Chapter 3 - The Uncle Who Never Knocked
Victor Caruso walked into the music room alone.
He was sixty-two, silver-haired, impeccably dressed, and calm enough to make Dominic more suspicious.
“Interesting place for a family reunion.”
Dominic stood between Victor and Elena.
“How did you find me?”
Victor smiled.
“You’re my nephew.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Victor noticed the ledger.
For one second, the smile disappeared.
Dominic saw it.
So did Marcus.
Victor recovered quickly.
“Luca filled your head with nonsense before he died.”
“You knew about this.”
“I knew your brother was troubled.”
Dominic held up the ledger.
“Dad’s handwriting.”
“Your father kept records of everything.”
“Including you.”
Victor sighed.
“Dominic, give me the book.”
“No.”
Victor’s gaze hardened.
Elena moved backward with Matteo.
Victor noticed the child.
He stared.
Gray eyes.
Recognition.
Then fear.
“Who is that?”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Luca’s son.”
Victor went silent.
Elena watched his face carefully.
“You knew Luca was expecting a child.”
Victor looked at her.
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Dominic caught the reaction.
“Elena.”
She swallowed.
“Luca told me somebody followed us from the doctor once. He said he recognized the car.”
Victor scoffed.
“Luca imagined enemies everywhere.”
“And then he died,” Dominic said.
Victor looked at him.
“You’re accusing me?”
“I haven’t accused anyone.”
“Not yet.”
Marcus shifted subtly toward the doorway.
Victor noticed.
“Careful, Dominic. Grief makes intelligent men stupid.”
Dominic stepped within inches of his uncle.
“My brother left evidence.”
“Evidence can be manufactured.”
“My father left evidence.”
“Dead men cannot explain context.”
“Convenient.”
Victor’s expression cooled.
He told Dominic a different story.
Their father had built Caruso International through alliances Dominic never understood.
When regulators began investigating, Victor had protected the family.
The shell companies had hidden liabilities.
The payments had settled dangerous disputes.
The forged signatures had prevented Dominic from becoming legally implicated.
Victor claimed everything he had done had been for Dominic.
Dominic almost believed him.
Then Matteo began crying.
Victor looked toward the child and muttered:
“Just like Luca. Always appearing where he shouldn’t.”
Elena froze.
Dominic heard it too.
“You said you didn’t know about the baby.”
Victor’s face changed.
“I meant Luca.”
“No. You looked directly at Matteo.”
Victor said nothing.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“How long have you known?”
Victor moved toward the door.
Marcus blocked him.
Dominic opened the ledger again.
A loose page had been inserted near the back.
On it was a payment dated two days before Luca’s death.
The recipient was a private transportation company.
The amount: $180,000.
Dominic showed Victor.
“What was this?”
Victor’s eyes flickered.
That was enough.
“You paid someone two days before Luca died.”
“Business expense.”
“Then explain it.”
Victor refused.
Dominic took out his phone.
“I’ll let federal investigators ask.”
Victor laughed.
“You think handing them that ledger destroys me?”
“No.”
Dominic looked around.
“It destroys the version of my empire you built.”
For the first time, Victor lost control.
“You ungrateful little fool.”
The words echoed.
Dominic stared at him.
Victor pointed toward the ledger.
“Everything you have exists because I cleaned up your father’s mistakes.”
“My father wrote that I didn’t know.”
“Because he was weak.”
“And Luca?”
Victor said nothing.
Dominic moved closer.
“What did you do to my brother?”
Victor smiled again.
But the warmth was gone.
“Ask your maid.”
Dominic turned.
Elena looked confused.
Victor continued.
“Ask her why Luca was driving that road at two in the morning.”
Elena went pale.
“What are you talking about?”
Victor looked at Dominic.
“She called him.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“The phone records exist.”
“No.”
“Luca left his apartment because Elena called him and told him the baby was in danger.”
Elena stared.
“I never called him.”
Victor shrugged.
“Someone did.”
Dominic understood.
A cloned number.
A trap.
Elena covered her mouth.
Victor had revealed too much.
Marcus moved.
Victor reached inside his coat.
Dominic reacted instantly.
But Victor withdrew only a phone.
He placed it on the piano.
“Before you decide who the villain is, watch this.”
A video began.
Luca appeared in a parking garage.
He was arguing with someone outside the camera frame.
Then another person entered.
Marcus.
Dominic looked up.
Marcus’s face went blank.
Onscreen, Luca shoved him.
Marcus grabbed Luca’s jacket.
The recording stopped.
Victor smiled.
“Your trusted security chief was the last person from this family to see Luca alive.”
Dominic turned toward Marcus.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Marcus remained silent.
“Marcus.”
“I met Luca that night.”
Elena stared at him.
“You told us a week before.”
“I lied.”
Dominic’s anger sharpened.
“Why?”
“Because Luca made me.”
“That answer is getting old.”
Marcus looked at Matteo.
“He was trying to protect them.”
“From whom?”
Marcus looked directly at Victor.
Victor smiled.
Marcus finally said, “From everyone.”
He explained.
Luca had discovered someone inside Dominic’s security team was leaking his movements.
Marcus agreed to help him disappear temporarily.
They met in the garage.
The argument in the video was staged because Luca suspected cameras were watching.
Marcus gave Luca another vehicle.
But Luca never reached the safe house.
His car was found hours later.
Dominic frowned.
“The police identified his body.”
Marcus looked down.
“Victor identified the body before you arrived.”
Silence.
Dominic turned slowly toward his uncle.
Victor’s expression revealed nothing.
Elena whispered, “What are you saying?”
Marcus looked at Dominic.
“I’m saying I never saw Luca dead.”
Dominic felt the room tilt.
“No.”
Marcus continued.
“The body was badly burned.”
Dominic remembered.
Closed coffin.
Victor insisting Dominic should remember Luca as he had been.
Dominic looked at Victor.
“What did you bury?”
Victor said nothing.
Dominic grabbed him by the jacket.
“WHAT DID I BURY?”
Victor’s composure finally cracked.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
Victor leaned close.
“Your brother was alive after the crash.”
Elena gasped.
Dominic released him.
Victor straightened his coat.
“For how long?” Dominic asked.
Victor’s silence became unbearable.
Then Matteo started crying again.
Elena held him close.
Victor looked toward the baby.
“You still don’t understand. Luca wasn’t hiding evidence from me.”
“Then who?”
Victor looked toward Marcus.
“Ask him who actually owns the shell company receiving those payments.”
Rebecca, who had remained near the laptop, began typing.
A corporate registration appeared.
She stared at the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
Rebecca rotated the laptop.
The beneficial owner had been hidden through layers of corporations.
But one original filing contained a name.
Sofia Caruso Foundation.
Dominic stared.
His dead mother’s foundation.
Then another record appeared.
Someone had accessed its accounts three days ago.
The login originated from Switzerland.
Rebecca whispered, “Dominic…”
A new transaction had just been authorized.
The authentication signature belonged to Luca Caruso.
Dominic’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then Dominic heard breathing.
A man’s voice finally whispered:
“Dom?”
May you like
Dominic stopped breathing.
It was Luca...
