Chapter 7 - The Enemy of My EnemyThe citrus warehouse outside Bagheria looked abandoned from the road.
Rust covered the gates.
Broken windows reflected the late-afternoon sun.
Rows of neglected trees stretched across the property.
From a distance, it appeared harmless.
Inside, according to Russo surveillance, twelve armed men were preparing to kill each other.
Dominic studied the drone feed from a temporary command post inside a farmhouse two kilometers away.
Harper sat beside him.
Elias pointed toward the screen.
“Antonio entered through the west side. Matteo’s men disarmed him at the loading bay.”
“Then why was he holding a weapon in the photograph?”
“He apparently arrived with two loyalists. Both are dead.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Matteo?”
“Alive.”
“Antonio?”
“Also alive.”
Harper folded her arms.
“Why would Antonio attack him?”
Dominic did not answer.
The image changed.
Matteo appeared inside an office on the second floor.
Antonio was tied to a chair.
No audio.
Harper watched Matteo pace.
“This feels wrong.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
“Everything.”
“That is not specific.”
“Matteo kidnapped Madison to bring us to Sicily.”
“Yes.”
“He gave you proof about your paternity.”
“Yes.”
“He wanted to destroy your authority.”
“Yes.”
“And then Antonio flies here and tries to kill him?”
Dominic looked again at the screen.
Harper continued.
“What if Antonio was not working with Matteo?”
“He concealed information for ten years.”
“So did Rosa.”
Rosa, standing behind them, looked offended.
“I had excellent reasons.”
Harper smiled faintly.
“My point exactly.”
Dominic turned toward Elias.
“What do we know about Antonio’s movements?”
“After leaving your office in Manhattan, he returned home. Four hours later he visited Saint Vincent’s Cemetery.”
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“He remained at Vittorio’s grave for nearly an hour.”
“And then?”
“Private flight to Rome. Commercial connection to Palermo under another name.”
Harper leaned forward.
“He did not contact Matteo?”
“Not electronically.”
“Maybe he came to stop him.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Then he should have told me.”
Harper looked at him.
“Would you have let him?”
Silence.
“Dominic.”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
He gave her a look.
“That does not make his stupidity admirable.”
“No. Just familiar.”
Elias suddenly raised one hand.
“Movement.”
On screen, two vehicles entered the facility.
More men emerged.
Harper recognized the black crown symbol on several jackets.
Matteo’s private organization.
Dominic looked at his security commander.
“We go now.”
Harper stood.
“You remain here.”
She opened her mouth.
“No.”
The tone stopped her.
Dominic approached.
“This is not the church. There is active gunfire probability above eighty percent.”
“Eighty?”
“We model risk.”
“Of course you do.”
He placed both hands against her shoulders.
“Please.”
The word surprised her.
Not command.
Request.
Harper nodded.
“I stay here.”
Relief moved through him.
He kissed her.
Then he turned toward Elias.
“If anything happens to me—”
“Do not.”
Harper’s voice stopped him.
Dominic looked back.
“You come back.”
His eyes held hers.
Then he left.
The next twenty minutes felt longer than the previous four months.
Harper watched helmet-camera feeds from Russo soldiers entering the property.
No shots at first.
Then shouting.
A door exploded inward.
Gunfire.
Harper flinched.
Rosa did not.
The elderly woman calmly drank espresso.
“How are you doing that?”
Rosa looked at her.
“Doing what?”
“Not panicking.”
“I have been a Russo for seventy-six years.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only answer.”
On screen, Dominic moved through the warehouse behind two guards.
Controlled.
Focused.
Terrifying.
Harper hated seeing him like this.
Not because she feared him.
Because every bullet reminded her that leadership in his world still required him to stand close to death.
The team reached the second floor.
Antonio was gone.
Matteo was gone.
A rear window stood open.
“Tunnel,” Rosa said.
Harper turned.
“What?”
“These properties often have tunnels.”
“Why did no one mention that?”
“No one asked.”
Harper stared at her.
Rosa shrugged.
“Americans rely too much on satellites.”
Harper grabbed the radio.
“Dominic.”
Static.
Then his voice.
“What?”
“Rosa says there may be tunnels.”
A pause.
“Of course she does.”
Rosa smiled.
Dominic ordered his men to search.
They found an underground corridor behind stacked crates.
It led toward the old orchards.
Five minutes later, gunfire erupted outside.
The drone feed shifted.
Two men ran between the trees.
Antonio.
And Matteo.
Antonio’s hands were free.
Matteo carried a pistol.
They reached a stone irrigation building.
Then disappeared from view.
Dominic followed.
“Stay back,” Harper whispered even though he could not hear her.
The camera shook as the team moved.
Suddenly the feed went black.
Harper stood.
“What happened?”
“Signal interference,” a technician said.
“Fix it.”
“We’re trying.”
Gunfire sounded over the radio.
Then silence.
Harper’s heartbeat became painful.
“Dominic?”
Nothing.
“Dominic.”
Static.
A voice finally answered.
Elias.
“We have Antonio.”
“And Dominic?”
“Searching for Matteo.”
“Is he hurt?”
“No.”
Harper closed her eyes.
Then another voice broke through.
Dominic.
“Harper.”
“I’m here.”
“I found him.”
The signal distorted.
“What?”
“Matteo is gone.”
Her stomach dropped.
“He escaped?”
“Vehicle waiting beyond the orchard.”
Antonio was brought into the farmhouse thirty minutes later.
His face was bruised.
Blood stained his collar.
Dominic entered behind him.
Harper immediately walked to her husband.
“You’re okay?”
“Yes.”
She touched his chest as though checking personally.
Then she slapped him.
Everyone became still.
Dominic blinked.
“What was that?”
“For disappearing from the radio.”
“The tunnel blocked—”
“I know.”
He almost smiled.
Antonio watched them.
Something like sadness crossed his face.
Dominic turned.
“Explain.”
Antonio sat heavily.
“I was trying to kill Matteo.”
“That part was clear.”
“He contacted me after I left your penthouse.”
“What did he say?”
“That he had proof about Elena.”
Dominic’s expression tightened.
“He knew I would understand what it could do to you.”
“So you travelled here alone.”
“I believed I could end it.”
“You believed wrong.”
“Yes.”
Dominic paced.
“Why did you keep Matteo’s survival from me?”
Antonio looked at Rosa.
“Because Vittorio made us promise.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“My father apparently built his entire legacy from promises no one was allowed to explain.”
Antonio lowered his head.
“After Matteo disappeared, Vittorio learned Elena’s former lover was still alive.”
Dominic stopped.
Harper felt the room shift.
“My biological father?”
“Yes.”
“Name.”
Antonio looked directly at him.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
Rosa whispered something in Italian.
Dominic frowned.
“Who?”
Rosa answered.
“A prosecutor.”
Harper stared.
“A prosecutor?”
Antonio nodded.
“Federal.”
Dominic’s expression became almost comical in its disbelief.
“My biological father was law enforcement?”
“Not American federal. Italian anti-mafia prosecutor.”
Silence.
Harper almost admired the universe’s sense of irony.
Dominic Russo, feared criminal boss, biological son of a man who prosecuted organized crime.
“What happened to him?” Harper asked.
Antonio looked at Dominic.
“He was murdered before Dominic was born.”
“By whom?”
Antonio’s eyes lowered.
“No.”
Dominic understood.
“Say it.”
Antonio remained silent.
Dominic grabbed him by the jacket.
“Say it.”
“Vittorio.”
Harper stopped breathing.
Dominic released Antonio as though burned.
“No.”
“Vittorio did not know Elena was pregnant.”
“No.”
“He believed Gabriel was gathering evidence against the family.”
“No.”
“Years later, when he discovered the truth—”
“Enough.”
Dominic turned away.
Harper could see the devastation even though his face remained hidden.
Vittorio had loved him.
Chosen him.
Raised him.
And perhaps murdered the man who created him.
Antonio continued quietly.
“Vittorio spent the rest of his life protecting Elena and Dominic because he believed what he had done could never be repaired.”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
Harper approached.
He stepped away.
“Do not.”
She stopped.
“I need a minute.”
Harper respected it.
Barely.
Antonio reached inside his torn jacket.
Several guards immediately aimed weapons.
“Slowly.”
Antonio removed a folded document.
“Matteo wants this.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“A case file Gabriel Moretti created before his death.”
He placed it on the table.
“It contains names, accounts, political officials, judges, police commanders. Evidence from forty years ago.”
Elias opened it.
His face changed.
“These families still exist.”
“Yes.”
“And some of these men are currently on the commission.”
“Yes.”
Harper understood.
Matteo’s goal had shifted.
Or perhaps it had always been larger.
“He can blackmail them.”
Antonio nodded.
“If Matteo obtains the complete archive, he can control half the underworld and several legitimate institutions.”
“Complete archive?”
“This is only the index.”
“Where is the rest?”
Antonio looked toward Dominic.
“Your mother hid it.”
Dominic stared.
“My mother died twelve years ago.”
“She gave me instructions before her death.”
“And you kept another secret.”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked ready to explode.
Antonio almost smiled.
“You see why I tried to solve the problem myself.”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice was lethal.
“I see why my family requires written policies against secrecy.”
Harper almost laughed.
Even Elias looked away to hide a reaction.
“Where is the archive?” Dominic asked.
Antonio took a breath.
“New York.”
Dominic became still.
“Where?”
“Saint Vincent’s Cemetery.”
Harper remembered Antonio visiting Vittorio’s grave.
“Inside the cemetery?”
“Inside Elena Russo’s mausoleum.”
Dominic was already moving.
“Prepare the plane.”
Elias reached for his phone.
Antonio stood.
“There is something else.”
Dominic turned.
“Matteo knows.”
Everyone froze.
“How?”
“He forced me to tell him.”
Dominic’s face darkened.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes before you entered the warehouse.”
Harper’s hand moved toward her stomach.
If Matteo knew the archive was in New York, he did not need Sicily anymore.
Dominic looked at the clock.
His private jet could reach Manhattan in eight hours.
Matteo might already be moving.
Elias’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed instantly.
“What?”
Dominic demanded.
Elias looked at Harper.
“Security breach in New York.”
Her blood chilled.
“Where?”
“Saint Vincent’s.”
Dominic grabbed the phone.
But Elias continued.
“They opened Elena’s mausoleum.”
Dominic stopped.
“Did they get the archive?”
“No.”
Relief lasted less than a second.
“Because it was already gone.”
Dominic looked at Antonio.
Antonio turned pale.
“I swear—”
Elias raised his hand.
“There’s more.”
Harper hated those words.
“A courier delivered a package to the Tribeca penthouse ten minutes ago.”
“What package?”
“A coffin.”
The room became silent.
“Inside,” Elias said, “was a note.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“Read it.”
Elias did.
YOU HAVE VITTORIO’S NAME.
I HAVE MORETTI’S TRUTH.
NOW LET US SEE WHICH ONE DESTROYS YOU FIRST.
Harper looked at Dominic.
Matteo was no longer trying to inherit the Russo empire.
He was preparing to expose every crime that created it.
And if Gabriel Moretti’s evidence was real, Dominic would soon face a choice far more dangerous than war.
May you like
Protect the empire his father gave him.
Or destroy it with the truth his biological father died trying to reveal.
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