Chapter 2 - THE DEAD MAN IN THE HALLWAY
Dominic Moretti did not move.
Emma had seen men become angry before.
Her ex-husband had been loud when he was angry. Doors slammed. Glasses shattered. Words came fast.
Dominic was different.
The quieter he became, the more dangerous the room felt.
Sophie clung to Emma’s side in the darkness while Anthony stepped in front of them and drew his weapon.
The voice came again.
“Dominic.”
A flashlight snapped on.
The beam swept across the old bedroom doorway.
Then stopped.
Emma heard Dominic inhale.
“Uncle Salvatore.”
The man standing in the hall looked close to seventy. Tall but thin. Silver hair. Hollow cheeks. A scar traveled from his temple to his jaw.
Dominic stared at him like a man looking at a ghost.
Salvatore Moretti had been Dominic’s father’s youngest brother.
Ten years earlier, newspapers had reported that Salvatore died when his car exploded near Newark.
There had been a funeral.
A closed casket.
Dominic himself had carried it.
Salvatore looked at Anthony’s gun.
“Put that away before the child sees it.”
Anthony did not move.
Dominic spoke quietly.
“Why are you alive?”
Salvatore glanced toward Sophie.
“Not in front of her.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“You walked into my house after pretending to be dead for ten years. You don’t get to choose where we talk.”
Sophie suddenly whispered, “I know him.”
Every adult went still.
Dominic turned.
“What?”
Sophie was staring at Salvatore.
Emma crouched beside her.
“How do you know him, sweetheart?”
Sophie pointed.
“He was at the lake.”
Salvatore closed his eyes.
Dominic crossed the hallway before Emma could register that he had moved.
He seized Salvatore by the front of his coat and shoved him against the wall.
Anthony stepped closer.
Cassandra appeared behind them.
“Dominic!”
He ignored her.
“What lake?”
Salvatore looked at Sophie.
“She remembers more than I was told.”
Dominic tightened his grip.
“Told by whom?”
“Your wife.”
The hallway went silent.
Dominic stared at him.
“Elena?”
“Yes.”
“My wife told you Sophie remembered the lake?”
Salvatore nodded.
“She was terrified.”
“Of Cassandra?”
“No.”
Cassandra gave a sharp breath.
Salvatore’s gaze shifted toward her.
“She was terrified because she finally understood what your father had built.”
Dominic let him go.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
Salvatore straightened his collar.
“Your father’s body died twelve years ago.”
Emma watched Dominic’s expression change.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means some men leave behind systems that keep working long after they’re buried.”
Dominic glanced toward Sophie.
Then toward Emma.
“Take her to my office.”
Emma hesitated.
Sophie grabbed Dominic’s sleeve.
“Daddy, don’t leave.”
His face softened instantly.
He crouched despite the tension around them.
“I’m right downstairs.”
“The lights went out.”
“I know.”
“The bad room is dark.”
Dominic touched her cheek.
“No one is putting you in that room again.”
Sophie’s eyes filled.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Emma led Sophie away.
As they passed Cassandra, Sophie moved closer to Emma.
That small movement did not escape Dominic.
Neither did it escape Cassandra.
Inside Dominic’s office, Emma closed the door and sat with Sophie on the leather sofa.
“Want some water?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Can I ask you something?”
Sophie watched her cautiously.
“The lake. Do you remember going there with your mommy?”
The child picked at her pajama sleeve.
“Yes.”
“Who else was there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Cassandra there?”
A long pause.
Sophie whispered, “She yelled.”
Emma’s heart beat faster.
“At your mother?”
Sophie shook her head.
“At the other lady.”
“Elena’s sister?”
Sophie nodded.
“What did they call her?”
The child frowned.
“Mara.”
Emma repeated it softly.
“Mara.”
“Mommy said Aunt Mara had to hide.”
“Why?”
Sophie’s breathing changed.
Emma stopped immediately.
“You don’t have to answer.”
Sophie looked toward the office door.
“Because Grandpa’s book was bad.”
Emma felt cold.
“What book?”
Sophie shook her head hard.
“I don’t know.”
Then she pressed both hands over her ears.
Emma pulled her close.
“It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t.
Downstairs, Dominic stood across from the uncle whose death he had mourned.
Salvatore accepted a glass of water from Anthony but did not drink it.
Trevor remained seated in the library, guarded by two men.
Cassandra stood near the fireplace.
Dominic said, “Start with your death.”
Salvatore’s mouth twisted.
“I didn’t fake it for money.”
“I didn’t ask why.”
“The explosion was real.”
“Then whose body was in the car?”
“A man who had already been killed.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“By who?”
“I never found out.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to understand that your father’s organization had enemies inside it.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“My father trusted you.”
“He shouldn’t have.”
Cassandra looked at Salvatore.
“You said you came here to help.”
Dominic turned to her.
“You knew he was alive.”
Cassandra froze.
Salvatore cursed under his breath.
Dominic walked toward her.
“How long?”
“Dominic—”
“How long have you known?”
She looked frightened for the first time.
“Six months.”
Trevor whispered, “Cass.”
She ignored him.
“Salvatore approached me.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena left information with him.”
Dominic stared at her.
“My dead wife left information with my supposedly dead uncle, and neither of you thought I needed to know?”
Salvatore said, “Because Elena didn’t trust you.”
The words landed harder than a punch.
Dominic turned slowly.
“What did you say?”
“She loved you. But she didn’t trust what you would do if you learned the truth.”
“What truth?”
Salvatore finally drank the water.
“Your father kept records.”
“Every business keeps records.”
“Not these.”
Salvatore set down the glass.
“Names. Judges. Police. Politicians. Payments. Blackmail. People your father controlled. People who controlled him.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“A ledger.”
“A ledger that could destroy half the men who once worked with him.”
“Where is it?”
“That is what Elena discovered.”
“And?”
“And the night she died, she was trying to move it.”
The room became quiet.
Dominic had spent four years believing Elena died when her car went off a rain-slick road near Lake Ronkonkoma.
Police called it an accident.
He had blamed himself because he had been in Boston that night.
Now he heard himself ask, “Was her death an accident?”
Salvatore looked at him.
“No.”
Cassandra sat down.
Trevor stared at the floor.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Who killed my wife?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“You know enough to walk into my house after ten years.”
“I know Elena was being followed.”
“By who?”
“She never told me.”
“Why was Sophie there?”
Salvatore’s face tightened.
“Elena didn’t have anyone else she trusted.”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling as if he could see his daughter through it.
“What did Sophie see?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were at the lake.”
“I arrived after Elena sent me a message.”
“What message?”
Salvatore reached inside his coat.
Anthony lifted his gun.
“Easy.”
Salvatore slowly removed an old phone.
He opened a photograph.
A screenshot of a text.
ELENA:
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, MARA KNOWS WHERE THE BOOK IS. PROTECT SOPHIE. DO NOT TRUST A MORETTI.
Dominic read it twice.
Then again.
“Do not trust a Moretti.”
Salvatore nodded.
“That is why your tape said the traitor was your own…”
Dominic looked at him.
“Family.”
“Yes.”
From upstairs came a crash.
Dominic ran.
Emma had just risen from the sofa when the office window exploded inward.
Sophie screamed.
Emma threw herself over the child.
A small metal object rolled across the carpet.
Not a bullet.
A cylinder.
Anthony reached the doorway and shouted, “Down!”
Smoke erupted.
Dominic appeared through it, lifted Sophie with one arm and grabbed Emma with the other.
They stumbled into the corridor.
Security alarms began shrieking.
Anthony kicked the cylinder away.
Dominic looked at Emma.
“You hurt?”
“No.”
“Sophie?”
“Scared.”
Dominic passed his daughter to Emma.
Then looked toward the shattered window.
Outside, headlights raced away along the private service road.
Anthony spoke into his radio.
“North team, intercept.”
Static answered.
Nothing else.
Dominic looked sharply at him.
Anthony tried again.
No response.
Then one of the guards came running.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“The north gate was opened from inside.”
Dominic’s expression went still.
“By who?”
The guard hesitated.
“Your mother’s access code.”
Dominic stared at him.
“My mother is upstairs asleep.”
“No, boss.”
The guard swallowed.
“Mrs. Moretti left the estate forty minutes ago.”
Dominic looked toward the hall.
“No one was supposed to leave.”
“She overrode the lockdown.”
A terrible silence followed.
Then Salvatore reached the top of the stairs.
Dominic looked at him.
Salvatore’s face had gone pale.
“Where did your mother go?”
Dominic didn’t answer.
He called her phone.
It rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then someone picked up.
There was no greeting.
Only the sound of water.
Dominic frowned.
“Mother?”
A woman began crying softly on the other end.
Then Teresa Moretti whispered:
“Dominic, I’m sorry.”
A man took the phone from her.
May you like
And spoke four words.
“Bring me the ledger.”
