Chapter 3 - THE MAN DOMINIC TRUSTED
Nobody reached for a weapon.
That frightened Hannah more than if they had.
Dominic Romano simply held the note between two fingers and stared at Leo Grant.
The two men had known each other for almost twenty years.
Hannah knew that much.
Leo had worked for Dominic’s father before Dominic inherited control of the Romano organization. He had been at Dominic’s wedding. He had carried Caleb out of the church after his christening when the boy fell asleep.
Dominic trusted very few people.
Leo was one of them.
“Ask you why what?” Dominic said.
Leo’s face gave nothing away.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic handed him the note.
Leo read the final line.
His jaw flexed.
“I’ve never seen this.”
“Not what I asked.”
Leo looked up.
“I don’t know what they want you to ask me.”
Dominic walked toward him.
“You have thirty seconds to remember.”
Hannah expected Leo to become defensive.
Instead, he looked tired.
“Anthony called me the night he died.”
Dominic stopped.
Evelyn whispered, “Oh God.”
Dominic’s face turned to stone.
“You told me he never called.”
“I lied.”
The confession seemed to remove all oxygen from the room.
“Why?”
“Because your father ordered me to.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“My father was in Atlantic City that night.”
“No.”
Leo shook his head.
“He was supposed to be.”
Dominic stared at him.
Leo continued.
“Anthony called me at 10:42 p.m. He sounded terrified. I’d never heard him like that.”
“What did he say?”
“That something had gone wrong.”
“What?”
“He wouldn’t tell me over the phone.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“He was my brother.”
“I know.”
“You watched me spend eighteen years believing his car went through that guardrail because he was drunk.”
“I know.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was twenty-six. Your father controlled everything I had.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He threatened my family.”
Dominic gave a humorless smile.
“We all had families, Leo.”
Leo’s voice cracked.
“I had a two-year-old daughter.”
Dominic froze.
Hannah had never heard Leo mention a daughter.
“She died three years later,” Leo said quietly. “Leukemia.”
Something in Dominic shifted.
Not forgiveness.
But context.
“What did Anthony want that night?”
“He wanted me to meet him at Broad Street.”
“The station?”
“Not exactly.”
Leo walked toward the table and pointed to the torn note.
“The old station had already been partially converted by 2008. Storage rooms, utility tunnels, municipal archive space. Private contractors rented sections of the basement.”
Dominic looked at the key.
“Locker 217.”
“I never saw it. But Anthony mentioned a locker.”
“What happened?”
“I drove there.”
“And?”
“He never arrived.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“You just said he asked you to meet him.”
“He did.”
“Where was he?”
“I found out later his car had gone off Kelly Drive.”
Hannah glanced at Evelyn.
The older woman looked sick.
Dominic asked, “Who else knew about the meeting?”
Leo looked toward Evelyn.
“Rose.”
Dominic’s head turned.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“She knew Anthony was in trouble?”
“She knew more than any of us.”
Dominic glanced at the cassette.
“Play the rest.”
Evelyn immediately shook her head.
“Not here.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because Rose made copies.”
Silence.
“What copies?”
“Of everything.”
Dominic’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“How do you know?”
“Because she gave one to me.”
Hannah stared.
“You have another tape?”
“Not anymore.”
“What happened to it?”
Evelyn looked ashamed.
“Victor found me.”
“When?”
“2011.”
Three years after Anthony’s death.
“He came to my house. He told me Sarah was dead because she had refused to let the past stay buried.”
Hannah felt her chest tighten.
“My mother died in a highway accident.”
Evelyn didn’t answer.
Hannah’s eyes widened.
“No.”
“I don’t know what happened to Sarah.”
“You just said—”
“I know Victor implied he was responsible. I could never prove it.”
Hannah stepped away.
Her mother.
Her father.
Every death in her childhood suddenly had a question mark behind it.
Dominic reached for the cassette recorder.
“Then we hear what Rose knew.”
He pressed PLAY.
Static.
Then Rose Romano’s voice.
“Dominic, if Anthony is dead, there are three things you must understand.”
The room became absolutely still.
“First, your brother did not betray this family.”
Dominic’s eyes flickered.
“Second, the evidence he hid was never about our business. It was about Victor Vale and men inside the city government who used Romano companies without our knowledge.”
Leo swore softly.
Rose continued.
“Third, Sarah Parker and her daughter must never be found by Victor.”
Hannah’s hand flew to her mouth.
Dominic stared at the recorder.
“If Hannah is ever brought near our family, somebody has already found her.”
The tape clicked.
Hannah whispered, “Brought near?”
Dominic’s face changed.
The recording continued.
“Anthony wanted to acknowledge Hannah publicly. Your father refused. He believed it would expose her. They fought. Anthony threatened to leave Philadelphia.”
Evelyn began to cry silently.
“On October twelfth, Anthony called me. He said he had evidence Victor ordered a man named Julian Cross to retrieve the files at any cost.”
Dominic looked at Leo.
“Julian Cross.”
Leo’s face drained.
Hannah noticed.
“Who is he?”
Dominic answered without looking at her.
“My father’s former attorney.”
The tape continued.
“Dominic, if Julian is still alive, do not trust anyone who tells you Victor Vale acted alone.”
Static swallowed the next several seconds.
Then Rose’s voice returned.
“The Romano family was betrayed from the inside.”
Dominic stopped the tape.
“Leo.”
“I was not working with Cross.”
“You recognized his name.”
“Everybody from that era knew him.”
Dominic stared at him.
“That wasn’t recognition. That was fear.”
Leo rubbed one hand over his face.
“Cross disappeared in 2009.”
“Why?”
“Because your father discovered money missing from several holding companies.”
“How much?”
“Almost twelve million.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“And nobody thought this was connected?”
“Your father buried it.”
“Why?”
Leo didn’t answer.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because Cross knew things about him.”
Dominic laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“My father. Victor Vale. Julian Cross. My brother dead. Rose hiding tapes.”
He pointed toward Hannah.
“And Anthony’s daughter ends up cleaning rooms under my roof eighteen years later.”
Hannah’s stomach tightened at the word.
Daughter.
Anthony’s daughter.
Her.
Dominic looked at her.
Something passed between them that neither understood yet.
Family.
Not by choice.
Not by history they remembered.
But by blood.
The clock read 11:31.
Hannah picked up the ransom note.
“They want me at Broad Street.”
“You’re not going,” Dominic said.
“They specifically asked for me.”
“Exactly.”
“If I don’t go, we may lose the only person who knows what happened.”
Dominic looked at her as if she had suggested walking into traffic.
“No.”
Hannah felt anger rise.
“For eighteen years, everybody in this room knew something about my life except me.”
“Hannah—”
“My grandmother lied. Leo lied. Your mother hid evidence. Your father hid the fact that Anthony had a child.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“And now Lauren somehow knows all of it.”
“Yes.”
“And you think I’m staying here?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
They stared at each other.
Leo almost looked amused.
Wrong time.
Very wrong time.
Dominic saw it.
“You find this funny?”
“No, boss.”
“You’re smiling.”
“I’m remembering Anthony.”
Dominic went still.
Leo glanced at Hannah.
“He used to argue exactly like that.”
Hannah didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Dominic certainly did neither.
“Get the cars.”
Leo blinked.
“What?”
“We’re going to Broad Street.”
Hannah exhaled.
Dominic pointed at her.
“You stay beside me.”
“I can do that.”
“You do not improvise.”
“I don’t improvise.”
Leo coughed.
Dominic ignored him.
Fifteen minutes later, two black SUVs moved through downtown Philadelphia.
Broad Street glowed beneath streetlights.
The old station itself had been gone for decades, but sections of the underground infrastructure remained beneath nearby buildings.
Leo had located an abandoned municipal service entrance behind a shuttered commercial property.
11:56.
Dominic, Hannah, Leo and four men entered.
The tunnel smelled like dust and wet concrete.
Hannah held the gold key.
Numbers had been painted above rusted doors.
Then—
Her heart raced.
Dominic moved ahead of her.
The key fit.
He turned it.
The door opened into a narrow storage room.
Empty.
Almost.
A single metal chair stood beneath a hanging work light.
On the chair was a photograph.
Hannah picked it up.
Anthony Romano.
Sarah Parker.
And a baby.
Hannah.
Dominic stared over her shoulder.
On the back was a fresh message.
SHE WAS NEVER THE TARGET.
Hannah frowned.
“Who was?”
A sound came from the darkness.
Click.
Leo spun.
“Down!”
The lights vanished.
Hannah felt Dominic grab her and pull her behind a concrete wall.
A gunshot cracked somewhere in the tunnel.
Then another.
Shouting.
Footsteps.
Seconds later, emergency lights flickered red.
Nobody had been hit.
But Leo was gone.
Dominic stared down the empty corridor.
“Hannah.”
She looked toward the chair.
Something had appeared beneath it.
A small phone.
Its screen lit up.
INCOMING VIDEO CALL.
Dominic answered.
Lauren Vale appeared.
Her hair was wet from rain.
Behind her stood Leo.
His hands were bound.
Hannah whispered, “Oh my God.”
Lauren smiled.
“Midnight, Dominic.”
His expression became terrifyingly calm.
“Where are you?”
“You’re still asking the wrong question.”
“Untie him.”
“Why? Because he’s loyal?”
She laughed softly.
“Leo has been lying to you since Anthony died.”
Dominic glanced at Leo on the screen.
Lauren leaned closer.
“You want to know who really killed your brother?”
Hannah stopped breathing.
May you like
Lauren’s smile disappeared.
“Ask Leo what he did with Anthony’s car.”
