Chapter 4 - The Second Betrayal
Marco stared at his father.
Antonio Russo had served the Moretti family for thirty-five years.
He had taught Dominic to shoot.
He had stood beside Dominic’s father at weddings, funerals and wars.
Now he held a gun pointed at Sophia.
Marco raised his own weapon.
“Dad.”
Antonio looked at him.
“Move.”
“No.”
“This doesn’t concern you.”
“You’re pointing a gun at my boss.”
“I’m trying to save him.”
Dominic stepped in front of Sophia.
“Explain.”
Antonio’s expression tightened.
“Your father made a mistake.”
“That seems to be everyone’s favorite sentence tonight.”
“He planned to cooperate with federal investigators.”
“I know.”
“He would have destroyed dozens of families.”
“He wanted me out.”
“He wanted everyone out.”
Antonio looked toward Isabella.
“She knew.”
Dominic turned.
His mother closed her eyes.
“You knew he was planning to dismantle everything?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I supported him.”
Antonio laughed bitterly.
“That’s not the whole truth.”
Dominic looked back.
“Then say it.”
Antonio lowered his weapon slightly.
“Isabella arranged the meeting between your father and the government.”
Dominic stared at her.
She nodded.
“Your father asked me to.”
Antonio continued.
“Salvatore found out. He decided his brother had become dangerous.”
“You helped Salvatore kill him?”
Antonio’s face hardened.
“I opened the door.”
Marco looked sick.
“Dad…”
“I didn’t know he planned murder.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I thought they were going to confront him.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“You opened the door that killed my father.”
Antonio met his eyes.
“Yes.”
Dominic raised his gun.
Marco moved between them.
“Boss.”
Dominic stared at him.
Marco’s voice shook.
“I won’t protect what he did. But give him five minutes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you kill him now, Salvatore wins.”
Dominic looked at Sophia.
She nodded slowly.
“Antonio knows where the original ledger is.”
Antonio looked at her sharply.
Sophia continued.
“That’s why Salvatore kept him alive.”
Dominic lowered his weapon.
“Where?”
Antonio said nothing.
Dominic aimed again.
“Where is it?”
Antonio finally answered.
“Inside your father’s chapel.”
The Moretti private chapel stood two miles from the mansion.
Dominic had not entered it since his father’s funeral.
They drove there together.
Dominic.
Sophia.
Isabella.
Marco.
Antonio.
No one spoke.
Inside, dozens of candles stood unlit.
Dominic approached the marble altar.
“My father hid it here?”
Antonio nodded.
“Behind the Saint Michael statue.”
Marco moved the statue.
A metal box sat inside the wall.
Dominic opened it.
Documents.
A ledger.
A sealed envelope.
His name was written across it.
Dominic.
His father’s handwriting.
He stared at it.
Five years late.
He broke the seal.
Son,
If you are reading this, then I failed to leave cleanly.
Dominic continued.
Every page stripped away another piece of the man he thought his father had been.
Giovanni Moretti admitted everything.
Crimes.
Bribes.
Violence.
Regret.
Then came the paragraph that changed Dominic most.
I built power because I was afraid of being powerless. I taught you to inherit strength when I should have taught you to inherit freedom. If I am gone, do not avenge me by becoming me.
Dominic stopped.
Sophia stood beside him.
He handed her the letter.
She read silently.
Then she reached the final page.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She handed it back.
One final sentence.
Trust Isabella. Trust Sophia. Do not trust Salvatore. And if Antonio Russo ever confesses, listen before you judge.
Dominic looked at Antonio.
“Why would my father write that?”
Antonio removed something from his pocket.
A small key.
“Because he knew I regretted opening the door.”
“What does that open?”
“A bank deposit box.”
“What’s inside?”
“The recording.”
“What recording?”
“The night he died.”
Dominic stared at him.
“You recorded it?”
“Your father did.”
They drove directly to the bank.
Antonio’s key opened a private deposit box under a false name.
Inside was a recorder.
Dominic pressed play.
His father’s voice filled the small room.
“Salvatore, if you came here to threaten me—”
Then Salvatore.
“You’re giving everything away.”
“I’m ending it.”
“You’re weak.”
“No. I’m finally strong enough to admit what this life costs.”
A struggle.
Then another voice.
Antonio.
“Stop.”
Then Salvatore.
“Hold him.”
Antonio shouted, “No.”
Something crashed.
The recording became chaotic.
Then Giovanni’s voice.
“Isabella—get Dominic out.”
A gunshot.
Dominic froze.
Not poison.
A gunshot.
The official story had been completely fabricated.
Salvatore spoke again.
“You’ll tell everyone it was his heart.”
Then silence.
Dominic shut off the recorder.
Marco looked at his father.
“You tried to stop him.”
Antonio nodded.
Too late.
But yes.
Dominic looked at Sophia.
“You had this?”
“No. I only knew it existed.”
“How?”
“Your father told me before he died.”
Dominic stared.
“You spoke to my father?”
“He contacted me two weeks before his death.”
“Why?”
Sophia looked toward the chapel windows.
“Because he knew I was pregnant.”
Dominic went still.
“He knew about Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Before I did?”
Sophia nodded.
“He wanted to protect her.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Everyone protected my daughter except me.”
“You didn’t know.”
“Because no one told me.”
Sophia’s eyes filled.
“I wanted to.”
“Then why didn’t you trust me?”
“Because you were still loyal to Salvatore.”
Dominic started to deny it.
Then stopped.
She was right.
Four years ago he had trusted his uncle completely.
“If I had told you,” Sophia said, “you would have confronted him.”
“Yes.”
“And he would have killed you.”
Dominic looked away.
Sophia moved closer.
“I chose the only option I had.”
“You chose for me.”
“Yes.”
Her voice broke.
“And I have hated myself for it every day.”
Dominic looked at her.
For the first time he saw what four years had done.
Not just to him.
To her.
“How did Lily end up at the mansion tonight?”
Sophia frowned.
“I sent Teresa.”
“She never reached the staircase.”
“What?”
“Lily said Isabella brought her.”
Isabella shook her head.
“I found Lily there after Dominic.”
Sophia’s face changed.
“Then who brought her inside?”
Everyone went silent.
Dominic looked at the security footage on Marco’s phone.
They replayed the first camera feed from the ballroom entrance.
A woman wearing a maid’s uniform entered with Lily.
Her face was hidden.
Sophia leaned closer.
Then she whispered, “No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You know her?”
Sophia nodded slowly.
“She worked for Salvatore.”
“Who?”
Sophia’s voice dropped.
“Her name is Elena Voss.”
Antonio looked terrified.
“That’s impossible.”
Dominic turned.
“Why?”
Antonio stared at the screen.
“Because Elena Voss died three years ago.”
The chapel doors slammed shut.
A woman’s voice came through the darkness.
“Antonio was told I died.”
May you like
Footsteps approached.
“But Antonio was wrong.”
