Chapter 4 - The Man Who Raised Him
Dominic did not confront Salvatore.
Instead, he invited him for breakfast.
Salvatore arrived smiling.
“You look better.”
Dominic poured coffee.
“Hard to kill.”
“So your father used to say.”
Dominic smiled.
“You remember everything about him.”
“I served him thirty-two years.”
“You served me too.”
“Of course.”
Dominic slid a photograph across the table.
Salvatore looked down.
It showed the rowhouse.
His expression didn't change.
“What's this?”
“Where Elena lived.”
“I assumed.”
“Ever been there?”
“No.”
Dominic watched him.
Salvatore took a sip of coffee.
“Why?”
“Security question.”
“Do you suspect me?”
Dominic smiled.
“If I suspected you, Sal, would we be drinking coffee?”
Salvatore smiled back.
“No.”
Neither man believed the other.
After Salvatore left, Victor entered.
“He lied.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Dominic pointed toward the photograph.
“He said he assumed it was Elena's house.”
Victor frowned.
“So?”
“I never told him Elena lived in a house.”
Victor went still.
“It could've been an apartment.”
“Exactly.”
They began digging.
Accounts.
Phone records.
Security schedules.
Property transfers.
Then Marcus found something.
He entered Dominic's study holding a folder.
“The arsenic wasn't random.”
“What do you mean?”
“The concentration was calculated.”
“To kill me?”
“No.”
Dominic frowned.
Marcus placed the report down.
“To make you collapse dramatically, but leave a survivable window.”
Victor looked confused.
“Why poison someone without guaranteeing death?”
Elena answered from the doorway.
“To create chaos.”
Dominic looked at her.
She continued.
“Everyone runs toward Dominic.”
“And leaves something unprotected,” Victor said.
Dominic stood.
“Matteo.”
They checked the security footage.
During Dominic's collapse, one camera showed a man walking toward the children's hallway.
Not Salvatore.
One of his longtime guards.
Rocco DeLuca.
Victor clenched his jaw.
“I recruited him.”
“Find him.”
They found Rocco at a train station.
He didn't resist.
Dominic questioned him personally.
“Who gave the order?”
Rocco stared at the table.
“Nobody.”
Dominic placed a photograph of Matteo down.
“Look at him.”
Rocco didn't.
“Look.”
Rocco finally did.
“He's six.”
Silence.
“You were going to take him while his father was dying ten rooms away.”
Rocco swallowed.
“I wasn't going to hurt him.”
“Then what?”
“Deliver him.”
“To whom?”
Rocco shook his head.
Dominic leaned forward.
“Salvatore?”
Rocco's face gave him the answer.
Dominic sat back.
“Why?”
Rocco whispered:
“He thinks you're weak.”
Victor slammed both hands on the table.
Rocco flinched.
Dominic remained calm.
“Explain.”
“He said losing Elena changed you.”
“How?”
“You stopped expanding.”
Dominic stared.
“You avoided wars.”
“Yes.”
“You call that weakness?”
“He does.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“So Salvatore threatened my wife and child because I stopped spilling blood?”
Rocco lowered his eyes.
“It wasn't just that.”
“What else?”
“He wanted control.”
“Of my organization?”
Rocco nodded.
“He thought if Elena disappeared, you'd become reckless.”
“And eventually get killed.”
“Yes.”
“But I didn't.”
“No.”
“So he poisoned me.”
Rocco hesitated.
“The poison wasn't the real plan.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“What was?”
Rocco whispered:
“Matteo.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“He was going to take your son and blame Victor.”
Victor stepped backward.
“What?”
“Then Dominic would kill you.”
Rocco looked at Victor.
“And Salvatore would inherit everything after the organization tore itself apart.”
Dominic sat silently.
Thirty-two years.
Salvatore had eaten at his family's table.
Held Matteo as a baby.
Buried Dominic's father beside him.
And all of it had meant less than power.
Then the study door opened.
Emma stood there.
Her face pale.
“Elena said I should tell you.”
Dominic immediately stood.
“What happened?”
Emma held something in her hand.
A folded piece of paper.
“Someone put this under my door.”
Dominic opened it.
May you like
Four words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIET.
