Chapter 13 - THE HEIR OF THE DRAGON
I stared at the note in my hand.
Three words.
Three words that changed everything.
YOU ARE THE HEIR.
I read it again.
Then again.
But the meaning didn’t change.
Marco Viscari didn’t want me gone.
He wanted me alive.
He wanted me back.
“What does he mean?”
My voice sounded distant.
Adrian didn’t answer immediately.
He looked at the note like it was something dangerous.
Because it was.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“He means the Viscari empire.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He sighed.
“Before Adrian took control, before Marco disappeared, before everything fell apart…”
He pointed at the old family documents.
“The Viscari bloodline had an order.”
I frowned.
“What order?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“The first-born child inherits everything.”
The room became silent.
I shook my head.
“No.”
Nobody spoke.
“No, that makes no sense.”
Adrian looked at me.
“It does.”
I turned toward him.
“You knew?”
His silence hurt.
“Adrian.”
He looked away.
“I suspected.”
The anger rose inside me.
“You suspected I was the heir and didn’t tell me?”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“You weren’t sure?”
My voice broke.
“Everyone keeps making decisions about my life!”
I stepped back.
“My mother.”
“Elena.”
“Now you.”
Adrian’s face changed.
Not anger.
Pain.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By keeping me in the dark?”
He had no answer.
And that hurt more.
Because I didn’t want another protector.
I wanted the truth.
That night, I found Elena’s old diary.
Hidden inside the secret room.
The final pages had been torn out.
Someone had tried to destroy them.
But one sentence remained.
A sentence written in her handwriting.
“If Mara ever returns to the Viscari family, she must never become what they expect.”
I read it over and over.
Because I finally understood.
Elena didn’t hide me because she was ashamed of me.
She hid me because she knew what power could do.
She knew what money could destroy.
She knew what the dragon symbol meant.
It wasn’t just a tattoo.
It was a curse passed from one generation to another.
A life where love became weakness.
Where family became enemies.
Where trust could get you killed.
A knock interrupted my thoughts.
Adrian stood outside.
“We found Marco.”
My heart stopped.
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“Where?”
His eyes darkened.
“He wants to meet you.”
I laughed softly.
“Of course he does.”
Adrian watched me carefully.
“You don’t have to go.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Mara.”
I looked at him.
“For twenty-eight years, everyone decided what was best for me.”
I held up the diary.
“I’m done hiding.”
A long silence followed.
Then Adrian nodded.
“Then I’m coming with you.”
I looked at him.
“You can’t control this.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“But I can make sure you survive it.”
The meeting place was an abandoned church outside the city.
The kind of place where secrets were buried.
Not revealed.
I walked inside with Adrian beside me.
Gabriel followed.
The air smelled old.
Dust.
Wood.
Memories.
Then a man stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Gray hair.
A scar across his face.
But the same dragon tattoo.
Marco Viscari.
The man who destroyed my family.
The man who was supposed to be dead.
He looked at me.
And smiled.
“Mara.”
I hated that he said my name like he knew me.
Like he had the right.
“You look exactly like your mother.”
My fists tightened.
“Don’t say her name.”
His smile faded slightly.
“You have her anger.”
“And you have her blood on your hands.”
Silence.
Then Marco laughed.
“You really are Elena’s daughter.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Marco looked at him.
“You still think you’re the king.”
His eyes returned to me.
“But she is the future.”
I stared.
“I don’t want your empire.”
Marco smiled.
“That’s exactly why you’re the only one who can have it.”
Before I could answer…
The lights went out.
A gunshot exploded.
Adrian grabbed me.
People screamed.
And when the lights returned…
Marco was gone.
But on the floor was another message.
Not from him.
From someone else.
Someone who wanted us to know they were watching.
May you like
The message said:
THE WRONG CHILD SURVIVED.
