Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER BENEATH THE GRAVE
Dominic pressed the gun against Carlo’s chest.
“You buried an empty coffin.”
Carlo did not move.
“Yes.”
“You stood beside me at the funeral.”
“Yes.”
“You watched my mother collapse.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Matteo asked me to.”
Dominic struck him.
Carlo crashed into the wall.
Luca screamed.
Chloe stepped between them.
“Not here.”
Dominic’s chest rose violently.
“Move.”
“No.”
The word carried the same force as the night she slapped him.
But this time, Dominic looked toward Luca before anger decided for him.
He lowered the gun.
“Library,” he said to Carlo.
“Now.”
Chloe stayed with Luca until Maya, the housekeeper, arrived.
The boy would not release the wolf.
“Green man,” he whispered.
“I know.”
“Mommy hurt.”
“We’re going to find her.”
He searched Chloe’s face.
“Promise?”
The word sounded fragile.
Chloe hesitated.
Children deserved honesty, not comforting lies.
“I promise we will try with everything we have.”
Luca nodded.
That was enough.
In the library, Carlo stood near the fireplace.
Dominic remained behind the desk.
Chloe entered and closed the door.
“Tell us everything.”
Carlo looked at Dominic.
“Matteo discovered Vittorio’s medical operation seven years ago.”
“He tried to bring you proof.”
“I never saw it.”
“Vittorio intercepted him.”
“He told you Matteo had stolen money and fled.”
“A week later, his car exploded.”
Dominic remembered the wreck.
A body had been identified through a Russo family doctor.
The same pattern used with Elena.
“Matteo survived?” Chloe asked.
“Yes.”
“Who helped him?”
“Elena.”
Dominic looked toward the lake.
“My wife knew my brother was alive.”
“She was protecting him.”
“From me?”
“From Vittorio.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Why not tell me?”
“Because you believed Vittorio before anyone else.”
The truth landed heavily.
Carlo explained that Matteo went underground.
He collected evidence while Elena monitored medical routes from inside the family.
Carlo acted as the link between them.
“Then why didn’t you warn Elena about the kill order?” Dominic asked.
“I tried.”
“The explosion happened before I reached her.”
“But she survived.”
“Yes.”
“And you saw her at the lake house.”
“Yes.”
“Why leave her with Vittorio?”
“I didn’t.”
Carlo’s voice cracked for the first time.
“Matteo and I pulled her from the wreck.”
“She was alive but badly burned.”
“We took her to the lake house.”
“Vittorio found us.”
“How?”
“Paolo tracked my car.”
Vittorio arrived with armed men.
Matteo was shot.
Carlo was forced to choose.
Surrender Elena or Vittorio would kill Luca, who was still at the Russo estate.
“I gave her to him,” Carlo said.
Dominic rounded the desk.
Carlo did not defend himself.
“I told myself I was saving the child.”
“You let my wife disappear.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe she was dead.”
“Yes.”
“You let Luca carry that alone.”
Carlo’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Dominic lifted his fist.
Then stopped.
The room waited.
He lowered his hand.
“Where is Matteo?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“We lost contact after the lake house.”
“Is he working with Vittorio?”
“No.”
“How can you know?”
“Because Vittorio is still looking for him.”
Chloe placed the photograph on the desk.
“Why did Luca call Matteo ‘other Daddy’?”
Carlo looked toward the door.
“Matteo stayed with Elena during the months she planned to leave.”
“He protected Luca when Dominic was away.”
The answer cut Dominic.
His brother had occupied the space he abandoned.
Not romantically.
Paternally.
“What did Luca see after the explosion?” Chloe asked.
“Enough to stop speaking.”
Carlo believed Luca had hidden inside Elena’s car before she left the estate.
He wanted to go with her.
During the attack, he remained beneath a blanket in the rear compartment.
Elena pulled him free before the car burned.
At the lake house, she told him Dominic would kill her if he discovered she was Nightingale.
Then Vittorio arrived.
Luca saw Elena taken.
Matteo carried the child back to the estate before disappearing again.
“How did no one see him?” Chloe asked.
“Storm.”
“Power outage.”
“Vittorio controlled the cameras.”
Dominic sat slowly.
Luca had been returned to his bed before dawn.
By morning, everyone believed he had slept through the night.
His silence began that day.
Not because he could not speak.
Because speaking would expose Matteo and Elena.
Vittorio must have warned him.
A six-year-old had carried an entire criminal secret alone since age four.
Chloe felt sick.
Her phone rang.
The hospital.
Rebecca had survived surgery.
Chloe closed her eyes in relief.
The bullet had damaged her liver, but doctors expected recovery.
Dominic arranged armed protection without asking permission.
This time, Chloe did not refuse.
Carlo opened the hidden room’s second evidence file.
A map marked the old Russo lake house near the Wisconsin border.
Elena’s message said the second proof remained there.
Dominic wanted to leave immediately.
Chloe insisted Luca stay in Chicago with Rebecca’s federal protection once she stabilized.
Carlo contacted an agent Elena had trusted.
Special Agent Daniel Reyes.
Reyes confirmed Elena had been an informant.
He also confirmed his task force had been compromised before her disappearance.
“By whom?” Dominic asked.
“We never knew.”
Carlo looked toward the map.
“Perhaps Matteo did.”
They left before sunset.
The lake house stood beneath snow-covered pines.
No lights.
No vehicles.
Inside, dust covered the furniture.
A dark stain remained near the fireplace.
Blood.
Chloe found scratches beneath the kitchen table.
Small.
Child-sized.
Luca had hidden there.
Dominic stared at them for a long time.
Carlo searched the basement.
A gunshot sounded.
Dominic ran downstairs.
A man stood behind Carlo with a weapon pressed against his head.
He had Dominic’s eyes.
The same jaw.
The same controlled anger.
Matteo Russo was alive.
He looked at his brother.
“You took your time.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Where is Elena?”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“She was alive three days ago.”
“Where?”
“Lakeshore clinic.”
Chloe stepped forward.
“My mother said the same.”
Matteo looked at her.
“You’re Rebecca’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Then Vittorio already knows you found us.”
The lights went out.
Engines surrounded the house.
Matteo raised his weapon.
“He didn’t follow you here.”
Dominic checked the windows.
“Then how did he know?”
Matteo looked at Carlo.
“He never stopped listening.”
Carlo reached beneath his shirt.
A tiny tracking device had been sewn into his bandage.
The private doctor who treated him worked for Vittorio.
May you like
The lake house was surrounded.
And Elena’s last evidence was hidden somewhere inside.
