Chapter 8 - THE OLD RUSSO HOUSE
Alina did not go alone.
She also did not let Vincent decide the plan.
Progress worked both ways.
They agreed.
Alina entered first.
Dominic and Vincent stayed outside with federal-level surveillance equipment provided through one of Vincent’s legitimate security companies.
The old Russo house stood abandoned near Highwood.
Brick.
Boarded garage.
Dead garden.
Alina’s biological father had once lived there with Dominic and Eddie.
She had passed the street dozens of times without knowing.
Inside, Eddie waited.
Thirty-five.
Same dark eyes as Dominic.
Same jaw.
And now that she knew, something faintly familiar in her own face.
“You came.”
“You’re my brother.”
Eddie laughed bitterly.
“So they told you.”
“DNA told me.”
His expression shifted.
Good.
Facts.
Not stories.
“Where are Teresa and Gabriel?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
He opened a door.
Teresa sat inside.
Untied.
Alive.
Gabriel stood beside her.
Alina stopped breathing.
Four years collapsed.
He looked older.
Scar across his temple.
Beard.
Same eyes.
“Lina.”
She hit him.
The slap echoed.
He accepted it.
Then she hit him again.
Teresa whispered:
“He deserved both.”
Alina nearly laughed.
Instead she cried.
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“You watched Mia.”
“Yes.”
“You spoke to her.”
“Only twice.”
“You let me bury you.”
His face broke.
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because Carlo told me to disappear.”
Alina turned toward Eddie.
“Our father?”
“Yes,” Gabriel said.
“Why?”
“Because he discovered Thomas Bellini had been using Eddie.”
Eddie’s face hardened.
“Using?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You were twenty-four. He convinced you Vittorio killed Carlo.”
Eddie stepped closer.
“He did.”
“No.”
Gabriel pulled out a recording.
Carlo Russo’s voice.
Weak.
Sick.
Not heart attack.
Poison.
Carlo:
If this reaches Dominic, Thomas is inside everything. Eddie believes him. Do not punish Eddie for being young enough to mistake anger for truth.
Eddie went pale.
“No.”
Gabriel continued.
“Thomas poisoned Carlo slowly.”
“Why?”
“Because Carlo found the accounts.”
Same accounts Sofia later found.
The conspiracy extended years.
Thomas Bellini had been draining money through Frank’s vehicle businesses, construction vendors, and offshore entities.
He used Eddie after Carlo’s death.
Told him Vittorio ordered it.
Then Sofia discovered the fraud.
Thomas had her killed.
Frank tried to help.
Gabriel found evidence.
He was next.
“Why did you fake your death?” Alina asked.
“I didn’t plan to.”
“What?”
“The construction fire was real.”
Gabriel’s eyes darkened.
“Thomas’s men tried to kill me. Teresa pulled me out before emergency services arrived.”
Teresa nodded.
“We used another victim’s identification confusion.”
“Another man died.”
“Yes.”
Guilt filled her face.
“We panicked.”
Alina sat down.
“So you stayed dead.”
“Because Thomas believed you were my weakness.”
“You were right.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“That does not make what I did to you right.”
Finally.
A man who understood.
Eddie looked toward the floor.
“I put the device under Vincent’s SUV.”
Alina’s head snapped up.
“Why?”
“Thomas told me Vincent had ordered Carlo’s death.”
“And Mia saw you.”
“Yes.”
“Did you see her?”
“No.”
“Then Mrs. Alvarez?”
“Teresa caught me later and tried to stop me.”
Teresa nodded.
“He had already planted it.”
Vincent’s voice came through Alina’s concealed earpiece.
“Ask him where Thomas is.”
Alina glared instinctively at the microphone.
Eddie noticed.
“You brought Vincent.”
“Yes.”
He laughed.
“Good.”
That surprised her.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas thinks I’m still working for him.”
Eddie walked to the window.
“He’s coming here.”
“When?”
“Now.”
Headlights appeared outside.
Multiple cars.
Alina’s pulse spiked.
Gabriel reached for a weapon.
She grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“No more men deciding bullets are the first solution.”
Then the front door opened.
Thomas Bellini entered.
Seventy.
Elegant coat.
Silver hair.
Completely calm.
He looked at Alina.
Then smiled.
“Elena’s daughter.”
Alina stood.
“You killed my father.”
Thomas shrugged.
“Carlo made poor choices.”
“You killed Sofia.”
Another shrug.
“She was becoming inconvenient.”
Vincent heard every word.
So did recording equipment.
Good.
Then Thomas looked toward Gabriel.
“And you.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
Thomas smiled.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Then he revealed why he had really come.
Not for Gabriel.
Not for Eddie.
For Alina.
Because Carlo Russo had placed half of his hidden ownership in Marchetti Logistics into a trust for the daughter nobody knew he had.
May you like
Alina.
And those shares were enough to decide who controlled Vincent’s empire.
