Chapter 3 - The Secret Beneath the Roses
Dominic had spent most of his adult life believing hesitation was fatal.
That night, however, every choice carried consequences.
Stay at the estate and Arthur might find the ledger first.
Go after it and they might be walking into a trap.
Elena solved the problem for him.
"I'm going."
"No."
She ignored him and headed upstairs.
Dominic followed.
"Elena."
She stopped.
It was the first time he had called her by her real name without anger.
She turned.
"My mother died in that house."
"I know."
"My father died protecting whatever he hid there."
"I know."
"And Arthur has spent sixteen years searching for it."
"Which is why you're not walking in there alone."
Her eyes narrowed.
"I didn't say alone."
Dominic understood.
Twenty minutes later, three dark SUVs left through the estate's service entrance.
Vivien remained behind under guard.
Beatrice stayed with Frankie.
Dominic sat beside Elena in the rear vehicle.
Neither spoke for most of the drive.
The old Moretti property stood forty miles north of Manhattan.
Time had reduced it to a skeleton.
Fire had destroyed the east wing.
Vines covered the stone façade.
Windows stared into the darkness like empty eyes.
Arthur's vehicles were already outside.
Dominic counted four.
"He's here."
Elena looked at the ruins.
For a moment she was thirteen again.
Dominic saw it.
Her breathing changed.
Her fingers tightened.
He placed his hand over hers.
She looked down.
"You don't have to prove anything tonight."
"I'm not proving anything."
"Then what are you doing?"
"Finishing something."
They entered from the rear.
Leo and Matteo took the men around the property while Dominic followed Elena through what remained of the kitchen.
Every room seemed to awaken memories.
"There used to be a piano there," Elena whispered.
Dominic said nothing.
"My mother played badly."
A faint smile appeared.
"My father always pretended she was wonderful."
They reached the old library.
Most of it had burned.
But the fireplace remained.
Elena stared at the place where the garden painting had once hung.
Follow the roses home.
She turned toward the ruined terrace.
Outside, the garden was completely overgrown.
But beneath weeds and wild grass, a circular stone fountain remained.
Elena approached.
Dominic followed.
"There were roses around this."
She crouched.
"My mother planted them."
"Where did they grow?"
"Everywhere."
"Which ones never died?"
Elena looked toward the stone.
Then she remembered.
Not real roses.
Carved ones.
Around the base of the fountain were eight stone roses.
One was different.
Elena pressed it.
Nothing.
She twisted.
A click sounded beneath the fountain.
Dominic stared.
A narrow section of stone moved inward.
Behind it sat a rusted metal box.
Elena reached for it.
Dominic caught her hand.
"Wait."
He checked for wires.
Nothing.
They pulled the box free.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
A key.
And a black leather notebook.
Elena opened it.
Names filled the pages.
Dates.
Amounts.
Initials.
Judges.
Police officers.
Union officials.
Businessmen.
Then Dominic saw something that made him stop.
Gallo.
Elena looked at him.
"Your family?"
Dominic took the ledger.
The entry was dated seventeen years earlier.
Vittorio Gallo.
Dominic's father.
Payment received.
Dominic felt the ground shift beneath him.
"My father worked with Arthur."
Elena's face became cold.
"Against mine?"
"I don't know."
A voice came from the darkness.
"Unfortunately, I do."
Dominic turned.
Arthur Castellano stood at the edge of the garden.
He was sixty-five, silver-haired, immaculate despite the rain.
Four armed men stood behind him.
Dominic raised his pistol.
Arthur smiled.
"Still impulsive."
"Tell your men to lower their weapons."
"You first."
Elena stepped beside Dominic.
Arthur's eyes settled on her.
"Salvatore's little girl."
Elena showed no fear.
"You murdered my father."
Arthur sighed.
"Your father murdered himself."
"Careful."
Dominic's voice was quiet.
Arthur laughed.
"You're protecting her now? That's adorable."
He looked at Elena.
"Did Dominic tell you his father helped me?"
Dominic tightened his jaw.
Arthur continued.
"Vittorio Gallo gave me your father's schedule the night he died."
Elena turned slowly toward Dominic.
Dominic felt sick.
"I didn't know."
Arthur smiled.
"Of course he didn't. Vittorio kept his children clean while he could."
Elena stared at Dominic.
"Is it true?"
"I was twenty-two."
"That's not an answer."
"I didn't know."
Arthur stepped closer.
"Give me the ledger."
Dominic pointed his weapon at him.
"No."
"Then people die."
"People always die around you."
Arthur's smile disappeared.
"Your father understood necessity."
"My father is dead."
"Because he eventually forgot which side he belonged to."
That sentence caught Dominic's attention.
"What does that mean?"
Arthur realized his mistake.
Too late.
Dominic opened the ledger again.
The later pages told a different story.
Vittorio's payments stopped.
Then came coded notes.
Information supplied to S.M.
Salvatore Moretti.
Dominic looked at Elena.
"My father switched sides."
Arthur's expression hardened.
"Vittorio became sentimental."
Dominic understood.
His father had not merely betrayed Salvatore.
He had later tried to help him.
Perhaps too late.
But he had tried.
Elena reached for the ledger.
A gunshot shattered the fountain.
Dominic pulled her down.
Chaos erupted.
Leo's men returned fire from the trees.
Arthur disappeared behind the terrace wall.
Dominic dragged Elena toward the ruins.
"Stay down."
"I'm not helpless."
"I know that now!"
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
They moved through the library.
A man appeared.
Elena struck his weapon aside before Dominic could react.
Dominic stared.
"Restorer of paintings?"
"My résumé was simplified."
They continued.
Outside, engines started.
Arthur was retreating.
Dominic reached the front just in time to see Arthur's car disappear down the drive.
Leo approached.
"Do we follow?"
Dominic looked at Elena.
Then at the ledger.
"No."
"Boss?"
"He wants us chasing him."
Dominic understood Arthur better than most men.
"If he's leaving this easily, he has something else planned."
His phone rang.
The estate.
Dominic answered.
Beatrice was crying again.
"Mr. Gallo."
His blood chilled.
"What happened?"
"Vivien is gone."
Dominic closed his eyes.
"How?"
"Someone inside opened the basement."
The traitor.
Vivien had been telling the truth.
Someone inside Dominic's own organization was working for Arthur.
"Is everyone alive?"
"Yes."
"Lock down the house."
Dominic ended the call.
Elena looked at him.
"What?"
"Vivien escaped."
Her expression darkened.
"Then Arthur never expected to get the ledger tonight."
Dominic looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because he wanted us out of the house."
The realization struck them simultaneously.
Beatrice.
Dominic called again.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Leo's phone rang instead.
He answered.
His face changed.
"Boss."
"What?"
"It's the gatehouse."
A long pause.
"Beatrice is missing."
Elena went white.
Dominic grabbed the phone.
A message had just arrived from Beatrice's number.
One photograph.
Beatrice tied to a chair.
Vivien standing behind her.
And beneath the image were seven words.
BRING THE LEDGER OR THE MAID DIES.
Elena stared at the photograph.
Then at Dominic.
"No."
"What?"
"We're not giving Arthur the ledger."
"That's Beatrice."
"I know."
"She saved your life."
"I know."
"Then what are you saying?"
Elena's eyes became frighteningly calm.
"I'm saying Arthur thinks he just took the only person who knows where I was hidden for sixteen years."
Dominic waited.
Elena looked back at the ruined Moretti house.
"But Beatrice wasn't the only one."
"What are you talking about?"
Elena reached inside the metal box and removed an old photograph Dominic had overlooked.
Three women stood together beside the rose garden.
Elena's mother.
Beatrice.
And another woman.
Dominic recognized her.
His blood went cold.
"That's impossible."
Elena handed him the photograph.
The third woman was Dominic's own mother.
And suddenly the war between the Gallos and Morettis was no longer a story about their fathers.
May you like
Their mothers had been keeping a secret of their own.
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