Chapter 78: Memory is a Weapon Too

Chapter 78: Memory is a Weapon Too

The villa was quiet.

Too quiet.

A breeze rustled the vineyard leaves, and the dusk air carried the scent of honeysuckle and something metallic beneath it—danger disguised as perfume. Evangeline stood in the drawing room, her posture regal, her fingers clutching a small, frayed lullaby book. A book she hadn’t opened in over fifteen years.

She had placed it carefully on the piano by the window.

And waited.

Outside, Luca moved through the shadows like he had never left the underworld. The security perimeter had been reduced to three layers—too obvious, too rigid—and that was intentional.

“We want them to believe we’re vulnerable,” he’d told Matteo the night before. “And then we close the door.”

Now, cloaked and armed, Luca stood in the tree line, eyes fixed on the gravel road winding down toward the villa.

They were coming.

At exactly 9:14 PM, the infrared sensors near the west gate lit up.

Two bodies.

One large.

One slighter, but moving with calculated stillness.

The gate did not resist them. Luca had left it unlocked on purpose.

Gabriel and Viera entered the grounds like wolves walking into a wounded den. Confident. Cautious. Deadly.

Inside the house, Leo slept.

Angela sat beside his bed, a dagger strapped beneath her shawl, her eyes never leaving the window. A soft whisper passed her lips every few seconds—an old prayer from a forgotten dialect. Not for protection.

For clarity.

In the drawing room, Evangeline heard the door creak open.

She didn’t turn.

Not yet.

She let her voice fill the space instead.

“The river runs from stone to sea,
And there you’ll find what’s left of me…”

The first line of Gabriel’s lullaby.

A silence.

Then: “You remembered.”

She turned.

He was there.

Older. Gaunter. But not yet lost.

Viera flanked him, pistol hidden but present in the fold of her coat.

“I never forgot,” Evangeline said, stepping forward. “Not even when they told me you were gone.”

“I was,” Gabriel replied. “You just didn’t know where to look.”

She gestured to the piano. “I left this here for you.”

He glanced at the lullaby book. His face didn’t change, but his eyes—those flickers of light she once read bedtime stories into—they twitched.

“You came to kill us,” she said, gently.

“I came to see what was left.”

“And?”

Gabriel’s jaw flexed. “You have the boy.”

“He’s not a crown,” she whispered. “He’s a child. Just like you were. I didn’t abandon you, Gabriel. I was told you were dead.”

Viera stepped forward, icy. “Enough of this.”

But Evangeline raised a hand. “No.”

To Gabriel: “You know she’s using you.”

Gabriel’s silence was long.

“Do you remember the story?” she said, stepping closer. “About the twin moons? How one hid behind the clouds and the other pulled the tides alone until it shattered?”

He blinked.

“That was you. The moon that disappeared. But I never stopped waiting for you to rise again.”

She was a foot away now.

Viera shouted, “Gabriel, step back!”

Evangeline placed her hand on his chest.

“I don’t need you to love us,” she whispered. “I just need you to remember you were loved.”

Then—

He turned.

And pointed his gun.

But not at her.

At Viera.

Outside, Luca received the signal: two pings, then a third.

It was time.

Guards emerged from hidden spots in the vineyard. Drones hummed awake above the tree line. Viera’s backup—hidden in a van—was immediately overpowered.

Inside, Viera’s face contorted.

“You’re still weak,” she spat at Gabriel. “That’s why he chose Leo. That’s why they’ll always pity you.”

“No,” Gabriel said, stepping closer. “That’s why I’m free.”

He disarmed her in one smooth motion—clearly trained. But his hands trembled.

Luca entered then, gun raised, flanked by two armed men.

“It’s over.”

Viera didn’t flinch. “You can kill me, De Luca, but I already won. Leo’s face is public. You’ve tied him to your legacy. There’s no hiding now.”

“We’re not hiding,” Luca said. “We’re watching.”

Angela stepped in behind her. “And we’re ready.”

Evangeline crossed to Gabriel, gently taking the gun from his hand.

“You saved us.”

“I don’t know who I am,” he said, voice brittle.

“You’re not a weapon anymore,” she whispered.

He let the gun fall.

An hour later, Viera sat in the holding cell beneath the villa—cuffed, silent, but smiling.

Evangeline stood outside the glass, watching her.

“She thinks this isn’t the end,” Luca said, stepping beside her.

“It isn’t,” Evangeline replied. “But it’s the beginning of something else.”

In the garden, Gabriel stood alone under the stars. Leo emerged in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes.

“Who are you?” Leo asked.

Gabriel turned, slowly kneeling to meet him at eye level.

“I’m your brother,” he said.

Leo’s eyes widened.

Then he grinned. “Wanna hear a story?”

Gabriel blinked. “What kind?”

“One with dragons and lions and a moon that hides—but then comes back.”

Gabriel smiled for the first time in years.

“I’d like that.”