Chapter 3 - Arthur Hayes’s Last Rule
Saint Michael’s Cemetery looked different at night.
Dominic had attended enough funerals there to know every main road, every stone chapel, every iron gate.
But rain changed the place.
So did secrets.
Paulie drove slowly through rows of black trees and pale monuments while Vincent watched the rear window.
Noah slept beside Riley in the back seat.
His head rested against her shoulder.
Dominic sat opposite them.
Nobody spoke about the message.
Not yet.
They reached Arthur Hayes’s grave shortly after midnight.
Riley woke Noah.
Dominic stepped out first.
Paulie followed.
Vincent opened an umbrella over Riley and the boy.
Arthur’s grave sat beneath an old maple tree.
The stone was simple.
ARTHUR JAMES HAYES.
BELOVED FATHER.
BELOVED NEIGHBOR.
Dominic read the dates.
Riley crouched.
She ran her fingers across the name.
“Dad hated cemeteries,” she said.
Paulie looked around.
“Interesting place to hide something.”
“He said nobody searches a grave unless they already know what they’re looking for.”
Dominic remembered something else his father once said about Arthur.
The butcher never hid a secret where a thief would look.
Riley walked behind the stone.
She counted seven paces.
Then turned toward a smaller marker.
MARY HAYES.
Her mother.
Riley knelt between the graves.
“There.”
Dominic saw a small brass plate beneath the wet grass.
Vincent helped lift it.
Beneath was a waterproof tube.
Riley removed it.
Inside were two envelopes.
One had Dominic’s name.
The other had Riley’s.
Dominic’s pulse changed.
Arthur had written his name before his death.
Five years earlier.
Riley opened hers first.
The letter was short.
Her eyes moved quickly.
Then stopped.
“What?”
She handed it to Dominic.
He read.
Arthur told Riley that if she had reached the cemetery with a Castelli, then an old agreement had failed.
He instructed her to trust evidence before people.
He told her not to let anger decide what happened next.
And he wrote one sentence twice.
The son is not the father.
Dominic stared at it.
Riley looked at the envelope with his name.
“Open yours.”
He did.
The first line made him feel sixteen again.
Dominic—
If you are reading this, Salvatore is either dead or no longer able to protect you from the mistakes he made.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
He continued.
Arthur described a winter night twenty-two years earlier.
Dominic remembered that winter.
He remembered almost none of the night.
According to Arthur, Salvatore Castelli had discovered that several members of his own crew were planning to kidnap Dominic to force control of family operations.
Arthur learned about it first.
He moved teenage Dominic out of the city for forty-eight hours.
Salvatore responded by eliminating the rebellion.
Afterward, Salvatore signed the neighborhood agreement as payment.
Dominic lowered the letter.
“You saved me,” he whispered toward the grave.
Riley’s eyes widened.
Arthur’s letter continued.
Salvatore later began fearing his own organization.
He believed the Castelli family would eventually be destroyed not by enemies, but by men inside it who confused greed with loyalty.
Arthur named three people to watch.
Two were dead.
The third was Tony Valente.
Paulie swore.
Vincent stared at Dominic.
Riley took the letter.
She read the final paragraph aloud.
“Tony knows about the agreements. He also knows Salvatore intended Dominic to move the family away from collections and toward legitimate businesses. If Tony is still close to Dominic when this letter is opened, assume he has prevented that transition for his own benefit.”
Nobody moved.
Dominic looked at Paulie.
“You knew my father wanted out?”
“No.”
“Vincent?”
“No.”
Riley finished.
“Arthur wrote that Tony’s greatest weapon would be making Dominic believe cruelty was necessary to preserve respect.”
Dominic turned away.
The rain struck his face.
For years Tony had been the loudest voice telling Dominic he was becoming soft.
Every legitimate investment Dominic proposed had been mocked.
Every reduction in street collections had created a sudden emergency that supposedly required money.
Every peaceful agreement had somehow collapsed.
Dominic felt something cold forming inside him.
Not rage.
Clarity.
Paulie broke the silence.
“If Tony knew this existed, he’s coming.”
Vincent pointed toward the entrance.
Headlights appeared.
Three vehicles.
Dominic folded Arthur’s letter.
“Riley. Take Noah behind the chapel.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“This isn’t a debate.”
She looked ready to argue.
Then Noah woke fully.
“Mom?”
Riley’s priorities shifted instantly.
She took his hand.
Vincent moved with them.
Dominic grabbed his arm.
“Stay with them.”
Vincent nodded.
Paulie stood beside Dominic.
The vehicles stopped.
Men stepped out.
Not Tony’s.
Bellini’s.
Marco Bellini himself emerged from the middle car.
He carried an umbrella.
“You always did have dramatic taste, Dominic.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Cemetery. Midnight. Rain. You’re one speech away from embarrassing yourself.”
Bellini smiled.
Paulie’s hand moved toward his jacket.
Dominic stopped him.
“What do you want?”
“The box.”
“You mean Arthur’s records.”
“I mean everything.”
Dominic understood.
Tony had not only been dealing with Bellini.
Bellini knew exactly what Arthur had collected.
“Why?”
Bellini smiled wider.
“Because your father wasn’t the only man Arthur kept honest.”
Riley’s voice came from behind Dominic.
“He kept you afraid.”
Dominic turned.
She had left Noah with Vincent behind the chapel.
Bellini’s expression changed.
“Riley Hayes.”
“You knew my father.”
“Everybody knew Arthur.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
Bellini’s smile disappeared.
Riley stood beside Dominic.
“Dad had a rule. He said the men who talked most about loyalty were usually the first ones selling it.”
Bellini looked at Dominic.
“She always this charming?”
Dominic answered without thinking.
“Yes.”
Riley glanced at him.
Paulie almost smiled.
Bellini opened his coat enough to reveal a pistol.
Three men behind him did the same.
Paulie tensed.
Dominic remained still.
“Arthur’s records belong to me,” Bellini said.
“No,” Riley replied. “They belong to the people they can protect.”
Bellini laughed.
“You sound like your father.”
“Good.”
“You know what happened to him?”
The question froze the air.
Riley stared.
“He had a heart attack.”
Bellini looked at Dominic.
“Is that what they told you?”
Dominic’s pulse slowed.
Dangerously.
“What are you saying?”
Bellini’s expression became almost sympathetic.
“Arthur Hayes did not die naturally.”
Riley stopped breathing.
Dominic looked toward Arthur’s grave.
Bellini continued.
“And before you point that anger at me, you should ask your friend Paulie why his older brother was seen leaving Arthur’s shop the night he died.”
Paulie went pale.
Dominic turned.
“Paulie?”
Paulie stared at Bellini.
“That’s a lie.”
“Is it?”
Riley stepped backward.
Her eyes filled with disbelief.
“My father…”
Bellini took one slow step forward.
“Give me the box, Riley, and I’ll tell you who killed him.”
Dominic moved between them.
Bellini sighed.
“You’re protecting her now?”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised everyone.
Dominic most of all.
Bellini’s expression hardened.
“That’s going to become expensive.”
Dominic looked at him.
“I can afford it.”
Bellini’s men raised their weapons slightly.
Paulie drew.
Dominic’s voice cut through the night.
“Nobody fires.”
Bellini tilted his head.
“Still trying to become a businessman?”
“No.”
Dominic looked toward Arthur’s grave.
“I’m trying not to become my father.”
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then a police siren sounded beyond the cemetery gates.
Bellini’s smile returned.
“You invited police?”
Dominic shook his head.
Riley looked toward the road.
Another siren.
Then another.
Bellini swore.
His men backed toward their cars.
Before leaving, he looked at Riley.
“Ask Paulie about January fourteenth.”
The vehicles disappeared into the rain.
Police lights approached.
Dominic turned toward Paulie.
“January fourteenth?”
Paulie looked sick.
Riley stepped closer.
“That’s the night my father died.”
Paulie closed his eyes.
Dominic’s voice became quiet.
“Tell us.”
Paulie looked at Riley.
Then at Dominic.
“My brother wasn’t the only Castelli man in the shop that night.”
Dominic’s stomach dropped.
“Who else?”
Paulie swallowed.
“Tony.”
Riley’s face changed.
“And?”
Paulie hesitated.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Who else?”
Paulie finally answered.
“Your father.”
And as red and blue lights washed across Arthur Hayes’s grave, Dominic realized the secret beneath the cemetery had not exposed an enemy.
May you like
It had exposed his own blood.
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