Chapter 5 - The Dead Man In The Mansion
Cassian replayed the video three times.
His father remained alive every time.
Vittorio Raldi.
A man whose funeral had once shut down half of Chicago's organized underworld.
A man Cassian had mourned.
A man whose death had forced him into leadership before he was ready.
Alive.
Standing in our home.
My mother squeezed my hand.
Dominic leaned against the wall.
"Now you understand."
Cassian turned toward him.
"No. I understand nothing."
Neither did I.
Why would a father fake his death?
Why would Marco help him?
Why reveal himself now?
Cassian drove us back to the mansion.
When we arrived, Vittorio was waiting in the dining room.
The same room where my nausea had exposed everything.
Marco stood near the wall.
Cassian entered first.
I stayed beside him.
Vittorio's gaze moved to me.
Then to my stomach.
"So it's true."
Cassian stepped between us.
"Don't look at her."
Vittorio's eyebrows rose.
"You've changed."
"You've been dead for five years."
"Apparently so."
Cassian crossed the room and punched him.
Nobody intervened.
Vittorio stumbled backward.
Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He wiped it calmly.
"I deserved that."
"You deserve more."
"Probably."
Cassian's voice cracked.
"I buried you."
"I know."
"You let me bury you."
"Yes."
"You let me run this family believing both my parents were dead."
Vittorio looked older suddenly.
"I thought it would keep you alive."
Cassian laughed bitterly.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
The explanation took hours.
Vittorio had discovered evidence connecting Renato to Alessandra's death.
He confronted him privately.
Renato had already gained enough allies that removing him directly might have caused a civil war.
So Vittorio staged his own death.
He created a hidden network to collect evidence.
Marco became his inside man.
The fake infertility diagnosis complicated everything.
Vittorio hadn't ordered it.
But when he learned what Renato had done, he made a terrible choice.
He allowed Cassian to continue believing it.
Cassian stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because a child would become a target."
I felt sick.
Vittorio looked at me.
"The Raldi succession isn't symbolic. Whoever becomes Cassian's legal heir eventually inherits controlling interests in assets worth hundreds of millions. Renato wanted Dominic next in line."
Dominic shook his head.
"I never wanted it."
"I know."
Vittorio continued.
"If Cassian had a child, Renato would have had another person to remove."
"So you let your son believe he could never have one," I said.
Vittorio met my eyes.
"Yes."
I hated him for that.
Cassian stood.
"Get out."
"Son—"
"Don't call me that."
"Cassian, Renato knows Celia is pregnant."
"I said get out."
Vittorio didn't move.
"He has already contacted one of her doctors."
Cassian froze.
"What?"
Vittorio placed a folder on the table.
Dr. Elias Moretti.
The physician who had confirmed my pregnancy.
Payments.
Phone records.
Meetings with Renato.
My blood went cold.
Cassian immediately called the doctor.
Disconnected.
We contacted the clinic.
He had left.
My prenatal records had been accessed.
Including the estimated due date.
Blood type.
Ultrasounds.
Everything.
Cassian turned the mansion into a fortress.
Nobody came or went without clearance.
And for the first time, Vittorio's return became secondary.
The baby was now the priority.
A week later, I underwent chorionic testing for medical reasons unrelated to paternity, and with my consent, the laboratory also confirmed what I already knew.
Cassian was the father.
99.99 percent.
He stared at the result for a long time.
Then he walked into our bedroom.
I was sitting near the window.
He handed me the paper.
"I knew."
"I didn't."
I looked up sharply.
He immediately corrected himself.
"I believed you. But there's a difference between believing and knowing."
I nodded.
Fair.
He sat beside me.
"It's mine."
"Ours."
His eyes moved to mine.
"Ours."
Then, unexpectedly, Cassian started crying.
Quietly.
No dramatic collapse.
Just tears he seemed angry at himself for having.
I put my hand over his.
"I thought this was never going to happen."
"I know."
"I spent eight years teaching myself not to want it."
"I know."
He looked at my stomach.
"And now I'm terrified."
"So am I."
"What if I become him?"
"Your father?"
He nodded.
I thought of Vittorio sacrificing his son's happiness in the name of protection.
"You already asked yourself that question," I said. "That gives you an advantage."
Cassian laughed weakly.
"That's terrible logic."
"It's all I have."
He leaned his forehead against mine.
For the first time, I said the thing I'd been avoiding.
"I don't want this marriage to end after three years."
Cassian went still.
Neither of us had spoken about love.
Contracts were easier.
Debt was easier.
Even criminal conspiracies sometimes felt easier.
He looked at me.
"Neither do I."
I smiled.
Then he kissed me.
Not because the contract allowed it.
Because there was no contract in that moment.
For several weeks, we almost believed we might be safe.
Renato disappeared.
His companies began collapsing as Vittorio and Dominic released evidence through legitimate attorneys and federal investigators.
Cassian refused to bury the crimes internally.
That shocked the family.
He wanted Renato prosecuted.
Not executed.
"I want our child born into something different," he told me.
He began separating legitimate Raldi businesses from everything illegal.
It was slow.
Dangerous.
But real.
Vittorio remained at a distance.
Cassian wasn't ready to forgive him.
I didn't push.
Then Renato made his final move.
I was twenty-three weeks pregnant when my mother's nursing facility called.
This time nobody was missing.
A package had arrived addressed to me.
Inside was my father's old accounting notebook.
And a key.
The same type of antique key that had been hidden behind Alessandra's photograph.
Cassian examined it.
"Two keys."
"To what?"
Vittorio answered from the doorway.
"A vault."
Cassian glared at him.
"What vault?"
"Your mother created it."
"Where?"
Vittorio hesitated.
"Under St. Dominic's Hospital."
The same hospital where Cassian had received his false diagnosis.
We went after midnight.
The vault wasn't literally beneath the hospital.
It was inside an old records annex connected by an underground service corridor.
Alessandra had rented a private archival locker under Marta's name.
Two keys were required.
One from her photograph.
One hidden by my father.
Inside were records capable of destroying Renato.
Original payments.
Audio tapes.
Medical records.
And a letter from Alessandra to Cassian.
He opened it alone.
When he returned, his eyes were red.
"What did she say?" I asked.
"That if I ever had a child, I should never teach them fear as inheritance."
I squeezed his hand.
Then an alarm sounded.
Cassian looked up.
The corridor lights turned red.
Marco grabbed his weapon.
Smoke poured beneath the door.
"Fire."
The lock wouldn't open.
Someone had sealed us inside.
Cassian pulled me back.
Vittorio searched for another exit.
Then a speaker crackled overhead.
Renato's voice filled the vault.
"Cassian."
Everyone froze.
"You found your mother's secrets."
Cassian looked toward the ceiling.
Renato laughed softly.
"But you're still missing the one secret that matters."
May you like
A metal door at the back of the vault began sliding open.
And someone walked through it carrying a photograph of my unborn baby.
