Chapter 10 - The Betrayal Inside Dominic’s Home
Dominic’s security chief was named Luca Ferraro.
He had been at Leo’s birth.
He had stood behind Dominic the night I first met them at Aurelia.
Quiet.
Professional.
Invisible.
When Dominic asked whether he had altered Sofia’s security route the day she died, Luca did not lie.
“Yes.”
Dominic went still.
“Why?”
“Because I received an authenticated instruction.”
“From whom?”
“You.”
Dominic stared at him.
“I never sent it.”
“I know that now.”
The instruction directed Luca to remove Sofia’s escort for ninety minutes.
It carried Dominic’s security credentials.
Voice confirmation.
Everything.
Someone had replicated enough of Dominic’s authorization to fool a man who knew him for fifteen years.
“Who had access?” I asked.
Dominic’s answer was immediate.
“Enzo.”
Every eye moved toward Enzo.
He didn’t flinch.
“No.”
Luca shook his head.
“Not only Enzo.”
Then he looked toward Victor Salvi.
“Sofia’s attorney had temporary authorization during Leo’s custody-document review.”
Victor’s face changed.
The room went silent.
Grace immediately requested the access logs.
Victor left before they arrived.
That told us plenty.
But not enough.
The recovered records showed Victor accessed Dominic’s secure administrative system twice during the month before Sofia died.
He claimed it was for estate paperwork.
One session occurred thirty minutes before the false security instruction.
Dominic wanted him found.
Grace wanted evidence preserved first.
I wanted Sofia’s voice back.
Enzo gave me one more file.
A letter Sofia had written but never sent.
Alina,
I saw you today.
You were carrying four plates and arguing with a bartender about someone stealing your lemons.
I laughed so hard I had to leave before you noticed me.
I had never met her.
And yet those lines felt more intimate than every legal record proving we were sisters.
Sofia wrote that she wanted to approach me.
She didn’t because Victor had warned her someone was monitoring her search.
She believed Carlo wanted the inheritance protected.
She did not yet know Victor had his own motive.
Victor managed legal structures for both families.
If the Bellini trust changed control, years of hidden fees and unauthorized transfers could be exposed.
He wasn’t protecting Carlo.
He was protecting himself.
Then Sofia wrote:
If I fail to reach you, there is something you must know about Leo.
My breath stopped.
Dominic read over my shoulder.
She continued.
I have named you in a sealed guardianship letter.
If anything ever happens to Dominic and me, and if you are found, I want you considered before the family turns my son into another inheritance fight.
I started crying.
Dominic stepped back.
Sofia had never spoken to me.
Never touched me.
Never heard my voice.
Still, after watching me from across a restaurant, she had trusted something.
Not enough to make me Leo’s mother.
I never wanted that.
Enough to ask that I remain in his life.
Then the final paragraph gave us the evidence we needed.
Sofia had photographed Victor meeting with a private investigator two days before her crash.
The investigator’s name matched the company that serviced her car.
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And attached to Sofia’s letter was the location of the original photograph.
A safe-deposit box Victor didn’t know she had.
