Chapter 7
Rosa’s second recording was hidden in the jewelry box lining.
Teresa found it when she removed the velvet insert.
Dominic saw the memory chip and laughed.
“You people really love ghosts.”
I ignored him.
The recording began with my mother speaking directly to Isabella.
“If Marco ever hears this, I want him to know I made a mistake.”
I felt my throat tighten.
Rosa did not apologize often.
Even dead, she sounded irritated by the necessity.
“I thought keeping Lucia hidden would protect her. Maybe I only helped Dominic finish what he started.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
My mother continued.
“I watched Marco grieve Isabella. I watched Isabella raise Lucia without him. I told myself distance was safety because I was afraid the same people who took my husband would take my granddaughter.”
Dominic looked away.
Then Rosa’s voice sharpened.
“But fear can become another kind of cruelty if we let it make every decision.”
I looked toward Lucia.
That sentence belonged to me now.
The recording continued.
Rosa had followed Enzo’s old network after my father died. Several men remained loyal to his branch. None openly challenged me.
They did something smarter.
They positioned Dominic as indispensable.
Security.
Information.
Advice.
The person I trusted whenever something confused me.
My mother had noticed a pattern.
Every relationship that threatened Dominic’s influence eventually became suspicious.
One captain “betrayed” me.
A family friend “stole.”
Isabella “left.”
Every story reached me through Dominic first.
I stared at him.
He smiled without humor.
“So now I caused every bad thing in your life?”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“But you seem to have narrated most of them.”
His smile vanished.
Rosa named one person still alive.
Gabriel Caruso.
Dominic’s younger brother.
A man I had not seen in five years.
Supposedly living overseas.
Dominic closed his eyes.
Finally.
A name he did not want spoken.
Rosa ended the recording with one instruction.
“Find Gabriel before Dominic does.”
Teresa looked at me.
Isabella did too.
Dominic laughed.
Too loudly.
“He’s dead.”
I looked at him.
“You told me he was overseas.”
Silence.
Another lie.
“Which is it?”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“He may as well be dead.”
Interesting.
Not dead.
Hidden.
Then Rafe entered from the private office holding Dominic’s phone.
One recent message remained undeleted.
Only four words:
SHE CAME BACK. MOVE GABRIEL.
I looked at Dominic.
May you like
His face finally showed what fear looked like without anger covering it.
Gabriel knew something his brother had spent years keeping from me.
