accepting cash.
But the final folder was labeled DOMINIC.
Vincent opened it.
A video began.
Dominic appeared on-screen, seated inside a parked car. Rain struck the windshield. He looked frightened but determined.
“If you’re watching this,” Dominic said, “Gabriel knows I found the ledger.”
Vincent leaned closer.
Dominic continued.
“The first section is hidden where our mother taught us never to lie. The second is with Elena. The third is inside the man Gabriel trusts least.”
The video shook.
Dominic looked over his shoulder.
“I don’t know whether I’ll survive tonight. Vincent, listen to me. Gabriel isn’t the only traitor.”
The passenger door opened.
A shadow entered.
Dominic’s face changed.
“You?”
The video ended.
Marco rewound it.
The shadow revealed no face.
But a hand appeared briefly.
On one finger was a heavy silver ring bearing the Torino crest.
Only three such rings had ever existed.
Gabriel owned one.
Vincent owned another.
The third had been buried with Dominic.
Vincent looked toward the Saint Michael medal on the table.
Then he remembered the condition of Dominic’s body after the crash.
The coffin had remained closed.
“What if Dominic wasn’t in the coffin?” Sophie asked softly from the doorway.
Vincent turned.
May you like
She stared at the frozen image on the screen.
“What if the brother who died,” she said, “wasn’t really dead?”
