Chapter 14 - A Betrayal at the Family Table
Nicolas refused to believe it.
“That is my mother.”
Thomas placed Elena Russo’s death certificate on the table.
Italian authorities had recorded her under a married alias.
Dental records confirmed the identity.
Nicolas read everything twice.
Then sat silently.
Damian had never seen his cousin look that young.
“She called me every birthday.”
“Recordings can be manipulated,” Leo said gently.
“She knew things.”
“Margaret studied Elena for years,” Thomas replied.
Nicolas stood abruptly.
“I need air.”
Nobody stopped him.
Khloe watched through the window as he walked toward the field.
“He loved her.”
Damian said nothing.
“You should go.”
“He wants to be alone.”
“That’s what you always say when you don’t know how to comfort someone.”
Damian looked at Khloe.
She raised an eyebrow.
He went outside.
Nicolas stood beside a fence.
“I was five when Dad disappeared,” Nicolas said without turning. “My mother was all I had.”
Damian stood beside him.
“You had us.”
“That family?”
Nicolas laughed bitterly.
“We ate Sunday dinner while half the adults lied about where they’d been.”
“Fair.”
Nicolas looked at him.
“I gave her information.”
“You thought she was Elena.”
“I told her your movements. Khloe’s schedule. Security changes.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“You should kill me.”
“No.”
“That’s what Uncle Vincent would’ve done.”
“I’m not him.”
Nicolas stared toward the farmhouse.
“No.”
He looked at Damian.
“You’re not.”
That evening they developed a plan.
Margaret believed Nicolas still trusted her.
They would use that.
Nicolas called.
“Mom?”
Margaret answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“With Damian.”
“Does he know?”
“Know what?”
A pause.
“Nothing.”
Nicolas forced his voice to remain steady.
“We have the ledger.”
Margaret breathed in.
“Both?”
“Yes.”
“Bring them to me.”
“Where?”
She gave an address.
The old Russo family estate in Westchester.
Of course.
A place filled with history.
A family table where Vincent, Elena, Damian and Nicolas had once eaten dinner.
Margaret wanted the final confrontation there.
Khloe understood why.
“She wants symbolism.”
Thomas nodded.
“She always did.”
They arrived the following night.
Margaret sat at the long dining table.
Patrick Walsh was there too.
Bound to a chair.
Alive.
For the first time Damian saw fear in Walsh’s eyes.
Margaret smiled.
“Welcome home.”
Khloe stepped forward.
“Grandma.”
Margaret’s expression softened.
“My beautiful girl.”
“You had me kidnapped.”
“To protect you.”
“They stabbed me.”
“That was Bell. He disobeyed.”
“You let him near me.”
“I made mistakes.”
Khloe’s face hardened.
“No. You made choices.”
Margaret looked toward Damian.
“Vincent’s son has taught you his arrogance.”
“No.”
Khloe stood straighter.
“My grandfather taught me something better.”
Thomas entered.
Margaret stopped breathing.
“Tom?”
Thomas looked at the woman he once loved.
“Hello, Maggie.”
For one extraordinary moment, every layer of rage vanished from her face.
She looked like an old woman seeing a ghost.
“You’re dead.”
“So are you, apparently.”
She began crying.
Then laughing.
Then crying again.
“You left me.”
“I protected you.”
“You abandoned us!”
“I sent money.”
“Russo money!”
“Money I helped earn.”
Patrick Walsh laughed from the chair.
“All this sentiment.”
Margaret turned and slapped him.
“Be quiet.”
Khloe watched her grandparents.
A family ruined not only by crime, but by decades of people deciding silence was protection.
Thomas stepped closer.
“Maggie. Stop.”
“It’s too late.”
“No.”
“I have spent half my life preparing this.”
“That does not mean you have to spend the rest finishing it.”
Margaret looked at Khloe.
“You deserve justice.”
Khloe shook her head.
“This isn’t justice.”
“What would you call it?”
“Revenge.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“They took everything.”
“And if you destroy everyone here, what do I get?”
Silence.
Khloe continued.
“Another funeral?”
Margaret’s hand trembled.
Before she could answer, a gunshot sounded outside.
Evan Bell entered through the side door.
“Enough talking.”
Margaret turned.
“You weren’t supposed to come.”
Bell smiled.
“That’s the problem with people who hire monsters.”
May you like
He raised his weapon.
“Eventually the monster realizes he doesn’t need the person paying him.”
