Chapter 6 - WHAT HIS MOTHER DID
Julian dropped the recorder.
Hannah caught it before it hit the floor.
Dominic’s mother stood across the ballroom.
She looked as if somebody had struck her.
Julian turned toward her.
“You knew me.”
Her lips parted.
“You were six.”
“You knew me before Dad brought me home.”
“Yes.”
The room seemed to contract.
Dominic moved between them again, but Julian stepped around him.
“No. I need to hear this.”
Their mother nodded slowly.
“My name was Eleanor Bellini before I married your father.”
Dominic stared.
“Bellini.”
She looked at the signet ring.
“My father gave Vincent that ring when we married.”
The supposedly Moretti heirloom had not begun with the Morettis at all.
It came from her family.
“Claire Cross worked for my father,” Eleanor continued. “We became friends.”
Madeline whispered, “You knew my aunt.”
“I loved her.”
Madeline flinched.
Eleanor looked at Julian.
“When Claire became pregnant, she refused to name the father.”
Gabriel gave a bitter laugh.
“Vincent made sure she didn’t.”
Dominic ignored him.
Eleanor continued.
“Years later, I learned Elias was Vincent’s.”
Julian’s face twisted.
“And you stayed with him.”
“I had Dominic. Then Julian. I told myself leaving would put all of us in danger.”
Julian looked toward the red coat.
“What did I see?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Vincent killed Frank Russo.”
Anthony stopped breathing.
“My grandfather?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Yes.”
Anthony’s face went blank.
Everyone had believed Frank Russo died in a robbery.
Eleanor continued.
“Frank discovered Vincent had been stealing from Bellini accounts. He confronted him at the warehouse.”
“And Elias was there,” Dominic said.
“Claire had brought him because she was planning to leave New York.”
Julian touched his scar.
“What happened to me?”
“You ran toward Frank when the gun went off.”
Eleanor’s voice shook.
“You fell against a metal shelf and cut your shoulder.”
The crescent scar.
Another memory answered.
Julian whispered, “Blood on the floor.”
Anthony turned away.
Gabriel picked up the recorder.
“So Vincent didn’t just need Elias silent. He needed Frank Russo’s death hidden.”
Anthony looked at him.
“My father knew.”
“Your father helped cover it up because Vincent threatened you and your mother.”
Anthony’s eyes filled with fury.
“My father spent the rest of his life protecting this family.”
“He spent the rest of his life trying to protect you from what he helped build.”
Dominic raised a hand.
“Enough.”
He looked at Eleanor.
“What did you mean on the recording?”
She stared at the floor.
“I arranged for Claire to leave with Elias.”
Julian blinked.
“You saved me?”
“I tried.”
That was the reversal none of them expected.
Eleanor wiped her face.
“The words on the tape sound monstrous because Vincent didn’t know I had discovered his plan. I told him I would make sure Elias forgot me so he would believe I was helping.”
“You lied to Dad.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Claire and Elias disappeared.”
Gabriel spoke.
“Thomas Cross helped them.”
Madeline looked at him.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s expression softened slightly.
“Thomas took his sister and Elias to Pennsylvania under different names.”
Julian shook his head.
“Then how did I end up back here?”
Eleanor’s face collapsed.
“Because Claire died.”
Madeline closed her eyes.
“How?”
“A car accident. Real accident. Elias survived.”
Julian stared at her.
“Then Dad found me.”
“Yes.”
“He knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“And you let him turn me into Julian.”
Eleanor’s silence was unbearable.
Finally she said, “I thought if Vincent believed Elias was gone forever, he would stop looking for the truth.”
“You erased me.”
“I protected you badly.”
The sentence hung there.
No excuse.
No demand for forgiveness.
Just truth.
Julian looked away.
For the first time, Dominic understood why their mother had hidden Gabriel’s possible return.
She had spent thirty years trying to keep one secret from swallowing her sons.
And every lie had only made it larger.
Hannah crouched beside the red coat.
“There’s something sewn into the lining.”
Madeline joined her.
They found a stiff rectangle under the hem.
Dominic carefully opened an old seam.
A photograph slid out.
Different from the first.
It showed Eleanor, Claire and two little boys sitting on a park bench.
Dominic recognized himself immediately.
Maybe five.
Beside him sat Elias.
Julian.
Both laughing.
On the back, Claire had written:
THE BROTHERS SHOULD KNOW EACH OTHER ONE DAY.
Dominic handed it to Julian.
His brother touched the image.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then:
“I knew you.”
Dominic’s throat tightened.
“Apparently.”
“I knew you before I became Julian.”
Dominic nodded.
Julian gave one broken laugh.
“That’s messed up.”
Hannah smiled sadly.
“That’s one word for it.”
A faint smile passed across Julian’s face.
Then Anthony’s radio came alive.
One of the guards spoke.
“Power’s back. But we found something at the east gate.”
Anthony answered.
“What?”
“A vehicle. Empty.”
“What vehicle?”
“Black SUV registered to Cross Development.”
Madeline stiffened.
“My company.”
The guard continued.
“There’s a backpack inside.”
Hannah went pale.
“What kind?”
“School backpack.”
Hannah grabbed Anthony’s radio.
“What color?”
“Green.”
Her knees almost gave out.
“My brother’s backpack is green.”
Dominic caught her elbow.
The threat photograph.
The thirteen-year-old boy leaving school.
Hannah’s voice cracked.
“Is Ethan here?”
Nobody answered.
Then the guard said:
“There’s a train ticket in the front pocket.”
Anthony looked at Dominic.
“From Syracuse to New York.”
Hannah whispered, “No.”
The guard continued.
“Ticket was scanned at 8:36 tonight.”
Hannah grabbed her phone and called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Dominic looked at Madeline.
She was already shaking her head.
“I didn’t do this.”
Gabriel said, “Neither did I.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“Then there is still someone working inside this house.”
Anthony stared toward the security room.
Dominic understood at the same moment.
Four guards had been missing before the blackout.
Not dead.
Not kidnapped.
Missing.
Anthony ran.
Dominic, Hannah and Julian followed.
The security-room door stood open.
Inside, three guards were unconscious.
The fourth chair was empty.
Anthony stared at it.
“Who was assigned here?”
A younger guard swallowed.
“Peter Sloan.”
Madeline whispered, “I know that name.”
Dominic turned.
“From where?”
Madeline looked at the red coat.
Then at the old photograph.
“My father wrote it in Claire’s diary.”
“What did he say?”
Madeline’s voice dropped.
“Peter Sloan wasn’t one of your father’s men.”
She looked directly at Julian.
“He was the boy who survived the warehouse with Elias.”
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And from somewhere above them came the unmistakable sound of a child crying.
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