Chapter 14 - THE BROTHER WHO MADE ONE Last Deal
Marco had been talking to Victor.
But not for the reason Dominic feared.
“He has my son.”
Silence.
Dominic stared.
“You have a son?”
Marco closed his eyes.
“Seventeen.”
Nobody knew.
Not Dominic.
Not the organization.
Marco had hidden him in Wisconsin with his mother.
Victor discovered him six months earlier.
That was why Marco delayed exposing Sofia.
Why he passed selected information.
Why he seemed to betray Dominic.
“He said if I told you, my son dies.”
Dominic’s anger shifted.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Name?”
“Ethan.”
Dominic called Luca.
Within minutes, every security resource turned toward finding the boy.
Marco looked ashamed.
“I failed you.”
Dominic said nothing.
Then:
“You were afraid.”
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“No.”
Marco nodded.
“But it explains it.”
Emily watched them.
Brothers.
Not perfect.
Not innocent.
Still choosing what came next.
Victor called again.
Marco answered on speaker.
“Bring Rose to Warehouse 17.”
Emily’s face turned white.
Dominic shook his head.
Marco replied:
“Proof Ethan is alive.”
A video arrived.
Seventeen-year-old boy.
Tied to a chair.
Alive.
Victor smiled behind him.
“Midnight.”
The trap became obvious.
Dominic went anyway.
Not with Rose.
With federal agents hidden across the property.
Emily stayed with Rose in a secure command vehicle two miles away.
She hated that too.
At midnight, Marco entered first.
Dominic followed.
Victor laughed.
“No child?”
Dominic said:
“You get me.”
“Not enough.”
“You want Bellini bloodline control.”
“Yes.”
“I’m Enzo’s son.”
“Half.”
“So is Marco.”
“True.”
“Sofia?”
“Useful until she wasn’t.”
Victor had spent decades turning children into inheritance tools.
Dominic understood him completely now.
And despised him.
Ethan was released after Marco surrendered the ledger copy.
Victor checked it.
Then frowned.
“This is incomplete.”
Dominic smiled.
“Of course.”
Federal agents moved.
Gunfire erupted.
Victor grabbed Ethan.
Marco tackled him.
A shot fired.
Dominic reached them.
Victor fell.
Alive.
Marco had been hit in the shoulder.
Ethan screamed:
“Dad!”
That word changed Marco’s face completely.
Federal agents arrested Victor.
It was over.
Almost.
Back at the command vehicle, Emily hugged Dominic before remembering herself.
He held her.
Then stepped back.
“Rose?”
“Safe.”
“Good.”
Emily looked at him.
“This ends now?”
“The danger?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I think so.”
“And us?”
His breath caught.
“What about us?”
She smiled slightly.
“You asked me something once.”
“I remember.”
“Ask again.”
Dominic stared.
“Can I kiss you?”
Emily whispered:
“Yes.”
He kissed her softly.
No urgency.
No claim.
No audience.
Then Rose opened the vehicle door.
“EW.”
They jumped apart.
Rose grinned.
“I knew it.”
Emily covered her face.
Dominic laughed for the first time in what felt like years.
Then Luca approached holding an envelope.
“Boss.”
Dominic groaned.
“Please.”
Luca almost smiled.
“Good news.”
“What?”
“Antonio’s final will.”
Dominic opened it.
One unexpected clause.
If Dominic ever dismantled the criminal side of the organization and converted Vitali Holdings fully legitimate, controlling ownership transferred to him permanently.
If not, it passed to an independent charitable trust.
Antonio had known exactly what test to leave behind.
May you like
Dominic looked at Emily.
She already knew what he would choose.
