Chapter 11 - The Brother Who Never Died
Dominic spent the drive to the stockyards staring through the windshield as if Chicago had become a city he no longer recognized.
His father had been dead for eight years. Matteo had supposedly died six years ago. Yet the documents suggested both men had participated in a conspiracy that had shaped Dominic's entire life.
Bee watched him carefully.
"Your father may have signed those documents under pressure."
"He built this organization."
"That doesn't mean he controlled everyone in it."
Dominic turned toward her.
"You still believe people can be good."
"I believe people can make terrible choices without becoming incapable of making better ones."
He looked away.
They reached the stockyards shortly before dawn. Bee entered alone, carrying a decoy ledger inside a leather briefcase. Dominic remained in a nearby building with two trusted men he had summoned from outside Chicago.
The warehouse smelled of oil and wet concrete.
A single light hung above a metal chair.
Michael Gallagher sat beneath it, his wrists bound. His face was thinner than in the photographs, but his eyes brightened when Bee approached.
"Sweetheart."
Bee ran to him.
He pulled her into his arms as far as the restraints allowed, and for several seconds, neither spoke.
Then she stepped back.
"Why did you disappear?"
Pain crossed his face.
"Because the people who wanted me dead would have used you to control me."
"You let me believe you were dead."
"I thought it was the only way to keep you safe."
"You were wrong."
Michael lowered his head.
"Yes."
The simple admission broke something inside her.
Before she could ask another question, a door opened behind them.
Matteo Rossi walked into the warehouse.
He looked older than Dominic, with silver threading through his dark hair and a thin scar running from his ear to his jaw. The serpent ring gleamed on his right hand.
"Family reunions are always touching," he said.
Bee placed the briefcase on the floor.
"Let him go."
Matteo smiled.
"You have your father's eyes."
"And you have his enemies' money."
His smile disappeared.
Michael struggled against his restraints.
"Beatrice, don't give him anything!"
Matteo drew a pistol and aimed it at Michael's chest.
"Your father has spent twenty years believing he could outsmart me. Perhaps you should ask him what happened to your mother."
Bee went rigid.
"My mother died of cancer."
"That's the story you were told."
Michael's face crumpled.
Matteo stepped closer.
"Your mother discovered where I was hiding. She tried to contact Dominic's father, hoping he would expose me. Instead, she was followed."
Bee couldn't breathe.
"You're lying."
"Ask your father."
She turned toward Michael.
He couldn't meet her eyes.
Matteo smiled again.
"Your mother didn't die because she was sick, Beatrice. She died because someone in this family decided that keeping a secret was worth more than saving her life."
Michael finally whispered the name.
"Lorenzo's father."
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But Matteo's expression revealed the truth was even worse.
"Lorenzo's father took the order," he said. "I gave it."
