Chapter 7 - THE BLACK CROSS FAMILY
Dominic’s mother had been Sofia DeLuca before she married Salvatore Moretti.
The DeLucas were not Mafia.
Not exactly.
They owned shipping warehouses, trucking yards, and customs brokerage firms stretching from Boston to Baltimore.
Their emblem was a black cross.
After Sofia died, Salvatore absorbed much of the business.
Dominic believed the rest had been sold.
It hadn’t.
Carlo Bellini had been using dormant DeLuca companies for years to move money and untaxed cargo through Moretti-controlled ports.
Nathan’s video proved it.
But the cross meant something else too.
Dominic found an old photograph in his mother’s files.
Sofia wearing a black cross necklace.
The same one Leo carried.
Grace stared.
“How did Elena get it?”
“I gave it to her.”
Dominic’s voice softened.
“When?”
“The last night I saw her.”
That explained why Leo guarded it.
It was more than proof.
It was a piece of both parents.
Marco entered the room.
“We found Peter Sloan.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Real name?”
“David Rizzo.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Anthony’s son.
Grace sat down.
The fake lawyer helping her family after Nathan’s accident was the son of Dominic’s security chief.
This was no coincidence.
“They’ve been watching us for eighteen months,” she whispered.
Dominic shook his head.
“Longer.”
“Why?”
Marco placed another file on the table.
Rose Bennett.
Grace’s mother.
Before marrying, her name had been Rose DeLuca.
Nobody spoke.
Grace laughed once because the alternative was screaming.
“No.”
Her mother had never mentioned any relatives beyond a dead sister.
Dominic looked as shocked as Grace.
“What was your grandfather’s name?”
“Samuel.”
Marco checked.
Samuel DeLuca.
Sofia’s younger brother.
Dominic stood despite his injuries.
“That makes Rose my cousin.”
Grace’s mouth fell open.
“And me?”
“Second cousin.”
Nathan groaned.
“This story is getting ridiculous.”
For once, everyone agreed.
But DNA and birth records confirmed it.
Grace Bennett had worked fourteen months in Dominic Moretti’s mansion without either realizing their mothers came from the same family line.
More importantly, after Sofia’s death, a portion of DeLuca Shipping should have passed to Samuel.
It never did.
Carlo Bellini and Vincent Moretti diverted the assets through shell companies.
Rose had unknowingly inherited a legal claim worth millions.
Grace stared at Dominic.
“Carlo’s been monitoring Mom because of inheritance?”
“Possibly.”
Nathan shook his head.
“Then why cause my accident?”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“To scare your mother away from reopening old records.”
Rose had recently requested her father’s original employment and pension files while applying for medical assistance.
That request alerted Bellini accountants.
Within six weeks, Nathan’s crash occurred.
Then the fake lawyer appeared.
Grace felt sick.
Her family had spent eighteen months drowning in medical bills and rehabilitation expenses because people with money feared paperwork.
Dominic said:
“We give everything to federal prosecutors.”
Marco looked surprised.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
“That opens our books too.”
“I know.”
Grace studied him.
“You could lose businesses.”
“Yes.”
“People could be charged.”
“Yes.”
“Including yours.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dominic looked toward Leo playing cards with Lucia.
“Because I’m done protecting dead men’s decisions with living people’s lives.”
Grace’s chest tightened.
Before anyone could respond, Rose arrived under security.
The moment she saw the black cross on the table, she stopped.
“Oh God.”
Grace turned.
“Mom?”
Rose looked at Dominic.
Then at the cross.
“You found Sofia’s necklace.”
Dominic stared.
“You knew my mother?”
Rose’s eyes filled.
“She was my cousin.”
Then she said something none of them expected.
“And she didn’t die from an illness.”
Dominic went completely still.
“What?”
May you like
Rose’s voice broke.
“Sofia Moretti was murdered.”
