Chapter 6 - A Knife Inside the FamilyThe traitor knew the estate.
That was the conclusion Dominic reached before midnight.
He knew guard rotations.
Vehicle schedules.
Which entrance Sadi preferred.
He knew about Sal’s.
More importantly, he knew enough about her mother to turn history into a weapon.
Dominic assembled fourteen senior men in the underground security room.
Sadi attended.
Nobody questioned it this time.
A city map covered one wall.
Personnel files covered the table.
“We have eighty-six people with regular access to the property,” Leo said.
“Reduce it,” Dominic ordered.
“To what?”
“Everyone who knew Sadi was going to Sal’s.”
Leo looked uncomfortable.
“Seven.”
Dominic’s gaze moved around the room.
“Names.”
Leo read them.
His own.
Two guards.
The driver.
Rosa.
Dominic.
And Frank.
Silence.
Sadi looked at Frank.
He had been one of the loudest voices in the war.
He had also apologized after the Commission meeting.
Frank laughed bitterly.
“You think I sent shooters after her?”
Dominic said nothing.
“That’s insulting.”
“Good,” Dominic replied. “Be insulted.”
Frank stood.
Three guards raised weapons.
Sadi watched his face.
Anger.
Fear.
But not surprise.
Interesting.
“Sit down,” she said.
Frank looked at her.
“Excuse me?”
“If you were guilty, you’d be acting scared.”
He frowned.
“You’re acting offended.”
Dominic looked at her.
Sadi continued.
“That either means you’re innocent or very good.”
Frank slowly sat.
Sadi turned toward Leo.
“Who knew before we left?”
“Only those seven.”
“Who knew after?”
“Half the estate.”
“So the attacker could have followed us.”
Dominic shook his head.
“The shooter was waiting.”
“How do you know?”
“Traffic cameras.”
Leo placed photographs on the table.
The SUV had arrived forty minutes before Sadi.
Sadi studied them.
“They knew.”
“Yes.”
“Then someone among seven people leaked it.”
Dominic’s gaze hardened.
Sadi looked at the names again.
Rosa.
Impossible.
Dominic.
Impossible.
Herself.
Unless she had developed a murderous second personality.
Leo.
Frank.
Two guards.
Driver.
“Where is the driver?”
Leo hesitated.
“Missing.”
Dominic stood.
“Find him.”
They found his body before sunrise.
He had been shot twice and dumped near the river.
That eliminated the easiest suspect.
The following week became a slow suffocation.
Dominic trusted nobody.
Meals were tested.
Vehicles changed constantly.
Guards searched guards.
Sadi began carrying a pistol.
She hated it.
She hated how quickly the weight at her waist became normal.
But she hated helplessness more.
At night, she returned to Dominic’s room.
Not because everything was forgiven.
Because grief had made loneliness unbearable.
They lay beside each other without touching.
On the third night, Dominic spoke into the darkness.
“I killed my father in this house.”
Sadi opened her eyes.
He stared at the ceiling.
“He was sitting downstairs drinking cognac.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“You asked for everything.”
Sadi waited.
Dominic continued.
“He had ordered a car bomb. The target was a man named Carlo Bellini.”
“Rival?”
“Former partner.”
“And his family?”
“His wife drove the same car. Their children were six and nine.”
Sadi closed her eyes.
“I told him to cancel it.”
“He refused.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I walked into his study.”
Dominic swallowed.
“I asked again.”
“And?”
“He laughed.”
Sadi turned toward him.
Dominic’s face was shadowed.
“He told me Matteo died because I was weak. Because I hadn’t learned that fear was the only thing people respected.”
His voice roughened.
“So I shot him.”
Sadi remained silent.
“I took his chair before his body was removed.”
“That sounds cold.”
“It was.”
“Do you regret it?”
Dominic took a long time.
“I regret that killing him was necessary.”
Not the same answer.
Sadi understood.
“Did you know about my father?”
“No.”
“My mother?”
“Only the story I told you.”
“Did you ever investigate?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I opened every grave my father filled, I thought I would drown in them.”
Sadi looked at him.
“That’s cowardly.”
“Yes.”
No defense.
No anger.
Just truth.
Something inside her softened.
Not healed.
Softened.
She reached across the mattress and took his hand.
Dominic stared at their fingers.
“I’m still angry.”
“I know.”
“I might be angry for a long time.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to buy forgiveness.”
“I know.”
“And if you say ‘I know’ again, I’m sleeping downstairs.”
His mouth twitched.
Sadi almost smiled.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Dominic was out of bed instantly.
He reached beneath the nightstand and drew a handgun.
“Stay here.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Sadi.”
“Save it.”
They reached the corridor together.
Leo came running.
“East gate. One shooter.”
“More?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“Alive?”
Leo’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
They found the shooter in the garage.
A boy.
That was Sadi’s first thought.
He could not have been older than twenty.
Blood soaked his leg where a guard had shot him.
Dominic crouched.
“Who sent you?”
The boy spat at him.
Dominic wiped his cheek.
“Wrong answer.”
He reached for the wound.
Sadi caught his arm.
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“He tried to kill my men.”
“And he’s terrified.”
The boy laughed.
“You think you’re different from them?”
Sadi turned.
“From who?”
His eyes met hers.
“The Russos.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Who are you?”
The boy swallowed.
“Evan Mercer.”
Sadi stopped breathing.
Mercer.
“My name is Mercer.”
The boy stared.
“I know.”
Sadi stepped closer.
“Who are you?”
“Your brother.”
The garage became silent.
Sadi laughed once.
It was the sound a person made when reality became too absurd to process.
“I don’t have a brother.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Prove it.”
Evan reached slowly into his jacket.
Three guns aimed at him.
“Easy.”
He removed a photograph.
Sadi took it.
Her mother.
Older than in the first picture.
Holding a newborn.
Sadi recognized herself beside her.
Seven years old.
And beside them stood a toddler.
A boy.
Sadi’s knees weakened.
“I don’t remember this.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
Evan’s voice broke.
“They told you I died.”
Fragments moved through Sadi’s memory.
A baby crying.
A blue blanket.
Her mother singing.
Then nothing.
“What happened?”
“After Mom was killed, I was taken.”
“By who?”
Evan looked at Dominic.
“His father.”
Dominic went still.
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
Evan’s eyes filled with hatred.
“In case the federal files surfaced.”
Sadi turned toward Dominic.
He looked genuinely stunned.
Evan continued.
“I grew up with people who hated the Russos. They told me everything.”
“Who?”
“A man named Gabriel Vale.”
Dominic’s face drained of color.
Leo whispered a curse.
Sadi looked between them.
“Who is Gabriel Vale?”
Dominic answered.
“My uncle.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“My father’s younger brother.”
“Why have I never heard of him?”
“Because he was supposed to be dead.”
Evan laughed.
“He isn’t.”
Dominic stood.
“Where is he?”
“You think I’m telling you?”
Sadi crouched beside Evan.
He looked at her.
For the first time, hatred disappeared.
He looked young.
Lost.
“Did you send the photograph?”
“No.”
“Did you attack me at Sal’s?”
His jaw tightened.
“I was told you chose them.”
“The Russos?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I know you married him.”
“To survive.”
“And then stayed.”
Sadi looked at Dominic.
“Yes.”
Evan’s eyes hardened.
“Then you’re one of them.”
Sadi slapped him.
The sound cracked through the garage.
Dominic blinked.
Sadi leaned closer.
“I took four bullets protecting an old woman before I knew her son would marry me. Don’t you dare reduce my life to a story somebody fed you.”
Evan stared.
Tears appeared in his eyes.
Sadi’s anger disappeared as quickly as it came.
She touched his face.
Her brother.
Impossible.
Yet somehow she knew.
Something in his eyes.
Something in the shape of his mouth.
Family.
“I thought I was alone,” she whispered.
Evan’s face crumpled.
“So did I.”
He began to cry.
Sadi pulled him against her.
Dominic turned away.
The room remained silent while twenty-five years of stolen history collapsed between two strangers who shared blood.
Later, after Evan was treated, Dominic found Sadi on the terrace.
“You believe him?”
“Yes.”
“So do I.”
She looked at him.
“Gabriel?”
Dominic nodded.
“My father and Gabriel fought for control before I was born. Gabriel disappeared after an explosion at a warehouse.”
“You saw the body?”
“No.”
“Convenient.”
Dominic stared into the darkness.
“If Gabriel raised Evan, this isn’t revenge against you.”
“It’s against your family.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“It’s against both of us.”
Sadi understood.
Their marriage had united the daughter of Daniel Mercer with the son of Vincenzo Russo.
Two bloodlines that Gabriel had spent decades keeping apart.
“Why?”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Because somewhere, your father’s evidence still exists.”
Sadi remembered the brass key from her mother’s box.
She had forgotten it amid the shooting.
She reached into her pocket.
The key felt suddenly heavy.
“What does it open?”
Dominic asked.
“I don’t know.”
May you like
Sadi closed her fingers around it.
“But I think Gabriel does.”
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