BLOOD AND VOWS
> “Let this be our final silence.
If this box is opened, then the vow is broken.
Blood has outlived its promise.
The Vitale and Moretti lines were bound by betrayal, not loyalty.
If one family survives the other, the seal will break.
When the seal breaks, memory will return.
And when memory returns, no empire shall stand.
The only way forward is to choose the end.
Not vengeance. Not justice.
An end.
One life, freely given, to close the door again.
The bullet was forged from the betrayal bone.
Cast from the marrow of a son who betrayed his blood.
You must choose who will carry it.
And who will be erased.”
He finished reading.
No one moved.
Then, softly, Bianca said, “It was always going to be