Chapter 6 - What Really Happened on Brooklyn Avenue
By sunrise, the mansion had become an investigation scene.
Dr. Hale confessed first.
Camille had approached him after Massimo’s surgery.
She offered money.
At first, Hale only altered medical reports.
Then came the pills.
Dean had known Massimo’s condition might improve.
He had also helped conceal Dr. Reeves’s calls.
But the Brooklyn Avenue ambush was more complicated.
Massimo sat across from Dean in the library.
No guards stood between them.
Dean looked exhausted.
Massimo placed a recorder on the desk.
“Tell me everything.”
Dean stared at it.
“Why?”
“Because three men died.”
Dean looked down.
Finally, he spoke.
“Camille contacted people connected to one of your rivals.”
“Names.”
Dean gave them.
Massimo said nothing.
“She told me the convoy would be hit.”
“And you allowed it.”
“I was told they’d fire at the vehicles. Nobody was supposed to be killed.”
Massimo’s eyes narrowed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Dean looked at him.
“I barely believe I was stupid enough to believe it.”
“Why did you save me?”
Dean’s eyes filled with something Massimo had never seen there before.
Shame.
“Instinct.”
Massimo leaned back.
“You planned to betray me, then took two bullets for me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try harder.”
Dean swallowed.
“Because when the shooting started, you were still my brother.”
Silence.
Massimo looked away.
That answer hurt more than he expected.
“You should have remembered that before the shooting.”
“I know.”
Massimo stood slowly from his wheelchair.
He now needed a cane and could manage only a few steps.
Dean watched him.
“So what happens to me?”
“That isn’t my decision anymore.”
Dean almost smiled.
“Since when?”
“Since I decided I was done solving everything the old way.”
Authorities had already been contacted through Massimo’s attorneys.
The evidence would go where it belonged.
Dean nodded.
“And Camille?”
“She’ll answer for what she did.”
“Hale?”
“The same.”
Dean stood.
At the door, he stopped.
“Massimo.”
“What?”
“I am sorry.”
Massimo stared at him.
“I believe you.”
Dean looked surprised.
Massimo continued.
“That doesn’t make it disappear.”
Dean nodded once.
Then he left.
Later that afternoon, Massimo found Carla packing.
Nina sat on the bed surrounded by toys.
Massimo stopped in the doorway.
“What are you doing?”
Carla folded another dress.
“Leaving.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“That wasn’t a request.”
Massimo almost smiled.
“You’ve been spending too much time around me.”
“I have a daughter.”
“I know.”
“She was inside a house where people were poisoning a man and planning his death.”
“I know.”
“She could have been hurt.”
Massimo’s expression softened.
“I know.”
Carla stopped packing.
“Then why are you telling me not to leave?”
Massimo looked at Nina.
The little girl was making a stuffed rabbit walk across the bed.
“Because this house has been full of people for years.”
He paused.
“And somehow it was empty until the two of you arrived.”
Carla studied him.
“Massimo…”
“I’m not asking you to stay as my housekeeper.”
“What are you asking?”
He struggled with the answer.
For a man who had commanded rooms full of dangerous people, speaking honestly to one woman seemed strangely difficult.
“I’m asking you not to disappear.”
Carla’s expression softened.
Before she could respond, Nina jumped from the bed.
“Can we stay?”
“Nina.”
“Please?”
Carla looked at her daughter.
Then at Massimo.
“Temporarily.”
Massimo nodded.
“Temporarily.”
Nina ran over and hugged his leg.
Massimo winced.
Carla immediately pulled her back.
“Nina! Mr. Massimo’s legs are still healing.”
But Massimo was staring downward.
“What?”
Carla asked.
Massimo touched his thigh.
“I felt that.”
Nina looked delighted.
“My hug?”
“Yes.”
She hugged his leg again.
“Now?”
Massimo laughed.
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Yes, Nina.”
“Now?”
“Nina.”
May you like
Carla began laughing.
And a few seconds later, Massimo joined her.
