Chapter 4
Dominic lasted eleven minutes.
Vincent sat across from him in the wine room.
No bodyguards inside.
No weapons on the table.
That made Dominic more nervous.
Vincent placed Matteo’s black pin between them.
Dominic stared.
“That’s not mine.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Then why show me?”
“You’ve seen it.”
“No.”
Vincent waited.
Dominic looked away.
There.
“Again.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I saw one like it when I was a kid.”
“Where?”
“My father.”
“Your father never belonged to Matteo’s branch.”
“I know.”
“So try again.”
Silence.
Vincent leaned back.
“How many times did you frighten Leo?”
Dominic looked angry.
“I never hit him.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“He’s a child.”
“That’s why I asked.”
Dominic’s face changed.
He understood he was losing every route out.
“Three.”
Vincent said nothing.
Dominic continued because silence demanded it.
“The first time was after he threw food at me.”
“He was two.”
“I know.”
“What did you do?”
“I grabbed his wrist.”
“How hard?”
Dominic looked away.
“Enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“To scare him.”
Vincent’s expression did not move.
“Second.”
“He wouldn’t stay in his room.”
“What did you do?”
“Raised my hand.”
“Did you strike him?”
“No.”
“Why did he crouch tonight?”
Dominic swallowed.
“Because I taught him if I lifted my hand, he needed to get down.”
Vincent’s hands remained flat against the table.
Every instinct wanted blood.
He chose questions.
“Why?”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“I was told to.”
“By Matteo.”
Dominic looked up too quickly.
Vincent saw it.
“Alive.”
Dominic laughed nervously.
“No.”
“Emma saw him.”
Dominic went pale.
“Emma saw—”
He stopped.
Mistake.
Vincent leaned forward.
“You knew he had been here.”
Dominic stared.
“How long?”
No answer.
Vincent picked up the pin.
“Four months?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Six.”
Vincent felt the betrayal settle.
“Where did you meet him?”
“Outside the estate first.”
“Why?”
“He contacted me.”
“For?”
“Family.”
“Be more specific.”
Dominic’s resentment finally emerged.
“He said you were destroying what your father built.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“Closing gambling rooms.”
“Yes.”
“Ending collections around schools.”
“Yes.”
“Refusing wars over insults.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“Yes.”
“So kindness offended him.”
“Not kindness.”
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“Control.”
There it was.
Old family logic.
If fear decreased, loyalty might too.
“What did Matteo promise you?”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“A chair.”
“Mine.”
“He never said that.”
“He didn’t need to.”
Dominic looked away.
Vincent continued.
“What did he ask?”
“At first, nothing.”
“Then?”
“To spend time with Leo.”
Vincent’s voice became very quiet.
“You let a man everyone believed dead spend time near my son.”
“I didn’t let him inside.”
“Then how?”
Dominic hesitated.
“Peter.”
Security chief.
Second time the name appeared.
Vincent filed it away.
“Peter opened doors.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened in the Silence Room?”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“He wanted to know whether the old cues still worked.”
“On you?”
“At first.”
Vincent stared.
Matteo had conditioned Dominic too.
Later.
Secretly.
“When?”
“I was nineteen.”
Vincent understood.
Dominic’s father died when he was eighteen.
Soon after, Matteo supposedly died.
There had been a narrow period.
“Matteo trained you.”
“Yes.”
“Why hide it?”
“He said your father would never accept me.”
“My father was already sick.”
“He said you wouldn’t.”
Vincent saw how it had been done.
Take an ambitious young man.
Tell him the family sees him as lesser.
Offer secret belonging.
Build loyalty through grievance.
“What did Matteo want with Leo?”
Dominic’s breathing changed.
“He said the boy needed discipline.”
“He was two.”
“I know.”
“Did that bother you?”
“Yes.”
“But you did it.”
“Yes.”
Again.
Responsibility.
No excuse.
“Third time?”
Dominic looked toward the floor.
“He cried for Sofia.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“And?”
“I told him crying wouldn’t bring dead people back.”
“That’s what made him afraid of losing her farther.”
Dominic said nothing.
Vincent stood.
Dominic looked up.
“Vincent.”
“Who enters Leo’s room at night?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“Never at night.”
“Matteo?”
“I don’t know.”
“Peter?”
Dominic’s eyes shifted.
Vincent saw it.
“What?”
Dominic whispered:
“Peter knows the balcony route.”
“Anyone else?”
“No.”
Vincent turned toward the door.
Dominic spoke quickly.
“Wait.”
Vincent stopped.
“There’s something Matteo said.”
“What?”
Dominic looked genuinely frightened.
“He said Sofia made the same mistake your mother made.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
May you like
“What mistake?”
“Trying to hide a child from a Moretti.”
