Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the Ambush
Dominic heard the bullet before he understood where it had gone.
Glass shattered.
Someone shouted.
Sarah dropped beside Lily.
Dominic drew his weapon.
"DOWN!"
His security team returned fire.
The warehouse became chaos.
Dominic couldn't run.
That fact had never felt more brutal.
Before the ambush he would have moved toward the threat.
Now he had to maneuver around overturned crates while bullets struck concrete.
Then Lily screamed.
"Mr. Dom!"
Dominic turned.
A man emerged behind Sarah.
Dominic fired once.
The attacker fell.
"Get them out!"
Anthony grabbed Sarah.
Dominic covered them until they reached the SUV.
Minutes later they were speeding toward Long Island.
One attacker survived.
His name was Victor Hale.
Anthony questioned him before dawn.
By sunrise they had an answer.
The ambush had been ordered by Charles Vescari, one of Dominic's oldest business partners.
But Vescari hadn't acted alone.
Someone inside the Moretti organization had provided Dominic's schedule.
Dominic confronted Raymond immediately upon returning home.
His uncle waited in the study.
The chessboard was between them.
"You knew Vescari ordered it."
"Yes."
"And said nothing."
"I needed proof."
"You had three months."
"I was keeping you alive."
Dominic slammed the medical report onto the table.
"By doing this?"
Raymond stared at it.
His shoulders lowered.
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"Explain."
Raymond sat.
"Vescari's men had people inside the hospital."
Dominic waited.
"I learned they intended to finish the job."
"So you ordered medication?"
"I ordered your doctor to keep you sedated longer."
"That isn't what happened."
"No."
Raymond looked older.
"The physician used the wrong dosage."
Dominic stared at him.
"You covered it up."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if Vescari knew you could recover, he'd try again."
Dominic laughed bitterly.
"So you let me believe I would never walk."
"I kept you alive."
"You destroyed me."
Raymond's voice broke.
"I was trying to save you!"
Dominic went silent.
Raymond rarely raised his voice.
The old man looked at his nephew.
"When your parents died, I promised your mother I'd protect you."
"Did you kill Evan?"
Raymond's face changed.
"No."
"Then why did you intercept him?"
"Because he discovered Vescari's operation."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know who I could trust."
"You could trust me."
"You were thirty-five and convinced everyone feared you too much to betray you."
Dominic looked away.
Raymond continued.
"Evan wanted to meet you. I stopped him because I thought he might be working for Vescari."
"And then?"
"I realized I was wrong."
"Too late."
Raymond nodded.
"Too late."
Sarah stood in the doorway.
"You knew my husband was in danger."
Raymond looked at her.
"Yes."
"And you didn't warn him."
"I tried."
"He died."
"I know."
"You let me spend four years believing he died for twenty dollars in his wallet."
Raymond lowered his head.
"I'm sorry."
Sarah slapped him.
Nobody moved.
Raymond accepted it.
Then Lily entered.
Sarah immediately picked her up.
Dominic looked toward Captain.
"Why the rabbit?"
Raymond answered.
"Evan copied Vescari's financial records onto a microdrive."
Dominic looked at the repaired ear.
"The rabbit wasn't hiding only a key."
They opened the stitching carefully.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Anthony loaded it onto an isolated laptop.
Files appeared.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Photographs.
Recordings.
Then one video.
Evan Miller appeared on-screen.
Sarah stopped breathing.
Four years had passed since she'd heard her husband's voice.
"If you're watching this," Evan said, "something probably happened to me."
Sarah covered her mouth.
Lily looked at the screen.
"Daddy?"
Evan continued.
"I found proof that Charles Vescari is stealing from the Moretti organization and paying people inside Dominic Moretti's companies."
Dominic leaned closer.
"I tried reaching Dominic. Raymond stopped me. I don't know if Raymond is protecting him or protecting himself."
Raymond closed his eyes.
Then Evan said:
"There's one person I know Vescari has already bought."
The video glitched.
The image froze.
"No," Dominic whispered.
Anthony tried recovering it.
Seconds later the video resumed.
Evan spoke one name.
Everyone in the room became still.
"Michael Trent."
Dominic looked toward Anthony.
Michael Trent was Dominic's security chief.
The man who had prepared his SUV.
The man who knew every gate code.
The man currently responsible for guarding the mansion.
Dominic grabbed his phone.
Too late.
The study doors locked automatically.
Then the mansion alarm died.
Raymond stood.
"He's inside."
A voice came through the study speakers.
Michael.
"Good morning, Dominic."
Dominic's hand moved toward his weapon.
"Don't bother," Michael said. "Your security team works for me now."
Dominic looked at Sarah and Lily.
Michael continued.
"Vescari sends his regards."
"What do you want?"
"The drive."
"No."
"Then I'll start with the maid."
Sarah pulled Lily closer.
Dominic's voice became lethal.
"You touch them and—"
"And what?"
Michael laughed.
"You'll chase me?"
Silence.
It was cruel.
Calculated.
Dominic looked down at the wheelchair.
For three months, men had mistaken paralysis for helplessness.
Michael had just made the same mistake.
Dominic quietly pressed a hidden switch beneath the desk.
The bookshelf behind them unlocked.
Raymond noticed.
Dominic nodded toward Sarah.
"Go."
Sarah carried Lily through the hidden passage.
Raymond followed.
Dominic remained.
"Dominic!" Sarah whispered.
He looked at her.
"Trust me."
The shelf closed.
Seconds later Michael entered.
He found Dominic alone.
"Where are they?"
"Gone."
Michael aimed a pistol at him.
"You always were arrogant."
Dominic smiled.
"You always were stupid."
Michael stepped closer.
Dominic pressed another button.
The room went dark.
A gunshot exploded.
When the emergency lights activated, Michael was on the floor.
Dominic had shot him through the shoulder.
Raymond emerged from the passage and kicked the weapon away.
Anthony's loyal men retook the mansion within minutes.
Michael survived.
And he talked.
Vescari had ordered Dominic's ambush because Dominic planned to audit several companies.
Evan had discovered the theft years earlier.
Michael had helped silence him.
But there was one final revelation.
"Who killed Evan?" Sarah demanded.
Michael smiled through bloody teeth.
"Ask Raymond where he was that night."
Sarah turned.
Raymond went pale.
"Don't."
Dominic stared at his uncle.
"Where were you?"
Raymond looked at Sarah.
Then at Lily.
"I was there."
Sarah's face collapsed.
"What?"
"I was there when Evan died."
And suddenly the mystery wasn't whether Raymond knew what happened.
May you like
It was whether he had been the man who pulled the trigger.
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