Chapter 245

BRANDON'S POV

The city lights were just a blur outside the window as the SUV drove aimlessly through the dark streets. I sat in the back seat, staring at my phone. The screen was dark, but my mind was completely loud.

I had lost her. I had lost the family I spent five years building out of lies. The look of pure horror in Aria's eyes when she found out the truth was something I would never forget. Suddenly, the phone in my hand vibrated.

I looked down quickly. It wasn't Aria's number, but it was the private line to the house, a number only Sarah and Amelia had access to. My finger swiped the screen before the second ring could even finish.

"Aria?" I breathed out, my voice desperate.

"Uncle Brandon?" It wasn't Aria. It was a tiny, shaky voice, thick with tears.

"Amelia," I said, all the hardness leaving my body in an instant. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "Sweetheart, why are you awake? Are you okay?"

"I'm in bed," she whispered softly, as if she was hiding under the covers. "Mum is crying in her room. She yelled at me because I saw her slap you. I told her I hate her, and then I ran away to my room."

A heavy pain clamped down on my chest. "Hey, look at me—listen to me, Amelia. You must never say that to your mum. She loves you more than anything in this world. She is just very hurt right now. And she has every right to be."

"Because of you?" she asked innocently.

"Yes," I said, the truth tasting like iron in my mouth. "Because of me. I did something bad a long time ago, and she just found out."

Amelia was quiet for a long moment. I could hear her steady, fragile breathing through the line.

Then, she spoke up, her voice small but very clear. "But you protect us. You always make sure I'm safe. You're my dad."

Hearing the word again made my throat tight. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back against the leather seat. I had to ask. I needed to know.

"Amelia," I choked out softly. "Why... Why did you call me that today at the hospital? Why did you call me dad?"

"Because you're always there," she said simply, using the pure, unbroken logic of a child. "Julian doesn't care about me. He only makes Mum sad. But you hold my hand when I'm scared. You watch me sleep so the bad men won't take me. I don't want Julian to be my father anymore."

She paused, taking a shaky breath, and the next words she said completely broke whatever was left of my soul. "I want to be your daughter, Uncle Brandon. I want you to be my real dad."

Tears, hot and unfamiliar, finally spilled over my eyelashes and ran down my face. I shoved my fist against my mouth to keep from sobbing out loud in front of Dominic and Anthony.

I had entered her life out of a sick desire for revenge against her bloodline, and here she was, offering me the purest, most unconditional love I had ever known.

"You are my daughter, Amelia," I whispered fiercely into the phone, the promise binding my soul to her forever. "No matter what happens, no matter where I am, you will always be my little girl. I promise you."

"Are you coming home?" she asked.

"Not tonight, sweetheart. Your mum needs space. But my men are outside. No one can hurt you. Now, I need you to close your eyes and go to sleep for me, okay?"

"Okay," she murmured, sounding tired now. "Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, baby," I said softly. The line went dead. I slowly lowered the phone, the silence of the car returning, but something inside me had fundamentally shifted.

Aria might hate me, and I might be exiled to the dark world I came from, but I had a daughter to protect. And god help anyone who tried to take her away from me.

The car was completely quiet again. I wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand. The warmth and sadness inside me vanished, replaced by a cold, familiar hardness.

Amelia wanted me to be her father. She wanted me to protect her. To do that, I couldn't be a broken man crying in the back of a car. I had to be the monster everyone feared. I had to be the Mafia King again.

I turned my head to look at Dominic. My voice was no longer soft. It was flat, cold, and heavy.

"Dominic."

Dominic shifted in his seat, his eyes locking onto mine. "Yes, boss?"

"Find out who gave Julian that file," I ordered, my jaw clenching. "Someone leaked my past. Someone dug up old police records that were supposed to be burned. Find the leak, and find out exactly where Julian is hiding right now. I want a name and a location before the sun comes up."

Dominic nodded quickly, his fingers already flying across his tablet. "Consider it done, boss. What about the people from the park?"

"They are all connected," I said, staring out at the dark highway. "Julian is desperate. Desperate men do stupid things. He might try to go after them again."

I leaned forward, looking into the rearview mirror at Anthony. "Anthony, call the men at Aria's house," I commanded. "Tell them to double the perimeter. No one goes in, and no one comes out without my permission. If anyone tries to cross that gate, I don't care if it's Julian or a stranger, tell them to shoot to kill."

"Understood, Mr. Brandon," Anthony replied, his voice firm as he pressed harder on the gas pedal.

I leaned back into the shadows of the seat. Aria had kicked me out of her life, and I would respect her space.

But I would burn the entire city to the ground before I let anyone hurt my daughter. I leaned forward again, my eyes sharp as I looked at Dominic. "Place my men around Amelia's school and Aria's office immediately. Not a single shadow moves near them without us knowing."

"I'll coordinate the teams right now," Dominic replied, nodding quickly.

I then shifted my gaze back to the rearview mirror, making eye contact with Anthony. "Once you drop me off at the hotel, you are to head straight back to the mansion. You stay there with Aria and Amelia. You don't leave their side. Understood?"

"Yes, Mr. Brandon. I'll make sure they are safe," Anthony said firmly.

Dominic looked up from his tablet, his expression serious. "Boss, now that the secret is out... are we returning to your city? Back to headquarters?"

"No," I said without hesitation, my voice flat and final. "We are staying back. I'm not leaving this city until every single threat against them is completely gone."

Dominic tapped his screen, his eyebrows furrowing as a new notification popped up. "Boss, we just got a breakthrough from the tech team. We have information on Thomas Sterling and we finally uncovered the identity of the person who paid him to pull out from Madam Aria's company.”

My hands clenched into tight fists, the leather of my gloves creaking in the quiet car. A dark, lethal heat flooded my chest. "Who is the person, Dominic? Give me a name."

Dominic turned his head to face me, his voice dropping to a low whisper. "Leonie.”

The name echoed in the quiet backseat of the SUV, heavy and toxic. Leonie. Julian’s wife. A cold, vicious anger coiled tightly in my stomach as the pieces started clicking together.

Julian wasn't just a bitter ex trying to win Aria back on his own. He was married to a woman who was actively moving in the shadows. Leonie wanted Aria and Amelia completely out of the picture.

"Dominic," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous, low rumble. "Tell me exactly what you found."

Dominic looked up from his tablet, his expression serious. "Our tech team finally cracked the encrypted financial trail from Leonie's account to Thomas Sterling’s. We found a direct link between Thomas Sterling and Julian’s wife. Leonie is the one who funded Sterling. She personally authorized the payments to put him in play."

My hands clenched into tight fists, the leather of my gloves creaking in the quiet car. A dark, lethal heat flooded my chest.

"So Julian is the distraction, and his wife is the one holding the checkbook," I muttered, a dark, mocking laugh escaping my throat. Julian didn't have the stomach or the tactical connections to hire someone like Sterling on his own.

He was just a desperate puppet, completely oblivious to how dangerous his own wife truly was.

"What's the play, boss?" Dominic asked, his pen hovering over the tablet. "Do we launch a full strike on her coordinates?"

I stared out the tinted window at the passing streetlights, forcing myself to think clearly despite the rage burning in my chest. Going in with guns blazing right now would be sloppy.

We had a name, but we didn't know her full network yet. "No," I commanded, my voice flat and final. "We won't move yet. I want you to put eyes on Leonie. Track her every move, wire her phones, and monitor her bank accounts. I want to know every single breath she takes. We watch her, and when the time is right, we’ll get her. We will take her down completely."

"Understood," Dominic replied, his fingers already flying across the screen to reassign our surveillance teams. "Consider her covered."

I leaned forward, making eye contact with Anthony in the rearview mirror. "Anthony, pull over."

Anthony immediately tapped the brakes, steering the heavy SUV to the curb of a dimly lit street. I checked the loaded weapon tucked inside my holster, the cold weight of the metal anchoring me.

I looked at Anthony, my expression dead and unyielding. "Get back to Aria’s house now. Watch over my daughter. If anyone tries to approach that estate while we are tracking Leonie, make sure they don't leave alive."

"I won't let you down, Mr. Brandon," Anthony said firmly. I stepped out into the freezing night air, slamming the door shut. The SUV pulled away into the dark, heading back toward the estate to reinforce the perimeter.

I turned back toward Dominic, who had stepped out with me on the pavement. The vulnerability I had felt hours ago when Aria snapped at me was entirely gone.

Leonie and Julian wanted to play dirty, but they had no idea who they were dealing with. "Let's get to the hotel," I told Dominic, my eyes narrowing into the dark. "The hunt has officially begun.”