Chapter 6 - The King Who Walked Away
The old Russo estate sat behind iron gates outside Lake Forest, forty minutes north of Chicago.
Dominic had not visited in twelve years.
His grandfather had bought the property in 1968.
Sebastian inherited it when the older generation died.
The mansion had once been filled with Sunday dinners, children running through hallways, card games, cigar smoke, and arguments loud enough to scare neighbors.
Now it looked like a mausoleum.
Dominic parked near the front steps.
No guards were visible.
Beatrice held the blue ledger on her lap.
“Still time to leave.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You’d leave?”
“No.”
“Then why ask?”
“I wanted to know if you would.”
He almost smiled.
“No.”
“Good.”
They entered.
Sebastian Russo waited in the dining room.
He was eighty-two but still sat straight-backed at the head of a table long enough for twenty people.
Silver hair.
Dark suit.
Cane resting beside his chair.
A glass of red wine in front of him.
“Dominic.”
His voice was warm.
Then he looked at Beatrice.
“Daniel’s little girl.”
Beatrice’s face hardened.
“You knew him.”
“I knew everyone in those days.”
“Did you kill him?”
Sebastian sighed.
No shock.
No denial.
That told Dominic more than words.
“Sit.”
Neither moved.
Sebastian lifted his glass.
“You brought the ledger?”
Beatrice held it tighter.
“Where’s Lucia?”
“Safe.”
“I want proof.”
Sebastian tapped the table.
A tablet screen lit.
Live video showed Lucia sitting in a kitchen drinking coffee.
A man stood near the doorway.
Lucia looked irritated rather than frightened.
Dominic almost felt sorry for the kidnapper.
“Release her,” Beatrice said.
“When I have the ledger.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“You’re admitting all of it?”
Sebastian looked at him.
“I’m admitting that your father left you an empire and no understanding of how it survived.”
“You stole from him.”
“I redirected money.”
“Four-point-two million from widows?”
Sebastian’s expression tightened.
“That was Carlo’s stupidity.”
Dominic froze.
“Carlo.”
Sebastian smiled.
“There. Now you have the name you wanted.”
“Carlo works for you?”
“Worked.”
Beatrice studied Sebastian.
“You’re sacrificing him.”
“Carlo is emotional. Ambitious. Careless.”
“He also saved Dominic’s life.”
Sebastian shrugged.
“Because I told him Dominic was more valuable alive.”
Dominic felt the words like a punch.
That old ambush.
Carlo taking the bullet.
The loyalty Dominic had built years of trust upon.
Arranged?
Sebastian saw his face.
“You think loyalty appears naturally? Loyalty is managed.”
Dominic’s voice was low.
“Daniel discovered you.”
“Yes.”
“You killed him.”
Sebastian looked at Beatrice.
“Your father was given choices.”
“My father’s brakes were cut.”
“He refused every reasonable option.”
Beatrice’s grip tightened on the ledger.
Dominic stepped between them.
“You’re done.”
Sebastian laughed.
“Am I?”
“You admitted murder.”
“To whom? You?”
“I can end you.”
“You’re still thinking like Vittorio.”
Sebastian leaned back.
“Threats. Fear. Blood.”
His smile disappeared.
“I built the systems your father inherited. Shell companies. Judges. inspectors. unions. contracts. Your father thought being respected made him powerful. He never understood that information was power.”
Beatrice spoke.
“Then why steal from your own family?”
“Insurance.”
“For what?”
“The future.”
Sebastian looked at Dominic.
“When Vittorio got sentimental, I prepared alternatives.”
“Sentimental?”
“He wanted to make more businesses legitimate. Reduce narcotics. End extortion arrangements. He became soft.”
Dominic stared.
His father had never told him.
Sebastian continued.
“Then he discovered Daniel was telling the truth. Vittorio threatened to expose everything.”
“So you killed Daniel first.”
“Yes.”
Beatrice went pale.
“And my father?”
Dominic asked.
Sebastian lifted his wine.
“Cancer did what I didn’t need to.”
Dominic lunged.
Beatrice caught his arm.
“Don’t.”
Sebastian smiled.
“Listen to her.”
Dominic’s breathing turned heavy.
He wanted to cross the room.
He wanted to break the old man’s neck.
But that was exactly what Sebastian expected.
Violence.
Evidence gone.
Lucia dead.
Dominic forced himself still.
Beatrice stepped around him.
“You want the ledger?”
“Yes.”
She placed it on the table.
Dominic looked at her.
“Beatrice.”
She ignored him.
Sebastian reached for it.
Beatrice kept one hand on the cover.
“Lucia first.”
Sebastian considered.
Then nodded toward the tablet.
“Release her.”
The man on screen left.
Lucia remained seated.
Beatrice waited.
Her phone rang.
Lucia.
She answered immediately.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Lucia snapped. “These idiots bought instant coffee.”
Beatrice closed her eyes.
Dominic almost laughed despite the situation.
“Go to Mrs. Petrillo’s.”
“I don’t need—”
“Lucia.”
A pause.
“Fine.”
The call ended.
Beatrice released the ledger.
Sebastian opened it.
He smiled.
“Daniel was clever.”
“He was better than you,” Beatrice said.
Sebastian’s smile faded.
“No. He died.”
Beatrice stared at him.
“That’s how you measure people?”
“That is how this world measures everyone.”
“No.”
Dominic spoke behind her.
Sebastian looked at him.
“My father made mistakes.”
“He made many.”
“You made me believe his worst mistake was being weak.”
“It was.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
He reached into his pocket.
Placed his phone on the table.
Sebastian’s eyes flicked toward it.
A red recording icon glowed on the screen.
Sebastian laughed.
“You think I’m afraid of a recording?”
“No.”
Dominic sat opposite him.
“But federal prosecutors might enjoy the part where you admitted arranging Daniel Hayes’s murder.”
“You think I came here without protection?”
“No.”
Dominic smiled.
“I think you came here believing I did.”
Sebastian’s expression changed.
Dominic tapped the table twice.
Doors opened.
Men entered from the kitchen, hallway, and terrace.
Not Russo soldiers.
Chicago police.
Federal agents.
And Eddie Vale.
Sebastian stood so fast his chair fell backward.
“How?”
Beatrice smiled.
“The ledger you demanded?”
Sebastian looked down.
“A copy.”
His face changed.
Beatrice continued.
“The real one left the bank in federal custody four hours ago.”
Sebastian turned toward Dominic.
“You brought police into family business?”
Dominic stood.
“No.”
He looked at Beatrice.
“She did.”
Sebastian’s face twisted.
“You fool. The family will never accept this.”
Dominic walked toward him.
“Maybe the family shouldn’t exist the way you built it.”
For the first time, Sebastian looked frightened.
Then a gunshot exploded from the hallway.
Everyone moved.
An agent fell.
Carlo Moretti appeared behind the doorway with a pistol.
“Dominic!”
Dominic pushed Beatrice down as a second shot shattered a window.
Agents returned fire.
Carlo disappeared into the corridor.
Dominic ran after him.
“Dominic!” Beatrice shouted.
He ignored her.
He found Carlo near the rear staircase.
Carlo aimed.
Dominic stopped.
For several seconds, neither moved.
“You knew,” Dominic said.
Carlo’s hand shook.
“Not everything.”
“You burned Bellandi.”
“Yes.”
“You took Angelo.”
“Sebastian ordered it.”
“You stole the relief money.”
Carlo swallowed.
“That was supposed to disappear for forty-eight hours.”
“Why?”
“To make the captains turn against you.”
Dominic stared.
“You took money from the families of men you stood beside.”
“I was going to put it back.”
“Four-point-two million?”
“I needed leverage.”
Dominic’s expression became disgusted.
“You always talked about loyalty.”
Carlo’s face twisted.
“I gave you everything!”
“You gave me what Sebastian told you to give.”
Carlo’s eyes filled with fury.
“He promised me a seat.”
“And that mattered more than all of us?”
“It mattered more than standing behind you forever.”
Carlo raised the gun.
A voice came from behind Dominic.
“Carlo.”
Beatrice.
Dominic’s blood went cold.
She stood at the end of the hall.
No weapon.
Nothing between her and the gun.
Carlo looked toward her.
That was enough.
Dominic moved.
He slammed Carlo’s wrist against the wall.
The gun fell.
They hit the floor.
Carlo punched him.
Dominic struck back.
Agents rushed in seconds later and dragged them apart.
Carlo was handcuffed.
Dominic stood, blood at the corner of his mouth.
He looked at Beatrice.
“What were you thinking?”
She crossed her arms.
“He was looking at you. I needed him looking somewhere else.”
“He could have shot you.”
“Yes.”
“That was incredibly stupid.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“You chased an armed man alone.”
Dominic opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Eddie walked past.
“You’re both exhausting.”
Agents escorted Sebastian through the dining room.
The old man stopped beside Dominic.
“You think this ends because I’m arrested?”
Dominic looked at him.
“No.”
Sebastian smiled.
“Good.”
Dominic continued.
May you like
“It ends because I’m going to dismantle everything you built.”
The smile vanished.
