Chapter 4 - The Truth About Elena Castellano
“Roman.”
Claire’s voice shook.
Roman followed her gaze.
Dominic lay against a crate.
Blood darkened his shoulder.
Not his chest.
Alive.
Victor had disappeared.
Marco had freed one hand from the rope.
Gabriel stood near the side entrance holding a pistol.
Roman looked at him.
“You shot my father?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Victor did.”
Dominic laughed through clenched teeth.
“For once, your uncle is telling the truth.”
Roman knelt beside his father.
Claire tore fabric from an old cloth cover and pressed it against the wound.
Dominic winced.
“You know first aid?”
“My shop has sharp things.”
Even Dominic almost smiled.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Roman looked at Gabriel.
“Start talking.”
Gabriel lowered the weapon.
“Victor Hale ran the criminal side of the company.”
Roman stared.
“My father ran everything.”
“No.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“Not everything.”
Roman turned toward him.
Dominic looked older than Roman had ever seen him.
“I let it happen,” Dominic said.
Roman’s anger rose.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I knew Victor was moving undeclared cargo.”
“People died.”
“Yes.”
“And Mother found out.”
“Yes.”
Claire remained beside Dominic.
“My father helped her.”
Dominic looked at Claire.
“Yes.”
Her hands froze.
“What happened to him?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Victor happened.”
Claire went pale.
Roman stood.
“You knew Victor killed Samuel?”
“I learned later.”
“And you did nothing?”
Dominic looked at him.
“I did many things.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Your father sent me after Victor.”
Roman looked between them.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Gabriel nodded.
“That was the point.”
The sirens grew louder.
Dominic spoke.
“Elena discovered Victor had been moving weapons and narcotics through our routes.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“She came to me.”
“What did you do?”
“I told her I would handle it.”
“And?”
“She didn’t believe me.”
“Was she right?”
Dominic looked away.
“Yes.”
That admission hurt more than denial.
Dominic continued.
“She trusted Samuel Bennett because he had access to deliveries and repairs. She trusted Gabriel because he was my brother.”
Gabriel looked at the floor.
“They copied manifests. Payment records. Everything.”
Claire whispered, “So Victor killed them.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Not Elena.”
Everyone looked at him.
Roman’s breath stopped.
“What?”
Gabriel met his eyes.
“Elena’s crash wasn’t meant for her.”
Roman stared.
“The car had been tampered with,” Gabriel said. “Victor intended Dominic to drive it.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Roman looked at his father.
“She died because someone tried to kill you?”
“Yes.”
Roman turned away.
Twenty-four years of grief shifted inside him.
Not disappeared.
Changed.
Claire watched him silently.
Roman faced Gabriel again.
“Why hide the truth?”
“Because Victor had police, port officials, lawyers. Everyone.”
“So you staged your death.”
“After Samuel was killed.”
Claire lowered her eyes.
Gabriel continued.
“I spent years collecting evidence.”
“Why not come to me?”
“You were young.”
“I haven’t been young for a long time.”
Gabriel’s face tightened.
“By then you were running Castellano Maritime.”
Roman understood.
“You thought I was like him.”
Gabriel looked toward Dominic.
“I didn’t know.”
That hurt too.
Police entered minutes later.
Dominic was taken to the hospital.
Marco went with him.
Roman, Claire, and Gabriel were questioned separately.
Victor remained missing.
At three in the morning, Roman and Claire sat outside the emergency department.
Claire held a paper cup of coffee.
Roman held nothing.
“You should go home,” he said.
“So should you.”
“I don’t know where that is tonight.”
Claire looked at him.
Roman regretted the sentence immediately.
It revealed too much.
Claire did not pity him.
He appreciated that.
“You have a house,” she said.
“Yes.”
“That’s not what you meant.”
“No.”
They sat in silence.
Roman looked at her hands.
A small cut crossed one finger.
“Did that happen tonight?”
Claire looked.
“No. Yesterday.”
“You should put something on it.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“You’re worried about my finger after your father got shot?”
“I contain multitudes.”
She laughed.
Roman smiled.
It felt strange.
Then Claire grew serious.
“My father died because he helped your mother.”
Roman nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
This time Claire let him say it.
“My mother spent the rest of her life believing he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Roman looked down.
“Do you want the truth made public?”
“Yes.”
“Even if it destroys my family?”
Claire studied him.
“Do you?”
Roman thought of his company.
Twenty thousand employees.
Board members.
Families whose livelihoods depended on a name built partly on corruption.
He thought of his mother.
Then Samuel Bennett.
“Yes.”
Claire nodded.
“Then do it right.”
Roman looked at her.
“How?”
“Not revenge.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“Victor killed your father.”
“I know.”
“And tried to kill mine.”
“I know.”
“You don’t want revenge?”
Claire looked toward the hospital doors.
“I want him unable to do it again.”
That difference mattered.
By morning, federal investigators were involved.
Roman handed over the documents.
His attorneys nearly had collective heart failure.
The Castellano Maritime board called an emergency meeting.
Roman refused to attend.
His father underwent surgery.
Survived.
Gabriel vanished again before sunrise.
Roman discovered a note beneath his windshield wiper.
Victor still has the original ledger.
Pier 91.
Roman read it twice.
Claire stood beside him.
“Who left that?”
“My uncle.”
“Why not tell the police?”
Roman called the number Gabriel had used.
Disconnected.
Claire sighed.
“Your family is exhausting.”
“You’ve known us one day.”
“Longest day of my life.”
Roman looked at her.
“You should go home.”
“I’m going to my shop.”
“Claire.”
“My father’s ledger may be involved.”
Roman’s phone buzzed.
A news alert.
CASTELLANO MARITIME UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION.
Another.
ROMAN CASTELLANO EXPECTED TO RESIGN.
Claire looked at him.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He appreciated that she did not tell him he would be.
They returned to Bennett Restoration.
The briefcase remained on the counter.
Claire had not finished repairing it.
Roman stood in front of it.
“All this because the lining tore.”
Claire touched the old leather.
“Things come apart when they’re ready.”
Roman looked at her.
“Do you practice these lines?”
“No.”
“You should charge extra for them.”
She smiled.
Roman’s gaze moved to the photograph of his mother.
Claire had placed it beneath protective glass.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
A courier arrived before noon.
Small package.
No return address.
Roman opened it.
Inside was an old cassette tape.
Claire stared.
A handwritten label read:
ELENA — AUGUST 12, 2002.
Roman’s mother died August 13.
The night before.
Claire found an old cassette player in the back office.
“My father kept everything.”
Roman inserted the tape.
Static.
Then Elena’s voice.
Roman closed his eyes.
Twenty-four years vanished.
“If anyone hears this,” Elena said, “Victor knows.”
Claire looked at Roman.
The recording continued.
“I copied the final ledger. Samuel helped me hide it. Gabriel knows where.”
Roman leaned closer.
Then Elena said something neither expected.
“Dominic is not the man behind this.”
Roman looked at Claire.
“He’s guilty of cowardice. Of allowing evil because confronting it would cost him power. But Victor is not working alone.”
Static crackled.
Elena took a breath.
“There is someone else inside the family.”
Roman’s hand tightened.
“The initials are M.B.”
Claire stared at him.
Roman whispered, “Marco Bellini.”
The cassette continued.
“If Roman ever finds this, he must not trust—”
The tape snapped.
Silence.
Roman stood.
Claire looked at him.
“Marco has been with you how long?”
“Fifteen years.”
“He saved your life last night.”
“Yes.”
Roman remembered the ledger.
M.B.
Payments.
Dates.
Marco’s disappearance from the station.
Victor’s text on Marco’s phone.
Too many pieces.
Roman called the hospital.
No answer from Marco.
He called again.
Nothing.
Then Dominic’s private nurse answered.
“Mr. Castellano?”
“Where’s Marco?”
A pause.
“He left twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“He said you needed him.”
Roman looked at Claire.
“I didn’t call him.”
A sound came from the back of the shop.
Metal scraping.
Claire turned.
The rear door was opening.
Roman stepped in front of her.
A shadow crossed the frosted glass.
Then someone knocked three times.
Marco’s voice came from the other side.
“Boss, open the door.”
Roman stared at the handle.
Marco knocked again.
May you like
This time he said:
“I know what your mother was trying to tell you.”
