Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
We drove north before sunrise.
No convoy.
No family cars.
One unmarked SUV.
Evelyn drove.
Grace sat beside me in the back.
She held my hand.
I let her.
At sixteen, I had been told my mother, Isabella, died from complications after surgery in Europe.
Vittorio had sat beside me at the funeral.
Closed casket.
He told me she didn’t want me to see her that way.
I had believed him.
The house in Wisconsin was small.
Blue shutters.
Old porch.
Wind chimes.
Nothing about it looked connected to the Caruso family.
An elderly woman opened the door.
My mother.
I knew immediately.
Same dark eyes.
Same scar over her eyebrow.
Her hand covered her mouth.
“Dominic.”
I couldn’t speak.
She stepped forward.
I didn’t hug her.
Not yet.
“Why?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I tried.”
“For twenty-six years?”
“Vittorio threatened you.”
“He raised me.”
“I know.”
“You let him.”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
Grace squeezed my hand.
I heard myself.
The same thing I always told her.
Protection.
Fear.
Decisions made for someone else.
My mother looked toward Grace.
“Oh, my God.”
Grace smiled carefully.
“You must be Grandma Isabella.”
Isabella started crying.
Grace walked toward the sound and hugged her.
I looked away.
That hurt more than anger.
Inside, Isabella opened a safe.
Sofia’s recording was there.
We watched it together.
Vittorio’s voice came first.
“You don’t understand what Antonio built.”
Sofia answered.
“I understand perfectly.”
“You think Dominic can survive without us controlling things?”
“He deserves the chance.”
“And Grace?”
“She deserves more than this.”
Then Vittorio said the words I had waited seven years to hear.
“If you keep pushing this, I’ll make the accident look like weather.”
My hands shook.
The recording continued.
Sofia sounded fearless.
“If anything happens to me, Dominic will find out.”
Vittorio laughed.
“Dominic believes whoever stands beside him when he’s hurting.”
The audio ended.
That sentence broke something inside me.
Because he had been right.
Sofia died.
Vittorio stood beside me.
And I had let him become family.
Isabella touched my arm.
“He did the same thing after your father died.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Antonio’s heart attack.”
My stomach turned.
“He was sick.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Vittorio poisoned him slowly.”
Grace whispered, “Grandpa too?”
Isabella nodded.
“He wanted control.”
I stood.
“Then why didn’t he kill me?”
“Because Antonio had already changed the trust.”
She looked toward Grace.
“And if Dominic died before having a child, control passed outside the Caruso bloodline.”
Vittorio needed me alive long enough to produce an heir.
Then he needed control of that heir.
Grace went pale.
A vehicle stopped outside.
Evelyn moved to the window.
Her face hardened.
“Three SUVs.”
I drew my gun.
Isabella whispered, “He found us.”
Grace reached for her baton.
Then somebody outside shouted through a bullhorn.
“Dominic Caruso, federal agents! Come out with your hands visible!”
I looked at the ledger on the table.
May you like
Vittorio hadn’t sent killers.
He had sent the government.
