Chapter 5 - The Sister Behind the War
Victor's blood changed everything.
Until that moment, Dominic had been hunting a traitor.
Now he was hunting family.
Or trying to save what remained of it.
The blood on Victor's ring matched his medical records, but there was no body.
No ransom demand.
No phone call.
Nothing.
For forty-eight hours, Dominic barely slept.
I could tell because I barely slept either.
Every time someone walked through the third-floor corridor, I woke.
Every time Lily rolled over in bed, I checked her breathing.
Fear changes the way a house sounds.
Floorboards become footsteps.
Wind becomes someone touching a window.
Silence becomes the worst sound of all.
On the third night, I found Dominic sitting alone in the ballroom.
The birthday decorations were gone.
Only one thing remained.
A small stain of pink frosting between two marble tiles where Ethan's cake had shattered.
He stared at it.
“You should sleep,” I said.
“So should you.”
“I tried.”
“So did I.”
I sat several chairs away.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then he said, “Victor raised me.”
I turned.
“My father was alive, but he wasn't… present. He believed sons learned strength through distance.”
Dominic gave a humorless smile.
“Victor taught me to ride a bicycle.”
I listened.
“He taught me how to drive. How to shave. How to tell when someone was lying to me.”
His eyes remained on the floor.
“If Julian hurt him because of me…”
“You don't know that.”
“I know enough.”
“No. You know what Julian wants you to know.”
Dominic looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
“He wants you angry.”
“I'm already angry.”
“He wants you so angry you stop thinking.”
That silenced him.
I continued.
“He wants you blaming Victor. Then he gives you Victor’s bloody ring. Every piece of evidence creates fear before it creates answers.”
Dominic studied me.
“You should have been an investigator.”
“I manage twenty-three housekeepers. Same skill set.”
A laugh escaped him.
Small.
Unexpected.
Then his phone rang.
Marco.
“We found Victor.”
Dominic stood instantly.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“St. Joseph's Hospital in Newark.”
“How?”
“A priest found him behind a church.”
We were in the car within ten minutes.
Dominic told me to stay behind.
I refused.
“Why are you coming?”
“Because Lily heard Victor tell Julian to stop.”
“That doesn't make this safe.”
“No. But if Victor wakes confused, he may trust someone who isn't pointing a gun at the door.”
Dominic looked at me.
“You think I frighten people?”
“Yes.”
He almost smiled.
Victor was unconscious when we arrived.
Bruises covered his face.
One wrist was bandaged.
Dr. Harris met us outside the room.
“He has a concussion and two cracked ribs. Nothing life-threatening.”
“Can he talk?”
“Soon.”
Dominic stood beside the bed.
His anger disappeared.
He took Victor's hand.
For several minutes, he simply waited.
Victor opened his eyes shortly before dawn.
“Dominic?”
“I'm here.”
Victor tried to move.
Pain stopped him.
“Ethan?”
“Safe.”
“The little girl?”
“Lily is safe.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Thank God.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“What happened?”
Victor stared at him.
“Julian.”
“We know.”
“No.”
Victor grabbed his wrist.
“You don't understand.”
“Then tell me.”
“He didn't come back for the money.”
Dominic went still.
“What did he come back for?”
“You.”
Victor's breathing became shallow.
“He wanted your life.”
“My life?”
“Not your death.”
Victor swallowed.
“Everything you have.”
The story came slowly.
Twenty-two years earlier, Julian Vescari had believed he would become part of the Moretti family.
Dominic's father treated him like a second son.
He received the family ring.
He worked beside Dominic.
But resentment grew.
Dominic inherited leadership.
Julian inherited nothing.
Then Dominic married Sofia.
Julian had loved her too.
Secretly.
Obsessively.
“Sofia knew,” Victor whispered.
Dominic's face changed.
“What?”
“She told me two weeks before the crash.”
“Told you what?”
“Julian frightened her.”
Dominic stared.
“She said he had started showing up when you were away. Calling her. Telling her she married the wrong man.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Sofia begged me not to.”
Victor's voice broke.
“She believed she could handle it.”
Dominic stepped backward.
“And then she died.”
Victor nodded.
“I suspected Julian.”
“You told me it was an accident.”
“I had no proof.”
“So you protected him?”
“I was protecting you.”
Dominic's voice rose.
“From what?”
“From starting a war based on grief.”
The heart monitor accelerated.
Dr. Harris stepped closer.
“Keep him calm.”
Dominic forced himself to breathe.
Victor continued.
“After Julian's supposed death, I thought it was over.”
“But he wasn't dead.”
“No.”
“When did you discover that?”
“Three months ago.”
Victor explained the meetings.
Julian had contacted him using details only the real Julian could know.
He threatened Margaret.
Victor cooperated just enough to keep her alive while trying to learn his plan.
At the birthday party, Victor saw Julian walking toward the cold room.
He followed.
“I told him to stop.”
“And he didn't.”
“He smiled.”
Victor's eyes filled with shame.
“He said, ‘You protected Dominic once. See what it cost Sofia.’”
My stomach tightened.
“What happened next?”
“I tried to grab him. He shoved me into the storage shelves.”
Lily must have seen only part of the confrontation.
“Why didn't you warn security immediately?”
Victor looked at Dominic.
“Because Julian said Margaret would die the second I did.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“And after the party?”
“He called me.”
“Where?”
“Lower Manhattan.”
“You went alone?”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked furious.
Victor squeezed his hand weakly.
“I was wrong.”
“What happened?”
“He wanted access codes.”
“Did you give them?”
“No.”
“He tortured you?”
Victor didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Dominic looked away.
“What did he want access to?”
Victor whispered two words.
“The trust.”
Dominic turned back.
Ethan's inheritance.
A private trust established by Dominic's father contained controlling shares in several Moretti companies.
If Dominic died, the shares transferred to Ethan.
If Ethan died while still a minor, control moved temporarily to the designated family trustee.
“Who is trustee?” I asked.
Dominic looked at Victor.
Victor shook his head.
“That's the problem.”
“What?”
“The documents were changed.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“By whom?”
Victor whispered:
“Julian.”
The plan became terrifyingly clear.
Before his disappearance, Julian had secretly inserted himself into succession documents through forged amendments.
He had expected Dominic eventually to discover the theft.
But Sofia found evidence first.
She confronted him.
Then she died.
Julian staged his own death months later and vanished before Dominic could uncover the full conspiracy.
Now he had returned.
If Ethan died, Julian could challenge ownership of billions through fraudulent but carefully prepared corporate records.
It wasn't simply revenge.
It was a takeover.
“Why now?” I asked.
Victor looked toward Dominic.
“Because one of the forged documents expires when Ethan turns nine.”
Ethan's eighth birthday had been the beginning of Julian's deadline.
Dominic's phone rang.
Marco again.
His face changed as he listened.
“What?”
He hung up.
“We have to go.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Someone entered the estate.”
My heart stopped.
“Lily?”
“Security moved the children into the safe room.”
We raced back.
When we arrived, Ethan and Lily were unharmed.
But someone had breached Dominic's study.
Nothing obvious was stolen.
Only one photograph had been placed on the desk.
Sofia.
A photograph Dominic had never seen.
She stood beside her car three days before her death.
Behind her, barely visible in the reflection of the window, stood Julian Vescari.
On the back, someone had written:
SHE CHOSE YOU.
Dominic stared at those words.
Then he turned the photograph over again.
I noticed something.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“In the reflection.”
I moved closer.
Julian wasn't alone.
A second man stood beside him.
You could barely see his face.
But his jacket carried the logo of a garage.
The same garage that had serviced Sofia's brakes.
Marco took the photograph.
“We can identify him.”
They did.
His name was Raymond Pike.
Former mechanic.
Current residence: Queens.
We reached his house that afternoon.
Raymond was terrified before Dominic said a word.
“I knew this day would come.”
Dominic stood in his living room.
“Tell me what happened to my wife.”
Raymond started crying.
Julian had paid him to damage Sofia's brake line.
Not enough to fail immediately.
Just enough to weaken gradually.
Raymond had spent six years believing Julian was dead.
“Did Sofia know?”
“No.”
“Did Victor?”
“No.”
Dominic's voice shook.
“Did anyone else?”
Raymond hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
“I never knew her name.”
“What did she look like?”
Raymond described her.
Mid-thirties then.
Blonde.
Green eyes.
Italian accent.
A scar beneath her left ear.
Dominic went completely still.
Marco whispered, “That's impossible.”
I looked between them.
“Who?”
Dominic answered.
“My sister.”
I stared.
“You have a sister?”
“Had.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared eighteen years ago.”
“Name?”
Dominic looked at the old photograph of his dead wife.
“Isabella.”
May you like
And suddenly Julian wasn't the only ghost who had returned.
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