Chapter 7
The Community Stability Fund did not officially exist.
Samuel checked every club account.
Every charity.
Every holding company.
Nothing.
Yet Thomas was not the only merchant who had paid into it.
The tailor next door had receipts.
So did the pharmacy.
So had the florist before closing.
Cash and electronic payments together exceeded $1.8 million.
Rocco stared at the total.
Dominic had been collecting money using his uncle’s name.
Samuel expected to find personal purchases.
Cars.
Watches.
Vacations.
Nothing.
Dominic’s lifestyle was expensive, but fully explained by salary and legitimate investments.
The $1.8 million had gone somewhere else.
Samuel traced it through North Crest Redevelopment.
Property deposits.
Loan payments.
Building repairs.
Legal fees.
The money had been reinvested into the block.
Rocco’s expression hardened.
“He wasn't stealing it for himself.”
Frank nodded slowly.
“No.”
That complicated everything.
Dominic had extorted merchants.
Redirected supplier payments.
Forged documents.
But he had not primarily enriched himself.
He had been building something.
The next map revealed what.
Every acquired property formed a continuous rectangle around the Castellano Club.
Enough land for a hotel annex, private garages and expanded event space.
A redevelopment project worth tens of millions if completed.
Rocco looked at the design renderings.
“You've seen these?”
Frank shook his head.
Samuel did too.
Dominic had prepared them privately.
Then Rocco noticed the title.
CASTELLANO LEGACY DISTRICT.
His name again.
He summoned Dominic.
The younger man entered with the same bruised face and stronger posture.
Rocco pushed the plans toward him.
“You were expanding the club.”
“I was protecting it.”
“By bankrupting the people around it.”
Dominic’s nostrils flared.
“By buying a dying block before developers surrounded us.”
“Vance Bakery wasn't dying.”
“It is now.”
Rocco stared.
Dominic held his gaze.
That sentence admitted more than he probably intended.
Rocco leaned forward.
“You made it die.”
Silence.
Dominic’s hand tightened.
Then he said:
“I created pressure.”
Rocco’s voice dropped.
“You starved businesses until they sold.”
“I made decisions you would've praised twenty years ago.”
The room went still.
Rocco did not deny it.
Dominic took a breath.
“I did not build this for me.”
He tapped the redevelopment plans.
“I built it because this club was going to disappear.”
Rocco frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“You still don't know.”
He reached into his briefcase.
A bank notice.
The Castellano Club had been carrying a confidential $14 million balloon loan.
Payment due in four months.
Failure meant foreclosure rights against the property.
Rocco stared at the document.
“I never approved this loan.”
Dominic’s smile vanished.
“No.”
May you like
He looked toward Frank.
“Someone else did.”
