Chapter 4 - The Secret Carlo Buried
Dominic reached his mother's house in twelve minutes.
The front door was open.
He entered first.
His gun remained low at his side.
“Mom?”
No answer.
Matteo followed.
The living room was empty.
A broken glass lay on the floor.
Dominic moved toward the kitchen.
“Mom?”
A voice came from behind him.
“Put the gun down.”
Dominic turned.
His mother, Sofia Rossi, stood at the top of the staircase.
Alive.
Beside her stood Victor Vale.
Dominic stared.
“What the hell is this?”
Sofia looked exhausted.
“Something I should have told you years ago.”
Dominic lowered the weapon.
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Thirty years.”
Dominic looked between them.
Victor said nothing.
Sofia descended.
“Your father, Victor, and I were the only three people who knew everything.”
“Everything about what?”
“Shepherd.”
Dominic felt his patience vanish.
“Then tell me who he is.”
Sofia looked at Victor.
Victor nodded.
“Marcus Hale.”
Dominic exhaled.
The senator.
The celebrated prosecutor.
The man whose career had been built publicly destroying criminal organizations while privately profiting from them.
“Hale ordered Dad killed?”
“Yes.”
“And Elena's mother?”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Dominic thought about Elena.
She had whispered a name before Matteo interrupted them.
Marcus Hale.
Now it made sense.
But Sofia wasn't finished.
“Hale isn't merely protecting old crimes.”
“What else?”
“He's protecting the origin of his fortune.”
Victor explained.
Billions had moved through shell companies.
Construction.
Shipping.
Real estate.
Private equity.
Some eventually became legitimate investments.
Hale's political career had been financed by money he claimed publicly to oppose.
If the files became public, careers would end.
Companies would collapse.
Criminal prosecutions would follow.
“And Elena has everything?”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked at Victor.
“Where?”
Victor shook his head.
“She didn't tell me.”
“Good.”
Sofia stared at Dominic.
“You must leave New York.”
“No.”
“Dominic—”
“No.”
“You don't understand Hale.”
“I understand him perfectly.”
“No, you understand men who use guns.”
Sofia stepped closer.
“Hale uses institutions.”
That stopped him.
“He can make you the criminal in every newspaper by sunrise. He can freeze accounts. Open investigations. Turn witnesses. He can make Elena's shooting look like your operation.”
Dominic thought of the hospital.
The ring.
The cameras.
Someone could twist everything.
Crime boss marries unconscious shooting victim.
It sounded monstrous without context.
Perhaps that had been part of the plan.
“He wants me angry,” Dominic said.
Victor nodded.
“Because angry is what people expect from you.”
Dominic understood Elena's warning.
Don't become what they think you are.
He put away the gun.
“Then we don't give him what he expects.”
The next morning, Dominic returned to Elena.
She looked stronger.
Still pale.
Still hurting.
But awake.
He told her everything.
Sofia.
Victor.
Hale.
Elena listened.
When he finished, she said, “I know.”
“You know?”
“The chip.”
Dominic sat.
“What else is on it?”
“Enough.”
“Where is it?”
She studied him.
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“That's dangerous.”
“So I've been told.”
Elena looked at her ring.
“I hid it somewhere nobody connected to your family would search.”
“Where?”
“My bookstore.”
Dominic blinked.
“In a book?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“A first edition of The Count of Monte Cristo.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“Subtle.”
“I panicked.”
“Where in the book?”
“It's inside the spine.”
Dominic called Matteo.
“Get it.”
Elena stopped him.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is watching the store.”
“You know that?”
“I assumed.”
Dominic considered.
“Then we let them watch.”
They created a plan.
Dominic would publicly visit the bookstore.
Hale's people would follow.
Matteo would enter through the adjoining building and retrieve the book through a shared basement access.
Simple.
Almost too simple.
It worked.
At 4:16 p.m., Matteo returned with the book.
At 4:22, Elena opened the spine.
Empty.
Her face drained.
“No.”
Dominic examined it.
The compartment had been cut open.
“Someone beat us.”
Elena shook her head.
“Impossible.”
“When did you hide it?”
“The night of the gala.”
“Before you left?”
“Yes.”
“Who saw you?”
“No one.”
Dominic looked at Matteo.
Matteo looked back.
Only three people knew about the bookstore.
Dominic.
Elena.
Matteo.
Unless someone had been listening.
Dominic searched the hospital room.
Under the table.
Behind the television.
Beneath the chair.
Nothing.
Then Elena touched the ring.
“Dominic.”
He turned.
She pulled it off.
Inside the gold band, beside E.V., was something neither had noticed.
A tiny black dot.
Dominic took the ring.
Matteo examined it.
“A transmitter.”
Dominic's blood ran cold.
The ring had come from Carlo's old safe.
Someone had accessed it.
Someone knew Dominic would use it.
Or had anticipated that he might.
Matteo smashed the device.
Elena stared.
“They've heard everything.”
Dominic thought through every conversation.
The bookstore.
The chip.
Hale.
Everything.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Dominic answered.
Marcus Hale's voice came through.
“Mr. Rossi.”
Dominic said nothing.
“I believe you have something that belongs to me.”
“You stole it.”
Hale chuckled.
“No. Your lieutenant delivered it.”
Dominic looked at Matteo.
Matteo's face went blank.
“What?”
Hale continued.
“You really should be more careful whom you trust.”
Dominic raised his weapon toward Matteo.
Elena gasped.
Matteo slowly raised both hands.
“Boss, don't.”
Dominic's finger rested beside the trigger.
Hale laughed softly through the phone.
Then a video arrived.
Dominic opened it.
Matteo appeared on camera entering the bookstore basement.
He removed the book.
Then another man approached.
Matteo handed it to him.
Dominic looked up.
Matteo whispered, “There's something you don't know.”
Dominic stared at his oldest friend.
“Then you'd better tell me fast.”
Matteo lowered his hands.
“The chip I gave him was fake.”
Dominic froze.
Hale had gone silent on the phone.
Matteo smiled for the first time.
“And the real one was never in the bookstore.”
A new voice suddenly came through Dominic's phone.
Not Hale.
A woman's voice.
“Dominic?”
He recognized it.
May you like
His mother.
Then came a scream.
