Chapter 5 - The Man Behind the Family
Mara counted turns.
Left.
Straight.
Hard right.
Another left.
She kept her breathing controlled.
Nobody had tied her hands.
That meant her captor either underestimated her or didn't intend to hurt her immediately.
The driver wore a black cap.
A second man sat beside her.
“You know Dominic will find me.”
“That is the point.”
Mara looked at him.
“Then why tell him to come alone?”
The man smiled.
“Because he will.”
He was right.
That frightened her.
Dominic would burn half the city to find her.
She needed to make sure he didn't walk into a trap because of her.
Meanwhile Dominic stood inside the warehouse staring at the message.
Marco approached.
“You're not going alone.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at him.
Marco had worked for him for fourteen years.
Few people could tell Dominic Serrano no and remain employed.
Marco was one.
“It's what they expect.”
“They have my wife.”
“Which is why you need to think.”
Dominic wanted violence.
He wanted names.
Locations.
Blood if necessary.
Then he remembered Mara standing in the boutique.
You were never the problem.
If he charged blindly into danger now, he would make her pay for his rage again.
He forced himself to think.
“Trace the phone.”
“Already doing it.”
Isabella sat nearby.
Renee stood opposite her.
Dominic turned to his mother.
“Finish the answer.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Who killed Father?”
“Your uncle.”
Dominic stared.
“Antonio?”
“Yes.”
Antonio Serrano.
His father's younger brother.
A man Dominic had known his entire life.
A man who still sat on the Serrano board.
“He believed Vittorio was betraying everything your grandfather built.”
“And you?”
“I agreed with Vittorio by then.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“After ordering Emilio's death?”
Isabella accepted the blow.
“Yes.”
“Did Antonio know about Mara's trust?”
“Yes.”
Everything connected.
Celeste wanted the inheritance.
Antonio wanted control.
But had they worked together?
Dominic called Celeste.
She answered immediately.
“Where is Mara?”
“You think I took her?”
“Where is Uncle Antonio?”
Silence.
Dominic's voice hardened.
“Celeste.”
“I don't know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
For the first time, she sounded genuinely afraid.
“Antonio contacted me months ago,” she said. “He told me about the trust. He said if Mara controlled those assets, she'd convince you to sell everything.”
“So the dresses.”
“That was my idea.”
“The forged documents?”
“Yes.”
“The camera?”
“No.”
“The kidnapping?”
“No!”
Dominic believed her.
Not because she deserved trust.
Because fear sounded different when it was real.
“Where would Antonio take her?”
“I don't know.”
Then Celeste stopped.
“What?”
“There is one place.”
“Tell me.”
“The old Serrano house.”
Dominic went still.
His grandfather's original estate had been abandoned for years.
He ended the call.
Marco already understood.
“I'll move teams there.”
“No visible approach.”
Dominic looked at the message again.
COME ALONE.
He would.
Technically.
But Marco's people would surround the property from a distance.
The old house was dark when Dominic arrived.
His pistol remained hidden beneath his jacket.
The front door opened before he touched it.
Antonio Serrano stood inside.
Sixty-three.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
The uncle who had taught Dominic to drive.
Who attended his wedding.
Who toasted Mara and called her the best thing that had ever happened to the family.
“Dominic.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“Let me see her.”
Antonio stepped aside.
Mara sat in the dining room.
Untied.
Unhurt.
She stood the instant she saw Dominic.
“I'm okay.”
Dominic moved toward her.
Antonio raised a gun.
“Stop.”
Dominic stopped.
Mara's face changed.
“Antonio, you said nobody would be hurt.”
“And nobody needs to be.”
Dominic looked at his wife.
“Did they touch you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He turned toward Antonio.
“What do you want?”
“Your signature.”
A document lay on the dining table.
Dominic looked at it.
Transfer of voting control.
“You murdered my father for this company.”
“I killed your father because he was going to destroy a dynasty.”
“He was trying to end a criminal organization.”
“He was weak.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“No. He was ahead of me.”
Antonio frowned.
Dominic continued.
“It took me years to understand what he understood.”
“That your wife should tell you how to run your family?”
Mara stiffened.
Dominic didn't.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The same weakness Celeste has.”
Antonio's expression hardened.
“You think loving someone makes a man controllable.”
“It does.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at Mara.
“It gives him something worth becoming better for.”
Mara's eyes filled.
Antonio shoved the document forward.
“Sign.”
“And then?”
“You and Mara leave.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I've had opportunities to kill you for years.”
“Comforting.”
Mara suddenly spoke.
“Why the photographs?”
Antonio looked at her.
“Insurance.”
“Against me?”
“Against Dominic.”
“You wanted him to believe I was unstable.”
“I wanted the marriage broken before the trust transferred.”
“And if it didn't?”
Antonio smiled.
“You'd have an accident.”
Dominic lunged.
Antonio raised the gun.
Mara screamed, “Dominic!”
He stopped inches away.
Antonio's hand shook slightly.
Dominic saw it.
“You're scared.”
“Sit down.”
“You murdered my father nine years ago and you've spent every day since wondering when I would learn.”
“Sit.”
“You're not afraid of losing the company.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“You're afraid I'll discover what else you did with it.”
Antonio's face changed.
There.
Dominic had guessed correctly.
Mara noticed too.
“What else is there?”
Antonio said nothing.
Dominic looked at the transfer papers.
“You've been stealing.”
Antonio's jaw tightened.
“How much?”
Silence.
“Hundreds of millions?”
Mara looked at Antonio.
His expression gave the answer.
Dominic almost laughed.
“You didn't protect a dynasty. You robbed one.”
Antonio lifted the weapon.
“Sign.”
Dominic picked up the pen.
Mara shook her head.
“No.”
He looked at her.
She understood his expression.
Trust me.
Dominic signed.
Antonio grabbed the papers.
“Now let her go.”
Antonio smiled.
“I said you could leave.”
He stepped backward.
Then alarms suddenly screamed throughout the house.
Antonio spun.
Dominic moved.
He knocked the weapon sideways.
A shot shattered a window.
Mara ducked.
Dominic slammed Antonio against the table.
Marco and security entered from both sides.
Within seconds Antonio was restrained.
Dominic ran to Mara.
She threw herself into his arms.
“You came.”
“Always.”
“You signed.”
“With the wrong signature.”
She pulled back.
“What?”
“I signed Donato Serrano.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
“That isn't your name.”
“It was my grandfather's.”
“You forged your own signature?”
“I improvised.”
Marco approached.
“Police are coming.”
Dominic looked at Antonio.
For years, the Serrano family would have handled betrayal privately.
Bodies disappeared.
Questions disappeared.
Dominic was done with that world.
“Give them everything.”
Antonio stared.
“You would send family to prison?”
Dominic looked at Mara.
Then back at his uncle.
“You stopped being family when you kidnapped my wife.”
Antonio smiled strangely.
“You still don't understand.”
Dominic frowned.
Antonio nodded toward the papers.
“Celeste wasn't trying to take Mara's trust for herself.”
“Then why?”
“Because somebody convinced her Mara wouldn't survive the anniversary.”
Mara froze.
Dominic grabbed Antonio's collar.
“Who?”
Antonio laughed.
“Ask the person who arranged your marriage.”
Dominic released him slowly.
“My marriage wasn't arranged.”
Antonio's smile widened.
“Wasn't it?”
Mara stared at Dominic.
Neither spoke.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
The caller ID displayed a name neither of them expected.
MARA’S MOTHER.
Dominic answered.
May you like
A man's voice spoke instead.
“Your wife was never supposed to marry you, Dominic.”
