Chapter 4 - SOMEONE INSIDE
Dominic moved Chloe and Luca to a second safe location before sunrise.
Not another mansion.
Not a hotel.
A small brick house in a quiet neighborhood near Lake Michigan.
Chloe looked around the modest kitchen.
“This belongs to you?”
“It belonged to Sofia.”
Luca immediately noticed a photograph on the refrigerator.
His mother.
Young.
Laughing.
Holding a baby.
“Mommy.”
Dominic looked away.
Carlo stationed four trusted men outside.
Nobody else knew the location.
At least, that was the idea.
Chloe made Luca pancakes while Dominic stood by the window.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I’m not the one people are trying to kill.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Last night you jumped in front of a bullet.”
“I jumped in front of Luca.”
“That bullet wouldn’t have asked.”
Chloe set down the spatula.
“What do you want me to say?”
“That you understand how stupid that was.”
She laughed once.
“I slapped you first.”
His mouth almost moved.
Almost smiled.
Then he stopped himself.
“You really are insane.”
“And you’re avoiding the important question.”
“What question?”
“Why would your uncle want Luca dead?”
Dominic turned away.
“Victor has always wanted control of the Russo companies.”
“If something happened to you?”
“Luca inherits my controlling interest.”
“And if something happens to Luca?”
“My shares transfer into a family trust.”
“Controlled by Victor?”
Dominic nodded.
Chloe stared.
“That’s not a motive.”
“It is where I come from.”
The door opened.
Carlo entered.
“We found something.”
He placed a file on the table.
Sofia’s original police report.
Several pages had been removed from the official archive.
Carlo had found copies in a retired detective’s storage unit.
Chloe read the first page.
“Witness statement.”
Dominic took it.
A gas station clerk had seen Sofia arguing with a man shortly before the explosion.
The clerk identified him.
Victor Russo.
Dominic went perfectly still.
“He told me he hadn’t seen her that week.”
Carlo nodded.
“There’s more.”
He showed Dominic a photograph.
Victor standing beside Sofia’s car.
Taken seventeen minutes before the explosion.
Dominic’s expression went murderous.
Chloe stepped between him and the door.
“No.”
“Move.”
“Where are you going?”
“To talk to my uncle.”
“You mean kill him.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Get out of my way.”
“What happens if you walk into a trap?”
“I’ve survived traps before.”
“And Luca?”
His eyes hardened.
“You don’t use my son to control me.”
“I’m using your son to remind you that you have one.”
That stopped him.
Luca stood in the doorway.
He had heard everything.
“Daddy?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Not again.
Luca walked toward him.
“Are you leaving?”
“I have to.”
“Will you come back?”
Dominic looked at Chloe.
Then at his son.
“Yes.”
“You promise?”
Dominic crouched.
“I promise.”
Luca hugged him.
Dominic held him tightly.
Then Luca whispered something that only Dominic heard.
Dominic pulled back.
“What did you say?”
Luca looked confused.
“Mommy told me Uncle Victor was a bad man.”
The room went silent.
“When?”
“The night she died.”
Dominic’s face drained of color.
“What else did she tell you?”
Luca stared at the old photograph of his mother.
May you like
Then he whispered.
“She told me where she hid the key.”
