Chapter 5 - The Brother Behind the Door
We reached the Moretti mansion in eleven minutes.
It should have taken twenty.
Dominic said nothing during the drive.
Neither did I.
Fear had become too large for words.
The front gate stood open.
One guard was unconscious beside the security booth.
Inside the mansion, emergency lights glowed.
“Lily!”
I ran toward the stairs.
Dominic caught me.
“Wait.”
“My daughter is in there.”
“So is my son.”
“I’m going.”
“So am I.”
We moved together.
Anthony and four armed men spread through the ground floor.
Dominic led me toward the safe room.
The steel door was open.
Empty.
My knees weakened.
On the floor lay Lily’s stuffed rabbit.
I picked it up.
Dominic found Leo’s small blue bubble wand beside it.
For one terrible second we simply stood there holding objects that belonged to our children.
Then a sound came from downstairs.
Music.
A piano.
Someone was playing three slow notes over and over.
Dominic’s face changed.
“Sofia.”
“What?”
“She used to play that for Leo.”
The music came from the old ballroom.
We went down.
The doors were closed.
Dominic raised his weapon.
“Marco!”
The piano stopped.
Then Leo shouted.
“Dad!”
Dominic pushed open the doors.
Marco stood at the far side of the ballroom.
Leo and Lily sat on a sofa behind him.
Neither appeared hurt.
Lily saw me.
“Mommy!”
I started forward.
Marco raised a gun.
“Stay.”
I stopped.
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“Let them go.”
Marco smiled.
“You always did skip the polite conversation.”
“You took my son.”
“I brought him somewhere safe.”
“You pointed a gun at his mother’s friend.”
“I’m pointing it at you.”
Lily frowned.
“Guns are bad.”
Every adult froze.
Marco glanced at her.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“Then put it down.”
A strange silence followed.
Even Marco looked momentarily uncertain.
Dominic said, “Listen to her.”
Marco smiled again.
“Cute.”
Leo moved closer to Lily.
Marco’s eyes flicked toward him.
That was when I realized something.
Leo was not afraid.
Not the way he had been in the kitchen.
He was watching Marco.
Carefully.
“Dad,” he said.
Dominic never took his eyes off his brother.
“Yes?”
“Uncle Marco has Mommy’s phone.”
Marco’s smile vanished.
Dominic’s voice became deadly calm.
“Does he?”
Leo pointed toward a table.
A black phone rested there.
Old.
Cracked.
Evan had mentioned Sofia’s recording.
My heart accelerated.
Marco stepped sideways.
“Leo.”
The boy stared at him.
“You said not to tell.”
Dominic took one step closer.
“You’ve been talking to him about Sofia for months.”
Marco sighed.
“I tried to help.”
“You poisoned him.”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
“You told a child his mother died because of him.”
“I told him the truth.”
Dominic’s weapon rose slightly.
“The truth is that you tried to kill me.”
Marco’s face hardened.
At last, the charm disappeared.
“You don’t know that.”
“Sofia did.”
“Sofia suspected everything.”
“She recorded you.”
For the first time, real fear crossed Marco’s face.
Then he laughed.
“If she had a recording, you’d have heard it by now.”
Dominic looked toward the phone.
Marco followed his gaze.
That tiny movement confirmed everything.
The recording existed.
“Claire,” Lily called softly.
Not Mommy.
Claire.
The name sounded strange coming from her.
Then I realized she was looking past me.
At Evan.
He had entered through the side doors.
Marco spun.
Evan raised his hands.
“No gun.”
Marco’s face twisted.
“You.”
“Been a while.”
“You should be dead.”
“So should Sofia.”
Dominic stared at his brother.
There it was.
Not proof for court.
But enough for a man who knew Marco.
Marco realized his mistake.
His expression changed.
“Dominic—”
“You knew.”
“I knew nothing.”
“You just said Evan should be dead.”
“He disappeared.”
“And Sofia?”
Marco’s grip tightened on the gun.
“I loved Sofia.”
“No.”
Dominic took another step.
“You wanted what I had.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“You always had everything.”
“This is about jealousy?”
“This is about Father choosing you before either of us understood what choice meant.”
“You tried to kill me because he gave me the businesses?”
“He gave you a kingdom.”
“He gave me a mess.”
“And I got scraps.”
Dominic’s eyes were cold.
“So you sold information to Cavalli.”
Marco’s silence answered.
“You gave them my route.”
Nothing.
“You arranged the car.”
Marco finally spoke.
“You weren’t supposed to change plans.”
Dominic looked as if someone had struck him.
There it was.
A confession.
Not complete.
But real.
Leo heard it too.
“Uncle Marco?”
Marco turned.
The boy looked confused.
“You made Mommy’s car crash?”
Marco’s face collapsed for half a second.
“Leo, no.”
“You did.”
“No.”
Lily took Leo’s hand.
Marco looked toward them.
Something in him broke.
He lowered the gun slightly.
That was enough.
Anthony moved from the side entrance.
Marco fired.
Dominic tackled me behind a table.
Glass shattered.
Men shouted.
I heard Lily scream.
Then silence.
When I looked up, Marco was on the floor.
Anthony had shot him in the shoulder.
Alive.
Disarmed.
Dominic ran to Leo.
I ran to Lily.
She threw herself into my arms.
“I told him guns were bad.”
“I know.”
“He didn’t listen.”
“I know.”
Leo buried his face against Dominic.
For several seconds, Dominic simply held him.
Then Leo whispered, “Was Mommy sad?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“No.”
“Was it my fault?”
Dominic pulled back.
“Never.”
“Uncle Marco said—”
“Uncle Marco lied.”
Leo’s face crumpled.
Dominic held him tighter.
“You were the reason I stayed home that night.”
Leo looked up.
“What?”
“You had a fever. I stayed because you needed me.”
“And Mommy?”
“She took my car.”
Leo began crying.
Dominic’s voice broke.
“What happened to her was not because of you. You saved my life without even knowing it.”
The boy clung to him.
I looked away.
Some moments did not belong to witnesses.
Evan picked up Sofia’s phone.
“It’s password locked.”
Dominic looked at Leo.
“Did your mother ever have a favorite number?”
Leo sniffed.
“My birthday.”
Evan entered it.
Wrong.
“Dominic?”
“Our anniversary.”
Wrong.
I looked toward the soap bubbles still clinging faintly to Lily’s yellow dress.
Then I remembered the cracked picture frame.
“Try Leo’s birthday backward.”
Evan did.
The phone unlocked.
Several files appeared.
One was labeled M.
Evan pressed play.
Sofia’s voice filled the ballroom.
“I’m recording this because you keep denying it.”
Then Marco’s younger voice:
“You’re paranoid.”
“You asked about Dominic’s airport route.”
“I’m his brother.”
“You met Cavalli twice.”
Silence.
Then Marco:
“You should stop digging.”
Sofia:
“Is that a threat?”
Marco laughed.
“A warning.”
“Dominic will know.”
“No. Dominic will be dead by Friday.”
The recording ended.
No one moved.
Marco closed his eyes.
Dominic looked toward Anthony.
“Call the police.”
Marco’s eyes snapped open.
“The police?”
“Yes.”
“You’re handing me over?”
“You murdered my wife.”
“You’re Dominic Moretti.”
“I’m Leo’s father.”
Marco stared.
Dominic turned away.
That choice changed something.
In him.
Maybe in all of us.
Hours later, after statements and ambulances and officers filled the property, Leo and Lily finally fell asleep together on a couch.
Evan sat across from me.
“We need to talk.”
“We do.”
“I can’t ask you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
He swallowed.
“But there’s something else.”
Dominic looked over.
Evan took a small key from around his neck.
“Sofia’s original ledger wasn’t at the warehouse.”
Dominic frowned.
“You lied.”
“I had to know whether Marco was listening.”
“Where is it?”
Evan looked toward me.
“Claire has had it for four years.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He pointed at Lily’s stuffed rabbit.
The same rabbit Evan had mailed anonymously shortly after Lily was born.
My stomach dropped.
I picked it up.
There was a stitched seam beneath one ear.
Evan cut it carefully.
A tiny memory drive slid into his palm.
Dominic’s face hardened.
“You hid evidence in a baby’s toy?”
“It was the only thing Marco would never think to search.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead I whispered, “You put my daughter in danger without telling me.”
Evan’s face filled with regret.
“Yes.”
I stood.
“Get away from me.”
“Claire.”
“Now.”
He left.
Dominic remained.
Neither of us spoke for a long time.
Then he said, “You were right.”
“About what?”
“Men deciding for you.”
I looked at him.
He understood.
More than I wanted him to.
Anthony entered with a laptop.
“We opened the drive.”
Dominic stood.
“What’s on it?”
“Accounts. Payments. Names.”
“And?”
Anthony looked uncomfortable.
“One payment stands out.”
He turned the screen around.
The transaction was dated three months after Sofia’s death.
Recipient:
EVAN BENNETT.
Amount:
$750,000.
My heart stopped.
Evan had just told us he risked everything to expose Marco.
But Marco’s secret account had paid my husband three quarters of a million dollars.
Then Anthony clicked another file.
A photograph appeared.
May you like
Evan shaking Marco’s hand.
And written beneath it was the date Evan disappeared...
