Chapter 2 - THE BROTHER DOMINIC BURIED TWICE
Dominic remembered Adrian’s funeral in fragments.
Rain hitting black umbrellas.
His mother Teresa making one terrible sound when coffin lowered.
Carmine standing beside Dominic with one hand around his shoulder.
A priest speaking about mercy.
Dominic feeling none.
Adrian had died with $1.8 million missing from Russo accounts.
At least that was what Carmine showed him.
Bank transfers.
Internal approvals.
Two witnesses.
Adrian’s digital authorization.
Dominic had stared at dead brother’s photograph and felt betrayal harder than grief.
He had buried Adrian twice.
Once in cemetery.
Once in his heart.
Now Norah Blake stood before him wearing Adrian’s ring.
“You’re lying.”
Norah flinched.
Dominic hated himself for saying it.
But disbelief was easier than entire past collapsing.
“My mother told me not to find you.”
“Why?”
“She said Rus... your family would kill me.”
“Who told her that?”
Norah stared.
“Carmine.”
Of course.
Dominic leaned back against shelf.
“What exactly did he tell her?”
“That Adrian had betrayed you. That you believed she helped. That if she came to funeral after burial or contacted your mother, you’d treat her as accomplice.”
“That’s not true.”
“She believed it.”
“Why?”
“Because two men followed her from hospital after Adrian died.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“What hospital?”
“She was pregnant. She panicked. Went to emergency room.”
“Who followed?”
“She never knew.”
Carmine.
Probably.
Norah continued.
“Elena left New York within forty-eight hours.”
“Where?”
“Philadelphia first. Then Pittsburgh. Then Connecticut.”
“Why use Blake?”
“Her mother’s surname.”
Dominic looked again at ring.
“Why did she keep it?”
“Because Adrian gave it to her night before he died.”
Dominic closed eyes.
Memory.
Adrian wore ring on right hand from age eighteen.
Teresa gave it.
After accident, police told Dominic ring wasn’t found.
He assumed crash.
No.
Adrian had given to Elena.
“Why?”
“He told her if anything happened, ring proved she belonged to him.”
Dominic’s throat tightened.
“And baby?”
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“He wanted leave.”
That word.
Leave.
“Leave what?”
“Everything.”
Norah gestured vaguely.
“Your world.”
Dominic stared.
“He never told me.”
“He was afraid you’d stop him.”
That hurt because it might have been true.
At thirty-two, Dominic already controlled family businesses after Vittorio’s illness.
He believed leaving meant betrayal.
Maybe Adrian knew.
Footsteps passed storage room.
Both went silent.
Dominic waited.
Then radio.
Daniel Mercer:
“Basement team lost two.”
Carmine:
“Russo?”
“Missing.”
Carmine cursed.
“Seal west stairwell. Isabella is upstairs.”
Dominic’s head snapped.
Norah saw.
“Your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Then go.”
“We are.”
“How?”
Dominic opened cabinet.
Behind shelves was narrow service access grandfather installed for prohibition-era liquor storage.
Norah stared.
“Seriously?”
“Old houses have personality.”
“You mean crimes.”
“Sometimes same.”
They moved.
Dark passage led toward wine cellar.
As they walked Norah spoke quickly.
“My mother died eight months ago.”
Dominic stopped.
“How?”
“Cancer.”
“I’m sorry.”
Norah looked surprised.
Maybe she expected no softness.
“She left journal.”
“Adrian’s?”
“Hers.”
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“Your apartment?”
Norah hesitated.
Dominic caught.
“No.”
“Then where?”
“Somewhere Carmine won’t find.”
“You hope.”
“I know.”
“You knew he was searching.”
“My apartment got broken into two weeks ago.”
“What was taken?”
“Nothing.”
“Then he wanted information.”
“Yes.”
“And you still came to work?”
“I needed get inside house.”
Dominic looked at her.
There.
Truth.
“You weren't hired by accident.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“To watch Carmine.”
“You came into Russo townhouse to investigate underboss.”
“Yes.”
“Reckless.”
“Family trait.”
That almost made him smile.
“You sound like Adrian.”
“So my mother said.”
“What did she tell you about Carmine?”
“That he and Adrian were friends.”
“They were.”
“That Adrian trusted him.”
“So did I.”
Norah looked.
“Did Carmine hate Adrian?”
“I thought he loved him.”
“Maybe both.”
Dominic had spent life around men capable of affection and violence simultaneously.
Maybe Norah was right.
They emerged near wine cellar.
A wounded man stumbled around corner.
Marco Santoro.
Dominic’s driver.
“Boss.”
Dominic caught him.
Blood soaked upper sleeve.
“Shot?”
“Graze.”
“Who?”
“Mercer’s men.”
Marco looked at Norah.
“Who’s she?”
“My niece.”
Norah stared at Dominic.
He stared back.
No time for discussion.
Marco blinked twice.
“What?”
“Later.”
“Isabella?”
Marco’s face changed.
Dominic gripped him.
“Alive?”
“Yes. Carmine brought her through east entrance.”
“He touched my daughter?”
“Not roughly. Said you were injured and needed her.”
Dominic went cold.
“Where?”
“Library.”
Norah said:
“I know another route.”
Both men looked.
“I clean rooms,” she said. “Nobody notices staff.”
She led them through pantry toward east servants’ hall.
Marco whispered:
“Ballroom?”
“Locked,” he said. “Guests think there’s security emergency. Teresa inside.”
Dominic asked:
“Can loyal men get them out?”
“Maybe fifteen still yours. Problem is nobody knows who.”
Exactly Carmine’s plan.
Confusion.
Dominic said:
“Marco, get to ballroom service door. Find my mother. Keep her down.”
“You?”
“Library.”
Marco nodded.
Norah touched wall panel near linen closet.
Loose wood.
Behind it narrow cavity.
Dominic stared.
“You found this cleaning?”
“Rich people should stop assuming housekeepers are invisible and blind at same time.”
They crawled.
At library wall, voices carried.
Carmine.
Isabella.
“Uncle Carmine,” she said, angry now. “Where is Dad?”
Dominic closed eyes briefly.
Uncle.
Carmine had been Uncle Carmine since Isabella could speak.
He taught her cards.
Drove her to first day at medical school when Dominic was stuck in hearing.
Threatened her first boyfriend too much.
Real memories.
False loyalty.
Carmine said:
“Your father will be here.”
“You said he was shot.”
“He’s hurt.”
“Then call ambulance.”
Silence.
Isabella:
“You’re lying.”
Dominic almost smiled.
His daughter.
Carmine sighed.
“You've always been too much like him.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn't compliment.”
“Still taking it.”
Then another voice.
Daniel Mercer.
“We don’t have long.”
Carmine:
“Russo opens vault, then this ends.”
Isabella:
“What’s in vault?”
Carmine laughed softly.
“Your family’s future.”
Dominic leaned closer.
Carmine continued:
“Your father doesn’t deserve what he inherited.”
“From Grandpa Vittorio?”
“From everyone.”
Something deep.
Then:
“Your grandfather destroyed my father.”
Dominic frowned.
Norah watched.
Carmine was revealing old grievance.
Joseph Bell.
Carmine’s father.
Dominic remembered only fragments.
A trucking fraud case when boys were young.
Joseph went prison.
Vittorio said Joseph volunteered.
Dominic never questioned.
Carmine told Isabella:
“My father spent seventeen years in prison because Vittorio Russo needed scapegoat.”
Isabella said nothing.
“Your grandfather falsified evidence. Paid witness. Took company.”
Dominic felt sick.
Could be lie.
But Carmine’s voice carried pain.
“Dad knew?”
“Dominic was fifteen.”
“Then why blame him?”
“Because he inherited everything my father lost.”
There.
Inheritance as guilt.
Norah whispered:
“Same thing he did to Adrian.”
Inside Carmine said:
“Adrian found truth.”
Dominic’s breath stopped.
“He helped me.”
Norah gripped wall.
Carmine continued.
“Your uncle and I spent months digging through old records. Then Adrian discovered something else.”
“What?”
“The ledger.”
Book of Sins.
Dominic looked at Norah.
Carmine:
“It documented every payoff Vittorio ever made. Judges. Police. Union men. Contractors. Politicians. Every partner he cheated.”
Isabella:
“And where is it?”
“Adrian hid it before he died.”
“Did you kill him?”
Silence.
A long one.
Carmine finally said:
“I caused his death.”
Norah’s face crumpled.
Dominic’s hand clenched.
“How?”
Isabella asked.
Carmine whispered:
“I helped damage his brakes.”
Dominic almost burst through wall.
Norah grabbed his sleeve with both hands.
“No.”
He looked murderous.
“Let him talk.”
Inside Isabella sounded horrified.
“You murdered Uncle Adrian.”
“I wanted stop him from leaving.”
“With broken brakes?”
“I thought he'd get scared and come back.”
“That makes no sense.”
“No,” Carmine said. “It doesn't.”
His voice cracked.
“He was leaving with Elena.”
Norah shut eyes.
“Elena?”
Isabella asked.
“Woman he loved.”
“Pregnant?”
Carmine went silent.
Isabella had heard something maybe from Teresa? She guessed from context.
Then Carmine whispered:
“Yes.”
Dominic felt Norah shaking beside him.
Carmine:
“He said he would take ledger and disappear.”
“Why stop him?”
“Because he was taking only proof my father had been framed.”
“And because of Elena?”
Carmine said nothing.
That silence revealed another secret.
Norah whispered:
“He loved my mother.”
Dominic looked.
“How know?”
“My mother wrote that Carmine used to watch her.”
Inside Isabella asked same thing.
“Were you in love with Elena?”
Carmine’s answer barely audible.
“Yes.”
Norah turned away and covered mouth.
The betrayal wasn't only business.
It was jealousy.
Family.
Revenge.
Possession.
Then library door opened.
Teresa Russo entered.
Daniel escorted her.
“Carmine, what in God's name is this?”
Dominic stared through crack.
His mother stood straight in green silk.
No fear yet.
Then she saw Isabella.
Armed men.
Her face changed.
Carmine smiled sadly.
“Mama Russo.”
Teresa slapped him.
Hard.
Dominic almost smiled despite everything.
“You ate at my table,” she hissed.
“I know.”
“I washed your clothes.”
“I know.”
“I treated you like son.”
Carmine’s eyes filled.
“And you knew what Vittorio did to my father.”
Teresa froze.
Dominic’s heart stopped.
Carmine leaned closer.
“You knew.”
Teresa looked suddenly old.
Then whispered:
“Yes.”
That one word tore another foundation away.
Dominic stared at mother.
Norah stared too.
Carmine laughed through tears.
“There. Finally.”
Teresa said:
“I learned after Joseph went to prison.”
“And did nothing.”
“I had children.”
“You had me!”
Carmine shouted.
“You called me son!”
Teresa flinched.
“I was afraid.”
“Of Vittorio?”
“Yes.”
“He was monster.”
“Yes.”
Dominic closed eyes.
He had spent lifetime defending father.
Carmine continued:
“And when Adrian learned truth, he tried escape.”
Teresa said nothing.
“You knew that too.”
“Yes.”
Norah whispered:
“She knew.”
Then Teresa said:
“But Adrian didn’t die because he found truth.”
Carmine’s expression shifted.
“He died because you obeyed Vittorio.”
Silence.
Dominic stared.
What?
Carmine went pale.
Isabella asked:
“What does that mean?”
Teresa said:
“Vittorio ordered Adrian’s brakes cut.”
Norah stopped breathing.
Dominic felt entire world tilt.
His father.
Not only Carmine.
His father had ordered his own son killed.
Carmine whispered:
“He told me to stop Adrian.”
“And you did.”
“I thought—”
“No,” Teresa snapped. “You wanted Elena and ledger. Vittorio wanted silence. You both used same car.”
Carmine’s hands shook.
Teresa stepped closer.
“You hate Vittorio because he destroyed your father.”
Her voice dropped.
“Then you became exactly like him.”
Carmine recoiled.
Dominic could no longer wait.
He pushed panel open.
Every weapon turned.
Isabella stood.
“Dad!”
Carmine’s face emptied.
Dominic stepped inside.
Norah emerged behind him.
Teresa saw ring.
Saw face.
She whispered one name.
“Adrian?”
Norah’s lips trembled.
“No.”
Teresa covered mouth.
“My name is Norah.”
Dominic watched mother understand.
Her granddaughter.
The child she had lost.
Carmine looked toward Norah with naked fear.
Not because maid.
Because proof.
May you like
Norah held phone up.
“And I recorded everything.”
