Chapter 14 - THE FATHER’S CONFESSION
Giuseppe didn’t deny the signature.
That somehow made it worse.
They stood in an FBI interview room at three in the morning.
Camilla was at the hospital with Michael.
Marco was in surgery.
Delaney was in custody.
And Domenico was staring at his father across a metal table.
“You signed it.”
Giuseppe nodded.
“Why?”
“To get close to them.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t give me another noble lie.”
Giuseppe stared at his hands.
Then he said, “Fine.”
He looked up.
“I took money.”
Domenico felt something inside him go quiet.
“How much?”
“Three hundred thousand.”
“When?”
“Twenty-two years ago.”
“For what?”
“Your mother was sick.”
Domenico froze.
“What?”
“Cancer.”
“She died of a stroke.”
“That came later.”
Giuseppe rubbed his face.
“The treatment wasn’t covered. I was desperate. Delaney knew.”
“So you joined them.”
“At first, I told myself it was one payment.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“No.”
“How many?”
“Five.”
Domenico stood and walked away.
Giuseppe continued.
“When you started Russo Development, they saw opportunity. They wanted access through you.”
“You brought them into my company.”
“Yes.”
“And Marco?”
“I trained him to handle things.”
Domenico laughed bitterly.
“You didn’t protect us.”
“No.”
Giuseppe’s voice cracked.
“I poisoned you.”
Silence.
That was the first truly honest thing Domenico had heard from him.
Giuseppe’s eyes filled.
“I watched you build something good on top of the mess I created. I told myself that if I controlled the bad men around you, you could stay clean.”
“And Isabella?”
“She saw through everything.”
Domenico smiled faintly.
“She was good at that.”
“Yes.”
Giuseppe wiped his eyes.
“When she died, I knew it was because of choices I made years earlier.”
“So you disappeared.”
“I agreed to cooperate. I thought if I became a witness, I could finish what she started.”
“You also abandoned your family.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No justification.
Just yes.
Domenico sat again.
For the first time that night, his anger softened.
Not into forgiveness.
Into exhaustion.
“What happens to you now?”
Giuseppe looked toward the mirrored glass.
“I testify.”
“Then?”
“Prison, probably.”
“You’re seventy-eight.”
“I was guilty at fifty-six.”
Domenico nodded slowly.
His phone rang.
Camilla.
He answered.
“Baby?”
Her voice was shaking.
“Dad, Michael woke up.”
Domenico closed his eyes.
“Good.”
“He told me something.”
“What?”
“He remembers where Delaney kept his father.”
Domenico stood.
“Where?”
“A property owned by one of Delaney’s shell companies.”
“Did he give you the address?”
“Yes.”
Domenico grabbed his coat.
Giuseppe stood too.
“Where?”
Domenico looked at him.
“A warehouse near the Passaic River.”
Giuseppe’s face went pale.
“What?”
He slowly sat back down.
Domenico’s pulse quickened.
“You know it.”
Giuseppe nodded.
“Domenico…”
“What?”
“There’s something else you need to know before you go there.”
Domenico waited.
May you like
Giuseppe whispered:
“Isabella was not alone in her car when it crashed.”
