Chapter 6 - The Dead Brother’s Last Secret
Victor entered an unused family consultation room with Roman and Claire.
Marco guarded the door.
Roman stood.
Victor sat.
“Talk.”
Victor looked at Claire.
“I owe you an apology.”
“No,” Claire said. “You owe me the truth.”
Victor nodded.
“Samuel discovered the operation first.”
Claire stared.
“Before Elena?”
“Yes.”
Victor looked down.
“I was laundering money through shipping contracts. Michael helped because he needed money for drugs.”
Roman’s face hardened.
Victor continued.
“Samuel found altered manifests. Elena came to his shop to repair a handbag. He recognized her name and told her.”
Claire swallowed.
“My father started it.”
“Yes.”
Roman looked at Victor.
“You ordered him killed.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Claire’s face went blank.
Roman moved toward Victor.
Claire stopped him.
“No.”
Roman stared at her.
Claire’s voice shook.
“I want to hear all of it.”
Victor looked at her.
“I told a man to frighten Samuel.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“And he accidentally ran him over?”
“No.”
Victor’s shame was visible.
“I knew what would happen.”
Claire turned away.
Roman wanted to destroy the man sitting in front of him.
But Claire remained still.
So Roman did too.
Victor continued.
“Elena copied the records. Gabriel helped her. Dominic didn’t know how deep it went until after her death.”
“Her crash?”
“I ordered Dominic’s car sabotaged.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“Elena drove it.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked sick.
“I killed her too.”
Roman stepped forward.
Claire caught his sleeve.
One touch.
He stopped.
Victor continued.
“Michael discovered everything after Elena died. He threatened to testify.”
Roman’s voice was low.
“And?”
“I gave him enough heroin to make an overdose inevitable.”
Roman stared.
Victor added:
“But Gabriel got to him first.”
Silence.
Roman frowned.
“What?”
Victor looked toward the door.
“Michael survived.”
Roman felt the room shift.
“No.”
“Gabriel found him barely breathing.”
Roman stared.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you could prove it.”
Victor reached inside his coat.
Marco raised his weapon.
Victor slowly pulled out an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Michael.
Older.
Alive.
Standing beside Gabriel.
Date printed in the corner:
Roman sat down.
His brother had been alive fifteen years after his supposed death.
Claire looked at him.
Roman could not speak.
Victor said:
“Gabriel hid him.”
“Why?”
“Michael was the only witness who could connect me to everything.”
Roman looked up.
“Then why didn’t he testify?”
Victor’s expression changed.
“Because Michael didn’t want you to know what he had done.”
Roman stared at the photograph.
He remembered worshiping his brother.
Michael had not wanted to destroy that memory.
Roman hated him for it.
Loved him for it.
Didn’t know which feeling was worse.
“Is he still alive?”
Victor looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Roman stood.
“Then why are you here?”
Victor exhaled.
“Because Gabriel called me.”
Roman froze.
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“What did he want?”
“To trade the original ledger for my confession.”
Claire stared.
“You came here to warn us?”
“No.”
Victor looked at Roman.
“I came because Gabriel is going to kill me.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“You’re asking me for protection.”
“Yes.”
Roman laughed.
Victor did not.
Roman looked at Claire.
She said nothing.
Victor continued.
“If Gabriel kills me, you lose the man who can authenticate every record.”
Roman hated the logic.
“Where is he?”
“Pier 91.”
Of course.
At sunset they reached the abandoned warehouse complex.
Federal agents waited nearby.
Roman had called them.
He was finished solving family crimes privately.
Inside, Gabriel stood beside a metal table.
The original ledger lay on it.
And beside Gabriel stood another man.
Gray hair.
Thin.
Older.
Roman stopped.
Michael Castellano looked at him.
Twenty-seven years disappeared.
Roman’s brother whispered:
“Hey, kid.”
Roman’s face collapsed.
He walked forward.
Then stopped.
“You’re alive.”
Michael nodded.
Roman punched him.
Michael fell.
Claire gasped.
Roman stood over him.
“You let me bury you.”
Michael wiped blood from his mouth.
“I know.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me stand beside Dad while he blamed himself.”
“I know.”
Roman’s fists clenched.
Michael looked up.
“I was a coward.”
Roman laughed bitterly.
“Apparently it runs in the family.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Roman.”
“Stay out of it.”
Michael stood slowly.
“I wanted to come back.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because every time I tried, Victor found someone close to us.”
Roman looked at Gabriel.
“Is that true?”
Gabriel nodded.
Michael continued.
“I agreed to disappear until we had enough evidence.”
“Twenty-four years?”
Michael’s eyes filled.
“I lost track of what I was protecting and what I was hiding from.”
Roman turned away.
Claire watched him.
He looked at her.
“Everyone lied.”
“Yes.”
“Every person I trusted.”
Claire shook her head.
“Not everyone.”
Roman looked at her.
That one sentence steadied him.
Federal agents entered.
Victor arrived under escort.
Gabriel placed the ledger on the table.
Victor looked at Michael.
“You should have died.”
Michael looked at him.
“You first.”
Agents separated them.
Victor confessed.
Not dramatically.
Not nobly.
He confessed because the evidence was complete and his attorneys advised cooperation.
Roman almost found that insulting.
Samuel Bennett’s murder.
Elena Castellano’s death.
Michael’s attempted murder.
Money laundering.
Smuggling.
Bribery.
All of it.
By midnight, Victor Hale was in federal custody.
Gabriel was questioned.
Michael voluntarily surrendered to answer for his role in the shipping crimes.
Roman watched his brother being led away.
Michael looked back.
“Roman.”
Roman said nothing.
Michael continued.
“I’m sorry.”
Roman’s face remained hard.
Then, quietly:
“Tell the truth this time.”
Michael nodded.
He left.
Claire stood beside Roman.
“What happens now?”
Roman looked at the ledger.
“Everything changes.”
He was right.
Within forty-eight hours, Roman resigned as CEO of Castellano Maritime.
The board protested.
Markets reacted.
News outlets camped outside his home.
Investigators raided company offices.
Dominic issued a public statement admitting he had concealed criminal activity and failed to report evidence.
Roman read it alone.
Then Claire called.
“You left something at my shop.”
“What?”
“Your briefcase.”
For the first time in days, Roman smiled.
“I’ll come tomorrow.”
“No security army.”
“I’ll bring only Marco.”
“No.”
Roman laughed.
“Fine.”
The next afternoon, Roman entered Bennett Restoration alone.
Claire stood behind the counter.
The briefcase looked almost exactly as it had before.
Worn.
Scarred.
Old.
But stronger.
Roman ran his hand over the leather.
“You didn’t make it new.”
“You didn’t ask me to.”
He opened it.
Inside, the burgundy lining had been repaired.
The hidden compartment remained.
The photograph of his mother rested inside a protective sleeve.
Roman looked at Claire.
“You put it back.”
“That’s where she wanted you to find it.”
Roman swallowed.
“How much?”
Claire named a modest price.
Roman stared.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“You want me to charge more?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You’re impossible.”
“You came back.”
Roman looked at her.
The air changed.
Before he could answer, the front door opened.
A woman entered carrying flowers.
Claire smiled.
“Mom.”
Roman turned.
Claire’s mother stopped.
She looked at Roman.
Then at the briefcase.
Her face changed.
She whispered:
“Elena’s case.”
Roman froze.
“You knew my mother?”
Claire turned toward her.
“Mom?”
Her mother’s eyes filled.
“There’s something neither of you knows.”
Roman stared.
Claire slowly set down the flowers.
May you like
Her mother looked directly at Roman.
“Your mother came here the night before she died.”
