Chapter 12 - A Betrayal at the Family Table
Daniel moved Clara and Ethan to an old Castellano property in the mountains.
That choice turned out to be his first serious mistake.
Dominic recognized the location from one blurry security image.
His father had owned the lodge decades earlier.
Salvatore knew every room.
So did Dominic.
While federal agents prepared a raid, Dominic refused to wait.
Rebecca Sloan blocked his path.
“You go in early, you risk everyone.”
“My uncle knows that property. There are tunnels.”
“We’re mapping them.”
“He’ll use them before you finish.”
“You are not law enforcement.”
“No.”
“You are also potentially implicated in what we’re investigating.”
“Arrest me later.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“You’re serious.”
“Completely.”
Matteo stepped beside Dominic.
“I know the tunnels too.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“You two are impossible.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Clara spent the night tied to a chair beside Ethan.
Salvatore sat across from them at a long dining table eating steak.
It was bizarre.
A family meal staged by a monster.
Daniel poured wine.
“You know,” Salvatore told Clara, “your father sat exactly where you’re sitting.”
Her blood chilled.
“Here?”
“Eight years ago.”
“You brought him here.”
“I invited him.”
“You killed him.”
“Later.”
Ethan stared at him with hatred.
Salvatore continued cutting his steak.
“Thomas could have been wealthy.”
“He preferred being decent,” Clara said.
“Decency is what poor people call lack of imagination.”
Clara laughed.
Salvatore stopped chewing.
“You think that’s funny?”
“I think you spent your whole life collecting money and somehow became smaller every year.”
Daniel slammed his glass down.
“Watch your mouth.”
Salvatore raised a hand.
“No. Let her talk.”
Clara looked directly at him.
“Dominic is more powerful than you because people love him.”
Salvatore laughed.
“Love makes men weak.”
“Then why are you hiding from him?”
Silence.
Ethan smiled.
Salvatore’s face darkened.
Clara knew she had struck something.
“Dominic has spent his whole life believing you built him,” she continued. “But you’re terrified he’ll discover he became better despite you.”
Salvatore stood.
For the first time, the calm facade disappeared.
He crossed the table and grabbed Clara’s chin.
“You know nothing about him.”
“I know he would die for his children.”
“So would any fool.”
“And he would risk prison to expose you.”
That stopped him.
Daniel looked sharply at Clara.
“What?”
She smiled.
“You think the evidence only exists on one drive?”
Salvatore turned toward Daniel.
“What is she talking about?”
Clara had no idea whether the federal transmission was complete.
But fear worked both ways.
“Dominic sent everything.”
Daniel stood.
“You’re lying.”
“Check.”
He left immediately.
Salvatore stared at her.
“You’re clever.”
“My father was clever.”
“And dead.”
Clara’s smile disappeared.
Salvatore leaned close.
“You should remember that.”
Elsewhere in the lodge, Mrs. Alvarez sat under guard.
She had been brought along because Daniel no longer trusted her.
She heard Clara’s voice through the vents.
Her guilt became unbearable.
For two years she had watched Gabriel stop speaking.
Mia wake screaming.
Dominic become colder.
She had told herself she had not caused Sofia’s death.
She had only passed along information.
But betrayal did not become innocent because someone else pulled the trigger.
When a guard left for coffee, Mrs. Alvarez used a hairpin to open the old pantry lock.
She knew the lodge.
She had worked there when Dominic was a boy.
She moved quietly through the service corridor.
Ten minutes later, she entered the room where Clara and Ethan were held.
Clara stared.
“Why are you here?”
“To get you out.”
Ethan looked skeptical.
“Convenient.”
Mrs. Alvarez flinched.
“I deserve that.”
She cut their restraints.
“The west tunnel reaches the woods.”
“What about Salvatore?”
“Daniel just discovered federal agents are moving.”
Clara stood.
“Dominic?”
“I don’t know.”
They moved through the passage.
Halfway down, footsteps echoed.
Daniel appeared behind them.
“You stupid woman.”
Mrs. Alvarez pushed Clara forward.
“Run.”
Daniel raised a weapon.
Mrs. Alvarez stepped in front of him.
“Enough.”
Clara stopped.
“Come with us!”
Mrs. Alvarez looked at her.
“Tell Gabriel I’m sorry.”
Daniel struck her aside.
Clara screamed.
Ethan pulled her into the tunnel.
They ran.
Behind them came shouting.
Then an alarm.
Ahead, the exit opened toward snow-covered woods.
Clara and Ethan emerged into freezing darkness.
And found Dominic standing there.
For one second, nobody moved.
Clara’s face crumpled.
Dominic crossed the distance and caught her.
She collided against him.
“You came.”
“Always.”
Ethan stumbled out behind her.
Matteo grabbed him.
“Easy.”
Clara pulled back.
“Mrs. Alvarez is inside.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“She helped us.”
Federal agents surrounded the lodge.
Daniel was arrested trying to escape through the south tunnel.
Mrs. Alvarez survived.
Salvatore did not emerge.
They searched every room.
Every tunnel.
Nothing.
He had escaped again.
The next morning, Dominic returned Clara to the estate.
Mia ran into her arms.
Gabriel followed.
Clara knelt and held both children.
Dominic watched.
For a brief moment, it felt like victory.
Then Matteo’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He looked at Dominic.
“Salvatore just emptied three accounts.”
“How much?”
“Forty-eight million.”
“That’s not running money.”
“No.”
Matteo looked toward the children.
“It’s war money.”
Dominic understood immediately.
Salvatore was not leaving.
He was preparing one final attack.
May you like
And this time, he would not try to frighten Dominic.
He would destroy everything Dominic loved.
