Chapter 14 - Luca’s Last Secret
Dominic had forgiven Luca once.
Forgiving him twice was proving considerably harder.
The confrontation took place inside the empty theater after everyone else had been removed.
Dominic stood near the stage.
Luca remained ten feet away.
Hannah stayed between them—not because she believed Dominic would attack him, but because she understood that grief had a way of resurrecting old monsters.
“You had the ledger?” Dominic asked.
“For twelve years.”
“And you never told me?”
“Adrian made me swear.”
“My dead brother made you swear?”
“Your living brother.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Luca continued.
“The night Adrian disappeared, he came to my apartment. He had blood on his shirt. Your father’s men were searching for him.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian discovered Salvatore planned to sell the riverfront shipping terminals to a cartel-controlled corporation. The ledger proved he had bribed officials to make it happen.”
Dominic looked stunned.
“My father hated narcotics.”
“Publicly.”
Hannah watched Dominic absorb another fracture in the mythology of his childhood.
“Adrian wanted to expose him,” Luca said. “But your father threatened you.”
“Me?”
“He said if Adrian went public, prosecutors would receive documents making it look like you authorized everything.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“So Adrian disappeared to protect me.”
“Yes.”
“And the ledger?”
“He gave it to me.”
“Where is it?”
Luca looked toward Box Six.
Hannah understood before Dominic did.
“No.”
Luca nodded.
“The theater.”
They moved through the building.
Luca led them beneath the stage into an old mechanical room that hadn’t been used since the 1980s.
Behind a rusted electrical panel was a narrow compartment.
Empty.
Luca stared.
“It was here.”
Dominic’s face darkened.
“You’re sure?”
“I placed it here myself.”
Hannah crouched.
Dust covered most of the interior, but a rectangular clean mark showed where something had recently been removed.
Someone had taken the ledger.
Adrian.
Or someone following him.
Hannah spotted something else.
“Wait.”
A small silver cuff link lay on the floor.
Dominic picked it up.
The initials were engraved.
S.M.
“Your father’s?”
“Yes.”
“But he’s dead.”
Dominic’s gaze sharpened.
“His belongings were stored after his death.”
“Who controls them?”
“My father’s estate archive.”
Luca looked alarmed.
“Only one person besides you has unrestricted access.”
Dominic knew the answer immediately.
“Aunt Celeste.”
Celeste Moretti was Salvatore’s younger sister.
Seventy years old.
Elegant.
Charitable.
Beloved by half the city.
She had attended Dominic and Hannah’s wedding.
She had cried during the vows.
Hannah remembered her warm embrace.
You brought my nephew back to life.
Dominic called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Luca checked security.
“Her driver hasn’t seen her since yesterday.”
Dominic’s phone buzzed.
A message.
A photograph appeared.
Celeste sat tied to a chair inside an unfamiliar room.
A newspaper rested against her chest showing that morning’s date.
Hannah felt sick.
Then another message arrived.
BRING LUCA TO PIER 19. MIDNIGHT. NO POLICE.
Dominic stared.
Agent Pierce, monitoring through secure communications, immediately objected.
“It’s a trap.”
“Obviously.”
“You aren’t going.”
“He has my aunt.”
“You don’t know who ‘he’ is.”
“I know Adrian is alive.”
“You also know someone forged your wife’s signature and planted evidence against your foundation. Your brother might not be the victim you remember.”
Dominic looked toward Hannah.
She hated the truth in Pierce’s words.
Twelve years could change anyone.
Pain could rot love into revenge.
“We do this intelligently,” Hannah said.
Dominic frowned.
“You are not going.”
“I wasn’t asking.”
“Hannah.”
“The message demands Luca. They expect you. If everyone behaves exactly as expected, whoever arranged this controls the board.”
Luca almost smiled.
“She’s becoming disturbingly good at this.”
Dominic glared at him.
Hannah continued.
“We give them what they want while Pierce tracks us.”
Agent Pierce nodded.
“Hidden transmitter. Drone surveillance. Tactical team two blocks away.”
“No,” Dominic said.
Hannah stepped close.
“Six months ago, you nearly killed Rossi because you thought protecting me meant carrying everything alone.”
His eyes met hers.
“You asked me to trust you,” Hannah whispered. “Now trust me.”
At 11:55 p.m., a black sedan rolled onto Pier 19.
Rain hammered the windshield.
Dominic drove.
Luca sat beside him.
Hannah sat hidden in the rear behind tinted glass despite Dominic’s continuing objections.
The abandoned warehouse ahead contained one dim light.
They entered.
Celeste sat tied to the chair.
Alive.
“Dominic!” she cried.
He moved toward her.
“Stop!”
A voice echoed from the darkness.
Adrian stepped into the light.
For the first time in twelve years, the brothers faced each other.
Dominic stared.
Adrian’s eyes filled with tears.
Then he lifted a pistol.
Not toward Dominic.
Toward Luca.
“You should’ve burned the ledger when I told you.”
Luca slowly raised his hands.
“I couldn’t.”
Adrian’s voice broke.
“Then you killed us all.”
A red laser suddenly appeared on Adrian’s chest.
Not from the federal team.
From somewhere above.
Hannah saw it first.
“DOWN!”
May you like
A rifle cracked.
The warehouse exploded into chaos.
