Chapter 5 - The Dead Man at the Bottom of the Stairs
Victor did not move.
Carlo Russo looked older than the man Victor remembered burying.
Thinner.
Gray beard.
A scar near his left temple.
But the eyes were the same.
Cold.
Calculating.
Certain that every room belonged to him.
Victor’s voice came out almost emotionless.
“You’re dead.”
Carlo smiled.
“So people tell me.”
Elena stared between them.
Rachel lowered the gun slightly.
“Elena, stay upstairs.”
“Mom, what is happening?”
Rachel looked close to tears.
“I tried to keep you away from this.”
“You arranged for me to work at Victor’s house.”
“I needed the records found.”
“You used me.”
“No.”
“You sent me there knowing people had killed over them.”
“I believed Carlo was dead.”
Carlo chuckled.
“A common mistake.”
Victor descended one step.
Dante caught his shoulder.
“Don’t.”
Victor shook him off.
Carlo watched with amusement.
“My son still needs someone to stop him from making emotional decisions.”
Victor continued down.
“You drugged my mother.”
The amusement disappeared.
“So you found the tapes.”
“Did you kill her?”
Carlo looked toward Rachel.
“Is that what she told you?”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“I asked you.”
Carlo sighed.
“Emilia was going to destroy everything.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“She had become sentimental.”
Victor descended another step.
“Did you change her medication?”
Carlo smiled faintly.
“No.”
Victor stopped.
Rachel whispered, “He’s telling the truth.”
Everyone looked at her.
Elena stared.
“Mom?”
Rachel’s hand shook.
“Carlo didn’t change the pills.”
“Who did?”
Rachel looked at Dante.
Dante went pale.
“No.”
Carlo’s smile returned.
Rachel whispered, “Matteo.”
Dante stared at her.
“My father?”
“He didn’t know what they would do.”
“What does that mean?”
Rachel lowered the gun completely.
“Carlo told Matteo the replacement pills would make Emilia sick long enough to delay her meeting with attorneys.”
Victor’s face became stone.
“Matteo agreed?”
“He was twenty-four. Afraid. In debt to Carlo.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“When Emilia collapsed, Matteo realized the dosage was wrong.”
Carlo interrupted.
“Or perhaps he simply wanted my wife gone.”
Rachel turned toward him.
“You knew exactly what you gave him.”
Carlo smiled.
Victor reached the bottom stair.
“Then you killed her.”
Carlo looked at his son.
“I protected the family.”
Victor’s expression didn’t change.
But Elena saw his hand close into a fist.
Carlo continued.
“Your mother planned to hand records to federal investigators. She would have destroyed your future.”
“She was trying to save me from becoming you.”
The words landed harder than shouting.
Carlo’s eyes hardened.
“You always were ungrateful.”
Victor stepped closer.
Dante descended behind him.
“What does Elena have to do with any of this?”
Carlo looked toward her.
“The trust.”
Elena held the document against her chest.
Carlo nodded.
“Emilia changed the beneficiary before she died.”
“Why my mother?”
Rachel answered.
“Because she trusted me.”
Carlo laughed.
“She trusted a maid.”
Victor’s eyes flashed.
“So do I.”
Everyone looked at him.
Even Elena.
Victor didn’t take the words back.
Carlo studied his son carefully.
Then smiled.
“Ah.”
Victor hated that smile.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The weakness.”
Elena’s heart pounded.
Carlo looked at her.
“You.”
Victor stepped between them.
“Careful.”
Carlo laughed.
“For six years, Victor refused every woman the family introduced. I wondered what kind of woman would finally get through.”
He looked Elena up and down.
“A maid asleep in his bed.”
Elena’s skin went cold.
“How do you know that?”
Carlo did not answer.
Victor understood first.
“You were inside the mansion.”
“No.”
“You had someone inside.”
Carlo smiled.
Victor turned toward Dante.
Not accusation.
Calculation.
Dante raised his hands.
“It wasn’t me.”
Rachel whispered, “Carlo has people everywhere.”
Victor thought of security.
Servants.
Drivers.
Mrs. Bell.
Then one face emerged.
His security chief.
Marcus Vale.
Marcus had served Victor for nine years.
He controlled the cameras.
The gates.
The emergency channels.
Victor reached for his phone.
No signal.
Carlo smiled.
“Still predictable.”
Victor put it away.
“What do you want?”
“The trust returned.”
“To you?”
“To the Russo family.”
“Which means you.”
Carlo nodded.
“Elena signs the transfer. Rachel confirms it. Everyone goes home.”
“And if she refuses?”
Carlo looked at Elena.
Victor stepped forward.
Carlo raised one hand.
“Relax. I’m not stupid enough to threaten a woman while you’re staring at me.”
“No. You prefer medication.”
Carlo’s face hardened.
Victor continued.
“You killed my mother because she refused to sign.”
“I prevented one woman from destroying generations of work.”
Elena descended the stairs.
Victor turned.
“I told you to stay.”
“No, my mother did.”
“Elena.”
She stopped beside him.
For the first time, she looked directly at Carlo.
“You spent twenty-five years hiding because of a trust?”
Carlo’s jaw tightened.
“I was not hiding.”
“You faked your death.”
“Strategic withdrawal.”
Dante laughed.
Carlo glared at him.
Elena continued.
“You murdered a woman. Threatened my mother. Let everyone think you were dead. Then returned because legally you don’t own as much as you pretend.”
Victor almost smiled.
Carlo did not.
“You have a sharp mouth.”
“So I’m told.”
“Elena,” Victor murmured.
“What?”
“That was the part where you stop.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I would like you to remain alive.”
Despite everything, she smiled briefly.
Carlo noticed.
His expression changed.
Victor saw it.
Something in Carlo had decided Elena mattered.
That made her dangerous.
Victor’s hand found hers.
Not romantic.
Instinctive.
Protective.
Carlo watched their joined hands.
“You’re making the same mistake your mother made.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“Loving someone?”
The word hung between them.
Elena looked at him.
Victor looked at her.
For perhaps the first time in his life, Victor Russo had spoken before calculating the consequences.
Carlo smiled slowly.
“Yes.”
Victor didn’t release Elena’s hand.
“Then I’ll make it.”
Rachel stared at them.
Dante’s expression softened.
Carlo looked almost disappointed.
“You were supposed to be stronger.”
Victor stepped forward.
“No. I was supposed to become you.”
Silence.
“I didn’t.”
Carlo’s jaw tightened.
Then the lights went out.
Elena gasped.
Victor pulled her against him.
A shot cracked through the house.
Glass shattered.
Dante shouted.
“Down!”
Victor dragged Elena behind the staircase.
Rachel screamed.
Another shot.
Victor reached for Elena’s face in the darkness.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
He touched her shoulders.
No blood.
A flashlight flickered near the doorway.
Marcus Vale appeared.
Victor went still.
His security chief held a gun.
Carlo smiled.
“I told you.”
Victor stared at Marcus.
“You betrayed me.”
Marcus’s expression remained flat.
“I worked for your father before I worked for you.”
Dante whispered, “Victor.”
He had moved behind a column.
Carlo gestured toward Elena.
“Bring her.”
Marcus approached.
Victor placed himself in front of her.
Marcus aimed at him.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Victor.”
“No.”
Carlo sighed.
“This is why attachment is inconvenient.”
Elena gripped Victor’s arm.
“Don’t.”
He didn’t look at her.
Marcus stepped closer.
Then Rachel raised her gun.
Everything happened at once.
A shot.
Marcus stumbled.
Dante lunged.
Victor pulled Elena toward the kitchen.
Carlo shouted.
Rachel screamed Elena’s name.
They reached the back corridor.
Victor shoved open the door.
Cold air rushed in.
“Run.”
Elena stopped.
“My mother!”
“Dante has her.”
“You don’t know that!”
“I know Dante.”
“He lied to you!”
“So has everyone.”
Victor grabbed her shoulders.
“Elena, listen to me. If Carlo gets your signature, everyone who died protecting this trust died for nothing.”
She stared at him.
“And if he kills you?”
Victor’s face softened.
“Then don’t let him.”
A car engine roared nearby.
Headlights appeared.
Victor pushed Elena behind a stone wall.
The vehicle stopped.
Lucia jumped out.
Mrs. Bell beside her.
Victor stared.
“I told you both to stay home.”
Lucia opened the back door.
“You’ve never been particularly persuasive.”
Elena almost laughed.
Then another shot came from the house.
Victor turned.
Dante emerged supporting Rachel.
Blood covered Dante’s shoulder.
Elena ran toward her mother.
“Mom!”
Rachel grabbed her.
“I’m okay.”
Carlo appeared in the doorway behind them.
Marcus beside him.
Alive.
Wounded.
Carlo raised his gun.
Victor pushed Elena down.
A shot rang out.
Then another.
Silence.
Elena lifted her head.
Victor was still standing.
Carlo wasn’t.
He had disappeared back inside.
Victor shouted, “Move!”
Everyone piled into Lucia’s SUV.
Victor drove.
No one spoke until the old house disappeared behind them.
Dante pressed a towel against his shoulder.
Rachel sat beside Elena.
Victor’s hands gripped the steering wheel.
Then his phone regained signal.
Dozens of alerts appeared.
One message stood above the rest.
From Carlo.
A video.
Victor opened it.
The screen showed the Russo mansion.
Live.
Inside the front hall stood Mrs. Bell’s assistant, several guards, and members of Victor’s staff.
All restrained.
Carlo’s voice played over the image.
“You have until noon. Bring Elena and the trust documents to me.”
Victor’s eyes darkened.
Then the camera turned.
A chair came into view.
Someone sat in it.
Lucia gasped.
Dante stopped breathing.
Victor slammed on the brakes.
The person tied to the chair lifted his head.
It was a man Victor had believed dead for three years.
May you like
Matteo Russo opened his eyes.
And looked directly into the camera.
