Chapter 6 - DAMIAN WAS THERE THE NIGHT MY FATHER DIED
“I was at the hospital.”
Damian said it before I asked.
Bradley remained on speaker.
I stopped breathing.
“Why?”
“Your father called me.”
Dad had died from a heart attack in his apartment.
At least that was what I was told.
Damian continued.
“He said someone had found him.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t know.”
Bradley laughed through the phone.
“He knew.”
Damian ignored him.
“When I arrived, Henry was already unconscious.”
“Did you call 911?”
“Yes.”
“Then why were you never in the report?”
“Because your father’s apartment had evidence tying him to Russo accounts.”
“So you erased yourself.”
“Yes.”
That hurt.
Even now, his first instinct had been control.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
I believed him.
I hated that I believed him, because trust had become dangerous.
Bradley spoke again.
“Ask about the injection.”
Damian’s face changed.
“What injection?”
I whispered.
“Penelope—”
“What injection?”
Damian looked away.
Paramedics found a needle mark on Dad’s arm.
Toxicology showed a sedative.
Not enough to kill him.
Enough to worsen cardiac stress.
Damian had suppressed that detail because it would trigger a homicide investigation into Russo enemies.
“You buried evidence.”
“Yes.”
“My father might have been murdered.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me believe it was natural.”
His eyes filled with something I had rarely seen.
Shame.
“I was wrong.”
Bradley said:
“Touching.”
I picked up the phone.
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because Russo’s family killed Henry.”
“Which member?”
“Meet me.”
“No.”
“Then never know.”
He gave an address.
Old Columbia library annex.
Midnight.
Then disconnected.
Damian immediately said:
“You’re not going.”
I stared.
He corrected himself.
“I don’t want you to go.”
Better.
“I am.”
“Then I’m coming.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“Penny.”
“If Bradley sees you, he won’t talk.”
“I can keep distance.”
“Fine.”
That night, I entered the annex alone.
Bradley waited between dark shelves.
No Natalie.
No tuxedo.
He looked tired.
Older.
Less impressive.
Good.
“You came.”
“Talk.”
He held up a drive.
“Henry’s ledger.”
“Why give it to me?”
“I’m not.”
Of course.
“I need protection.”
“From Damian?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Bradley looked toward the window.
“Damian’s uncle Carlo never ran the theft network.”
“Carlo is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“He worked for someone else.”
“Who?”
Bradley slid a photograph across the table.
Damian.
His mother Sofia.
And another man.
Damian’s older brother, Alessandro Russo.
Reported dead eleven years earlier after a boating accident.
I had seen his photograph once.
Bradley whispered:
“Alessandro is alive.”
Another dead relative.
Apparently mafia families collected them.
“He controls the network.”
“Where?”
“New Jersey.”
“Why target Damian?”
“Because Damian inherited everything Alessandro believes belongs to him.”
“And my father?”
“Henry discovered Alessandro survived.”
My stomach turned.
“Who killed Dad?”
Bradley’s face went pale.
“Not Damian.”
“Who?”
A voice came from behind the shelves.
“You always did talk too much, Bradley.”
Bradley froze.
A man stepped into view.
Older than Damian.
Same eyes.
Same unmistakable face.
Alessandro Russo.
May you like
Alive.
And holding my father’s missing ledger.
Related Stories
