Chapter 14 - THE MAN WHO SHOULD BE DEAD
The alarm came from the east corridor.
Leo’s nursery wing.
Carmine ran.
Anthony behind him.
Two guards lay unconscious near the service stairs.
Alive.
No gunfire.
Whoever entered did not want noise.
Carmine reached Leo’s room.
Empty.
The bed overturned.
Window open.
His heart stopped.
“Nora!”
A voice came from the bathroom.
“Here!”
Carmine kicked the door open.
Nora sat on the floor holding Leo against her chest.
The boy was crying.
Safe.
Carmine dropped beside him.
“Daddy.”
“I’m here.”
Nora pointed toward the hall.
“He came through the old stairwell.”
“Who?”
“Older man.”
“Vittorio?”
“I don’t know.”
Leo buried his face in Carmine’s neck.
Then whispered:
“Wolf man.”
Carmine looked at Anthony.
Helena arrived seconds later.
When Leo saw her, he tightened his grip.
Helena stopped.
The reaction destroyed something in her face.
She did not approach.
Carmine noticed.
“Was it your father?”
Helena looked toward Nora.
“Description.”
Nora gave it.
Gray beard.
Scar near ear.
Helena closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Carmine stood.
“Vittorio came for Leo.”
Helena shook her head.
“No.”
“Nora saw him.”
“He warned us.”
“And then entered my house.”
Helena looked toward the open window.
“He wouldn’t hurt Leo.”
Carmine laughed.
“You used to say the same about yourself.”
She flinched.
Fair again.
A guard called from downstairs.
“Boss!”
Carmine handed Leo to Nora.
“Stay.”
Leo grabbed his jacket.
Carmine stopped.
The boy looked terrified.
“Come back.”
Carmine crouched.
“I’m not leaving the property.”
Leo studied him.
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
Carmine kissed his forehead.
“Promise.”
Downstairs, Vittorio Bellucci stood in the center of the garage.
Alive.
Eighteen years after his funeral without a body.
He was older.
Heavier.
Scar beneath his right ear.
But Helena’s eyes were his.
She stopped at the entrance.
“Dad.”
Vittorio looked at her.
For the first time his expression softened.
Then he saw the bruise still faintly visible on her cheek.
His eyes moved toward Carmine.
“You hit my daughter.”
Carmine walked forward.
“She abused my son.”
Vittorio looked at Helena.
She lowered her eyes.
“You withheld food?”
No answer.
Vittorio’s face changed.
“I told you to move him.”
“I know.”
“Not hurt him.”
“I know.”
“You let hatred make you stupid.”
Helena stared at her father.
“You gave me the hatred.”
Vittorio absorbed that.
Carmine almost admired the sentence.
Then:
“Why are you here?”
Vittorio looked at Anthony.
“Because Grey is moving.”
Anthony’s jaw tightened.
“Rosalie’s recording points at me.”
Vittorio smiled faintly.
“That is what Grey wants.”
Carmine stared.
“Explain.”
“Empty throne does not mean right hand.”
“What then?”
“The seat Giancarlo created for the man who could replace any boss during chaos.”
Vittorio walked toward the old Bellucci crest mounted on the garage wall.
“Grey was not a lieutenant.”
“Then?”
“A keeper.”
“Of what?”
“Continuity.”
The Second House survived bosses because one person maintained relationships between generations.
Not the strongest man.
Not the most feared.
The one everyone forgot to watch.
Carmine thought through his family.
Men at the table.
Old employees.
People who moved through every room without being treated as power.
Then Vittorio said:
“Rosalie discovered Grey at Leo’s christening.”
Carmine froze.
“Who?”
“I never saw the face.”
“You said she found him.”
“She refused to tell me.”
“Why?”
“She no longer trusted anyone with the full name.”
Carmine’s voice hardened.
“Where is my wife?”
Vittorio stared at him.
“I don’t know.”
“Lie.”
“I lost her eight months ago.”
“You showed Thomas a photograph three days old.”
“It was sent to me.”
“By Grey.”
“Yes.”
Carmine stepped close.
“You spent two years letting me think you held her.”
“I wanted you looking at me.”
“Why?”
“Because if you looked at the Second House before you were ready, you would do exactly what your father trained you to do.”
“Kill everyone.”
“Yes.”
Vittorio smiled sadly.
“And save Grey the trouble.”
Carmine hated that he understood.
Vittorio reached inside his coat.
Anthony raised his weapon.
Vittorio stopped.
“Relax.”
He removed a small music box.
Leo’s.
Carmine recognized it.
Rosalie kept it in the nursery.
It disappeared after the ambush.
“Where?”
“Rosalie gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Before she vanished the second time.”
Vittorio opened the lid.
No music.
Inside was a tiny photograph.
Carmine took it.
Rosalie.
Vittorio.
And another person.
The third face had been burned away.
“Who?”
“Grey.”
“You let the face be destroyed?”
“It was already like that when she gave it to me.”
Carmine turned the photograph.
On the back, Rosalie had written only:
HE WAS THERE BEFORE CARMINE WAS BORN.
Carmine stared.
Older than his father’s later crews.
Someone tied to the Belluccis for more than fifty years.
Vittorio looked toward Helena.
“I came because Grey ordered me to bring Leo.”
Her face changed.
“You never told me.”
“I never intended to.”
“Then why warn Carmine?”
“Because I am done letting fathers turn children into payment.”
Helena’s eyes filled.
For a moment they were not conspirators.
Just a father and daughter who had poisoned each other with old grief.
Then a shot shattered the garage window.
Vittorio turned.
A second shot struck him high in the shoulder.
Helena screamed.
Carmine dragged him behind the sedan.
Anthony’s men returned fire toward the tree line.
The attackers did not stay.
Engines roared beyond the wall.
Gone.
Helena pressed both hands against her father’s wound.
Vittorio remained conscious.
Carmine crouched.
“Who knew you were coming?”
“No one.”
“Someone did.”
Vittorio looked at him.
“Then Grey is already inside.”
Carmine’s stomach turned cold.
Inside.
Not physically.
Inside the Bellucci circle.
Maybe inside the house.
Maybe inside the family.
Then Vittorio grabbed Carmine’s wrist.
“There is one thing Rosalie told me.”
“What?”
Vittorio’s breathing became rough.
“She said if Leo ever recognized Grey…”
Carmine waited.
Vittorio looked toward the ceiling.
Toward the nursery.
“…it would be because Grey had held him before.”
Carmine slowly stood.
Leo had been held by dozens of family members as a baby.
At his christening.
At holidays.
At Sunday dinners.
Carmine looked around the garage.
Anthony.
Helena.
Nora beyond the door.
Old guards.
Estate staff.
Family.
May you like
The enemy had never needed to break into Bellucci territory.
Carmine had invited him in years ago.
