Chapter 6 - The Brother Behind the Smile
Dominic did not confront Aleandro.
Every instinct demanded it.
Instead he returned home and behaved normally.
That frightened Aleandro more.
At dinner Dominic discussed business.
Valentina ate pasta beside Rosa.
Marco stood near the doorway.
Aleandro watched everyone.
Finally he asked, "Productive day?"
Dominic sipped water.
"Very."
"Shopping?"
"Something like that."
Aleandro smiled.
Valentina kept her eyes down.
After dinner Dominic entered his study.
Aleandro followed.
"We need to discuss succession."
Dominic turned.
"What succession?"
"If you're ill."
Dominic remained perfectly still.
"Who told you?"
Aleandro realized his mistake.
He recovered quickly.
"You look terrible."
"You went to Rico."
Aleandro exhaled.
"I'm your brother."
"You've never cared about my cholesterol before."
"This isn't cholesterol."
"No."
Dominic approached him.
"It isn't."
Aleandro studied Dominic's face.
"How long?"
"Long enough."
"Dom—"
"Why are you worried about succession?"
"Because someone has to protect what we built."
Dominic laughed without humor.
"Protect it."
"Yes."
"Like you protected Isabella?"
The room changed.
Aleandro's expression barely moved.
But Dominic saw enough.
"What does Isabella have to do with this?"
Dominic walked toward the bar.
"Nothing."
"Then why say her name?"
"Because I miss her."
Aleandro stared.
Dominic poured a drink he had no intention of consuming.
"Good night."
Aleandro remained another moment.
Then left.
Marco entered from a concealed side door.
"He knows."
"Not what we have."
"Should we move Valentina?"
Dominic looked toward the staircase.
"Yes."
Rosa objected immediately.
"No."
"Rosa."
"That child has spent a year being moved from one place to another."
"This is different."
"To her it isn't."
Dominic stopped.
Rosa softened.
"If you want her to trust you, don't make decisions around her as though she is luggage."
So Dominic told Valentina.
"There are people who may try to scare us."
"Because of Mama?"
"Yes."
"Your brother?"
Dominic paused.
"Possibly."
Valentina hugged the rabbit.
"Are we leaving?"
"I want to take you somewhere safer."
She looked wounded.
"I thought this was safe."
"So did I."
"Then nowhere is."
Dominic had no answer.
She stood.
"I want to stay."
"Valentina—"
"If I'm leaving after seven days anyway, why does it matter?"
Dominic's heart tightened.
"You aren't going back to the street."
Her eyes widened.
"You said one week."
"I was wrong."
"About what?"
"About thinking I could stop caring after seven days."
Silence.
Rosa looked away, hiding tears.
Dominic continued.
"I don't know what happens next. There are laws and social workers and people who will ask questions. But I will not abandon you."
Valentina stared.
"Even if I make your house dirty?"
Dominic almost laughed.
"Especially then."
For the first time, she stepped forward on her own and hugged him.
Dominic closed his arms around her.
From the hallway, unseen, Aleandro watched.
His jaw tightened.
Later that night he called Victor.
"We have a problem."
"You always say that."
"Dominic knows something."
"How much?"
"I don't know."
"Then find out."
Aleandro looked toward the closed bedroom door down the hall.
"The child has become important to him."
Victor understood immediately.
"Then she's leverage."
Aleandro closed his eyes.
"I don't want another child hurt."
Victor laughed.
"You said that last time."
Aleandro's face hardened.
"Matteo wasn't supposed to be in the car."
"But he was."
A pause.
Victor continued.
"And now another child is in the way."
Aleandro disconnected.
For the first time since the original conspiracy, his hands shook.
He had told himself Isabella's death had been necessary.
She had discovered that Aleandro and Victor were diverting millions from Moretti charitable foundations through companies tied to illegal trafficking networks and extortion.
If Dominic learned the truth, Aleandro would lose everything.
So Isabella had become a problem.
The brakes were meant to fail after she left the city.
Matteo was supposed to be with Rosa that night.
Instead he begged his mother for ice cream.
One small change.
One dead boy.
For three years Aleandro had lived with that.
Now Valentina's appearance had reopened the grave.
The following afternoon Dominic met secretly with Elena.
She chose an abandoned church in Queens.
Elena was in her fifties, exhausted and frightened.
"You look like Isabella," she said when Dominic approached.
Dominic frowned.
"Nobody has ever said that."
"The eyes."
She gave him another flash drive.
"Lucía sent this to me before she died."
"How did she die?"
Elena looked down.
"Victor found her."
Dominic's expression became stone.
"Did he kill her?"
"I can't prove it."
Dominic's voice turned quiet.
"I don't need courtroom proof."
Elena stepped closer.
"That's exactly why Lucía was afraid to contact you."
Dominic stopped.
"She thought you'd kill everyone."
"She was probably right."
"And then what happens to Valentina?"
Dominic looked away.
Elena continued.
"Isabella wanted evidence. Justice. Not another war."
Dominic inserted the drive into Marco's laptop.
Financial records appeared.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
Photographs of young immigrants whose identities had been used to create fraudulent accounts.
The conspiracy extended beyond embezzlement.
Dominic's stomach turned.
All beneath charities carrying his family name.
Elena whispered, "Your wife was trying to stop it."
Dominic stared at the files.
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She planned to."
"Why wait?"
Elena hesitated.
"Because she was afraid of what you would do to your brother."
That answer hurt more than expected.
Isabella had known him too well.
Suddenly Dominic's phone rang.
Rosa.
He answered.
Her voice was frantic.
"Dominic, come home."
"What happened?"
"It's Valentina."
His heart stopped.
"What about her?"
"She's gone."
Dominic looked at Marco.
"How?"
"The garden gate was open."
"Security?"
"One camera went down."
Dominic's world narrowed.
Then Rosa said something worse.
"There's a note on her bed."
Dominic's voice disappeared.
"What does it say?"
Rosa read it.
Bring the evidence. Come alone. Or you will bury another child.
Dominic closed his eyes.
His six-week death sentence suddenly meant nothing.
May you like
Because his daughter might have only hours.
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