Chapter 7 - The Name Nobody Expected
Matteo refused to speak inside the main house.
"Too many ears."
Dominic's expression turned dangerous.
"My house is secure."
Matteo looked around.
"That's what you thought four years ago."
That ended the argument.
They went to the small guest cottage at the edge of the property.
Dominic allowed me to remain only because Matteo insisted.
"She already received the call."
Dominic looked at me.
"That doesn't mean she belongs in this."
"I've been saying that for days."
Matteo almost smiled.
"Smart woman."
Dominic did not.
The security team remained outside.
Inside, Matteo removed his coat.
Up close, the brothers looked alike.
Same dark eyes.
Same shoulders.
But Matteo carried himself differently.
Less controlled.
More tired.
"What happened to you?" Dominic asked.
"Which year?"
"The year you died."
Matteo leaned against the table.
"I found records Father didn't want me to see."
"What records?"
"Payments."
"To whom?"
"People working inside our organization."
Dominic's face hardened.
"For what?"
"Information."
"Whose?"
"Ours."
Matteo looked at him.
"Someone had been selling details about routes, meetings, family schedules. Father thought it was a low-level leak."
"And you?"
"I thought it came from higher."
Dominic crossed his arms.
"Who?"
Matteo hesitated.
"Salvatore DeLuca."
Dominic laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
Salvatore had been Dominic's father's closest friend for more than thirty years.
He was Leo's godfather.
He had spoken at Elena's funeral.
"No."
"I reacted the same way."
"You have proof?"
"I did."
"Did?"
"Someone burned my apartment."
Dominic stared.
"I was supposed to be inside."
"So you disappeared."
"Father arranged it."
"He told me you were dead."
"Because Salvatore had people watching you."
Dominic paced.
"Why wouldn't Father tell me later?"
"Because by then you were taking over."
"So?"
"So Salvatore was beside you every day."
The room went silent.
I remembered Salvatore.
He visited twice a month.
Silver hair.
Perfect suits.
Polite smile.
He always brought Leo expensive gifts.
Leo barely touched them.
"What does this have to do with Elena?" Dominic asked.
Matteo looked at him.
"Everything."
He explained.
Gabriel Russo had also become suspicious of Salvatore.
The morning Elena died, Gabriel discovered someone planned to use Dominic's meeting with a rival group to start a war.
Dominic would attend.
Shots would be fired.
Each side would blame the other.
Salvatore would profit from the chaos.
Gabriel tried to stop Dominic from going.
When that failed, he worked with Vittorio to disable Dominic's car.
A delay.
Nothing more.
But someone discovered Elena planned to use the same vehicle.
The brakes were then sabotaged.
"Why kill Elena?" I asked.
Matteo's expression darkened.
"Because she knew something."
Dominic stopped pacing.
"What?"
"She found Salvatore's accounts."
His face changed.
"No."
"She was smarter than any of us."
"I know that."
"She came to me two weeks before the crash."
Dominic stared at his brother.
"You saw her?"
"Yes."
"You were supposed to be dead."
"She found me."
"How?"
Matteo gave a sad smile.
"Elena."
That single word explained more than an entire sentence.
"She wanted proof before telling you," Matteo continued.
"Why?"
"Because you trusted Salvatore."
Dominic looked away.
"She thought you'd confront him."
"She was right."
"And then he'd destroy everything."
Dominic sat.
"She knew?"
"Enough."
"Why didn't you protect her?"
Matteo closed his eyes.
"I tried."
The pain in his voice made Dominic look up.
"I told her to leave Boston."
"She wouldn't leave Leo."
"She wouldn't leave you either."
Dominic's face broke.
For years he had imagined Elena dying because she took his car by accident.
Now the truth was worse.
She may have been deliberately murdered because she was trying to protect him.
"Gabriel?" Dominic asked.
"Found the mechanic who sabotaged the brakes."
"Where is he?"
"Dead."
Dominic's expression hardened.
"Who killed him?"
"Probably Salvatore."
"Probably isn't proof."
"No."
"Then where is Gabriel?"
"I don't know."
Dominic laughed bitterly.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Matteo reached into his coat.
Dominic's hand moved instinctively.
Matteo slowly removed a small flash drive.
"Elena gave me this."
Dominic stared at it.
"What is it?"
"Insurance."
"Why didn't you give it to me?"
"Because I didn't know who around you was compromised."
"For four years?"
Matteo's voice sharpened.
"For four years, I have been trying to stay alive long enough to prove what happened."
Dominic stood.
"You let me bury her believing Gabriel killed her."
"I had no choice."
"You always had a choice."
"So did you."
The brothers stared at each other.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Elena spent years asking you to leave this life."
Dominic's face changed.
"You don't get to speak about my marriage."
"Somebody needs to."
I stepped between the direction of their anger without physically moving.
"What's on the drive?"
Both looked at me.
It worked.
Matteo handed it to Dominic.
"Financial records. Names. Dates. Voice recordings."
"Enough?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"Elena encrypted part of it."
"Password?"
"No idea."
Dominic closed his fist around the drive.
"What would she use?"
Matteo shrugged.
"Something personal."
That night, Dominic tried every possibility.
Leo's birthday.
Their wedding date.
Elena's birthday.
The street where they met.
Nothing.
At ten thirty, Leo wandered into the study.
"You're supposed to be asleep."
"I can't."
Dominic pushed the laptop away.
"Nightmare?"
Leo shook his head.
"I was thinking about Mom."
Dominic looked at the encrypted screen.
"What about her?"
"Did she sing?"
"Constantly."
"What song?"
Dominic smiled faintly.
"A terrible one."
"What was it?"
"Something her grandmother used to sing in Italian."
Leo climbed onto the chair beside him.
"Sing it."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I don't sing."
"That's not a reason."
It sounded exactly like Lily.
Dominic sighed.
Then quietly sang four words.
Leo smiled.
From the hallway, Matteo froze.
"What?" Dominic asked.
"Say that again."
Dominic frowned.
Matteo walked toward the laptop.
"Elena used those words all the time."
Dominic stared.
He typed the Italian phrase.
The encrypted folder opened.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Bank transfers.
Recorded conversations.
Photographs.
Dominic clicked the most recent audio file.
Elena's voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, then I didn't get the chance to explain."
Dominic stopped breathing.
Leo stared at the speakers.
"Mom?"
No one moved.
Elena continued.
"Dominic, please listen before you do what you always do and turn anger into action."
Matteo looked away.
My eyes filled.
"Salvatore has been using your father's organization for years. But he isn't working alone."
Dominic leaned closer.
"The second person is someone you trust even more."
A pause.
Then Elena said the name.
Dominic's face went blank.
The file ended.
Leo whispered, "Who is that?"
Dominic didn't answer.
Because the second person Elena named was not one of Dominic's soldiers.
It was not his father.
It was not Gabriel.
It was the woman who had helped raise Dominic after his mother died.
His aunt, Rosa Moretti.
May you like
And Rosa was upstairs at that very moment reading Lily a bedtime story.
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