Chapter 7 - THE ENEMY
Elias Kane was sixty-three.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
And somehow more frightening because he never raised his voice.
He opened his front door himself.
Dominic stood beside Chloe twenty minutes later.
Blood soaked one sleeve.
Elias looked at him.
Then at Luca.
Then at Chloe.
“So.”
He stepped aside.
“The famous Dominic Russo finally comes to my house without a gun pointed at me.”
Dominic walked inside.
“I have one.”
Elias smiled.
“Good. I’d have been disappointed.”
Chloe stared at both men.
“Can we postpone the testosterone contest?”
Elias looked at her.
“Who is she?”
Dominic answered.
“My son’s nanny.”
“She slap you too?”
Carlo coughed.
Dominic glared at him.
Elias smiled wider.
“She did.”
Chloe looked at Dominic.
“How does everybody already know?”
“Nobody knows,” Carlo said.
“I guessed,” Elias replied.
Dominic ignored them.
“Sofia trusted you.”
Elias’s smile disappeared.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was smarter than both of us.”
Dominic placed the flash drive on the table.
Elias listened to Sofia’s recording.
When it ended, he sat quietly.
“I told her not to confront Victor.”
Dominic stared.
“You knew?”
“I knew he was corrupt. I didn’t know he would murder her.”
Dominic lunged.
Carlo grabbed him.
“You let her die!”
Elias didn’t move.
“I tried to protect her.”
“You failed.”
“So did you.”
The room froze.
Dominic broke free of Carlo.
Elias continued.
“You want to blame me because it hurts less than blaming yourself.”
Dominic’s fist tightened.
Chloe stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Both men looked at her.
“Sofia is dead.”
Her voice shook.
“Luca is alive.”
She pointed at the child.
“And while the two of you compare guilt, somebody is still trying to kill him.”
Elias slowly nodded.
“She’s right.”
Dominic looked at Luca.
His anger faded.
Elias opened a safe.
Inside were several envelopes.
“Sofia gave me these three days before she died.”
Dominic stared.
“Why didn’t you give them to me?”
“She told me not to unless Victor came after Luca.”
Elias handed him the first envelope.
Dominic opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Dominic, if you’re reading this, Victor finally stopped pretending.
His hands shook.
He continued.
Do not become the man he has spent years teaching you to be.
Dominic stopped.
Chloe gently touched his wrist.
He kept reading.
Luca needs a father, not a king.
Dominic lowered the letter.
Elias opened the second envelope.
Inside was a list of names.
Judges.
Detectives.
Business owners.
Victor’s people.
Then Elias opened the final envelope.
One photograph slid onto the table.
Chloe picked it up.
Victor stood beside a woman.
Young.
Blonde.
Familiar.
Chloe stared harder.
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
Her stomach twisted.
“I know her.”
“Who?”
May you like
Chloe looked up.
“That’s my mother.”
