Chapter 8 - THE BROTHER WHO LEFT SEATTLE
Victor Rossi was supposed to be in Miami.
He wasn’t.
His apartment there had been empty for six weeks.
His assistant claimed Victor was traveling in Europe.
Passport records showed no international departure.
Then Dominic discovered his brother owned a condo outside Seattle under another company.
That hurt him more than the money.
Victor had been nearby.
Hiding.
Watching.
We searched legally through investigators and counsel where appropriate.
No storming houses.
I insisted.
Dominic complained.
Then did it anyway.
The condo was empty.
Inside:
Minimal furniture.
One laptop wiped.
Paper shredder.
A photograph of Dominic and Victor as children.
And an inhaler.
Victor had asthma.
He had been there recently.
Then Paulie found a receipt.
Laura.
My restaurant.
Two weeks earlier.
Victor had eaten there under another name.
I pulled surveillance.
He sat in a corner booth for ninety minutes.
Watching me.
My skin crawled.
“Why me?”
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Because you found the accounts.”
“Two weeks ago I hadn’t.”
“But Moretti knew you handled books.”
So Victor had been waiting to see whether I noticed.
Then footage showed someone joining him.
A woman.
Forties.
Blonde.
Professional.
I recognized her.
Ms. Green.
The social worker who inspected my apartment before approving Sam to remain under my guardianship.
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
She had asked about finances.
Housing.
Employment.
Dominic.
Everything.
Her involvement suddenly looked different.
We checked.
She was a legitimate social worker.
But also Victor’s former girlfriend.
That did not prove corruption.
Then my attorney obtained case communications.
Victor had contacted her after Dominic offered me housing.
He claimed concern that I was placing Sam inside a criminal environment.
That part was arguably true.
He urged closer monitoring.
Why?
Maybe genuine concern.
Then one email:
If the placement fails, Sam becomes available for emergency foster relocation.
My blood went cold.
“Available?”
Dominic looked furious.
But the next line stopped him.
Victor:
Better foster care than Moretti getting to the boy.
Silence.
“What if Victor was protecting Sam?”
I asked.
Dominic stared at me.
Everything kept refusing to become simple.
Victor might have funded Moretti.
Might also have feared him.
Then we found a voice memo on an old family cloud account.
Victor to Dominic.
Never sent.
Dom, I got in too deep. Moretti knows about the port accounts. He says if I pull out, he burns everything and Varga kills us both. I’m trying to find the original Bennett page.
Dominic listened twice.
His brother was not Moretti’s mastermind.
He was trapped.
But why invest?
Because Victor had gambling debts of his own.
Moretti bailed him out years earlier.
Then converted debt into partnership.
Same method.
Different class.
My father got threats.
Victor got contracts.
Everyone became collateral.
Then Victor finally called Dominic.
From a blocked number.
“Don’t trace this.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Where are you?”
“Does Chloe have the letter?”
“Yes.”
“Does she have Thomas’s final page?”
“No.”
Silence.
“Then Moretti still has leverage.”
“What’s on it?”
Victor breathed heavily.
“The name of the man who actually killed Thomas Bennett.”
I stopped breathing.
May you like
My father had not died naturally from liver failure.
Someone had accelerated the ending.
