Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Dominic had buried an empty coffin nine years earlier.
He had never known it was empty.
Marco Gallo disappeared during a failed negotiation in Sicily.
The vehicle carrying him was found burned beside a mountain road.
Dental records supposedly confirmed his death.
Dominic had accepted the report because grief made people accept things they would otherwise question.
Now Marco was alive.
And apparently standing beside Arthur Castellano.
Dominic sat silently in the SUV.
Elena watched him.
"What was he like?"
"My brother?"
She nodded.
Dominic looked through the rain-streaked window.
"Everything I wasn't."
"Meaning?"
"He smiled."
Despite herself, Elena smiled slightly.
Dominic continued.
"Marco could walk into a room full of enemies and leave with three friends. My father thought charisma made him weak."
"And you?"
"I envied him."
"Why?"
"Because people loved him without being afraid of him."
Elena understood more than Dominic intended to reveal.
"Why would he work with Arthur?"
"I don't know."
But Dominic had a suspicion.
Marco had always hated their father.
If Arthur convinced him Vittorio was responsible for everything...
A family wound could become a weapon.
At 11:45 p.m., Dominic arrived near Pier 19.
Not with an army.
With Elena.
Leo protested.
Dominic ignored him.
The archive had already been copied.
Three separate packages were prepared for federal prosecutors and investigative journalists.
If Dominic did not cancel delivery by dawn, everything would be released.
Arthur could kill them.
But he could no longer bury the truth.
The warehouse at Pier 19 was nearly empty.
Beatrice sat beneath a hanging light.
Vivien stood beside her.
Arthur waited near the water.
And behind him stood Marco.
Dominic stopped.
His brother smiled.
"Hello, Dom."
Nine years disappeared.
For one irrational second, Dominic wanted to cross the room and embrace him.
Then he saw the pistol in Marco's hand.
"You let me bury you."
Marco shrugged.
"You buried a box."
"I mourned you."
"That sounds inconvenient."
Dominic's expression hardened.
"What did Arthur promise you?"
"The truth."
Arthur smiled.
Marco continued.
"Father sacrificed me."
"No."
"You don't even know what happened."
"Then tell me."
Marco's jaw tightened.
"Father sent me to Sicily because I discovered his arrangement with Moretti."
Dominic frowned.
"I threatened to expose him."
Arthur interrupted.
"Vittorio couldn't risk that."
Marco looked at Dominic.
"So he sent me somewhere I wouldn't return from."
Arthur had given Marco a story.
A perfect story.
One containing enough truth to hide the lie.
Elena stepped forward.
"Your father didn't order your death."
Marco looked at her.
"And you know this how?"
"Because your mother left records."
She held up a copy of Isabella's letter.
Marco's face changed.
Arthur immediately raised his weapon.
"Don't."
That reaction was enough.
Marco looked toward Arthur.
"What is she talking about?"
"Manipulation."
Elena laughed softly.
"He's afraid you'll read it."
Marco's eyes narrowed.
"Give it to me."
Arthur stepped between them.
"We had an agreement."
Marco's weapon shifted.
Now it pointed slightly toward Arthur.
"Give me the letter, Dominic."
Dominic tossed it across the concrete.
Marco picked it up.
He read.
The warehouse became silent.
His face changed line by line.
Arthur moved.
Marco raised his gun.
"Don't."
Arthur froze.
"You told me Vittorio ordered the hit."
"He did."
"The letter says you did."
"Your mother was confused."
Marco laughed.
"My mother was many things. Confused wasn't one."
Vivien stared at her father.
For the first time, doubt appeared on her face.
Arthur's empire was cracking from the inside.
Dominic saw his opportunity.
"Let Beatrice go."
Arthur looked at him.
"The ledger."
"You don't need it."
"I decide what I need."
"No."
Dominic's voice was calm.
"That ended tonight."
He told Arthur about the copies.
About the archive.
About the automatic release.
Arthur's face slowly lost color.
"You wouldn't."
"I already did."
"You'd destroy your own organization."
"Maybe."
Arthur stared.
Dominic continued.
"That's the difference between us. You think power matters more than everything."
His eyes moved toward Elena.
"I learned otherwise."
Arthur laughed.
"Because of her?"
"Because I'm tired."
The admission surprised everyone.
Dominic Gallo, feared across the city, was tired.
Tired of guards.
Tired of funerals.
Tired of rooms where every handshake hid a threat.
Arthur had spent his life believing men like Dominic could never walk away because power was addictive.
He had never considered that power could become a prison.
Vivien slowly untied Beatrice.
Arthur spun.
"What are you doing?"
Vivien looked at him.
"Is it true?"
"What?"
"Did you kill Vittorio?"
Arthur's silence answered.
Vivien's face crumpled.
All her life she had believed her father was ruthless but loyal.
Now she understood.
There had never been loyalty.
Only usefulness.
"You used me."
Arthur's expression became contemptuous.
"Don't become sentimental."
Those words broke something in her.
Vivien moved away from Beatrice.
Arthur raised his pistol.
Dominic moved simultaneously.
A gunshot echoed.
Elena ducked.
Marco fired.
Arthur's weapon fell.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Leo's men rushed through the side entrances.
Within seconds, the warehouse belonged to Dominic.
Arthur lay against a crate, clutching his shoulder.
Dominic approached.
Arthur laughed weakly.
"Go ahead."
Dominic looked down.
"You want me to kill you."
"It's what your father would do."
"No."
Dominic lowered his weapon.
"It's what you would do."
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Arthur's smile disappeared.
"What did you do?"
"Ended it."
Federal agents entered minutes later.
Not local police.
The evidence package had included instructions.
Arthur was taken alive.
So was Vivien.
But before she left, Vivien stopped beside Elena.
"I'm sorry."
Elena looked at her.
"For which part?"
Vivien almost smiled.
"Most of it."
Then she was gone.
Beatrice embraced Elena.
Dominic turned toward Marco.
His brother stood near the open warehouse door.
"You coming home?"
Marco looked at him.
"I don't know where home is anymore."
"We can figure it out."
Marco stared for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
Perhaps they could.
But as federal agents processed the warehouse, one of them approached Dominic.
"Mr. Gallo."
Dominic turned.
"We found something in Castellano's vehicle."
The agent handed him a sealed envelope.
His name was written across it.
Dominic opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Nora—Elena—standing outside her restoration studio two years earlier.
Long before Dominic claimed they had first met.
Beside her stood Arthur Castellano.
Dominic stared at the image.
On the back was a date.
And four words.
SHE WORKS FOR ME.
Dominic slowly looked toward Elena.
She saw the photograph.
And the happiness that had begun to appear in her face vanished.
"Dominic."
He held up the picture.
"You told me you met Arthur only after your family died."
"I did."
"This was taken two years ago."
"Let me explain."
Dominic's chest tightened.
Again.
Another secret.
Another lie.
He looked at the woman he loved and asked the question he had feared from the beginning.
"Did Arthur send you to me?"
Elena's silence lasted only three seconds.
May you like
But three seconds were enough to make Dominic wonder whether everything between them had been carefully constructed from the start.
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