Chapter 4 - THE BULLET MEANT FOR THE TRUTHDominic did not remember crossing the distance between the driveway and Lorenzo’s front door.
He remembered the sniper shot.
He remembered glass exploding around Madeline.
Then something inside him took control.
“East ridge!” Mateo shouted.
Dominic fired twice toward the muzzle flash.
Lorenzo’s men scattered.
Another bullet struck the stone column inches from Dominic’s head.
“Inside!” Lorenzo shouted.
Dominic ignored him.
“Madeline!”
“I’m alive!”
Her voice came from the second floor.
That was enough.
Dominic ran.
Lorenzo caught his arm.
“Don’t.”
Dominic spun so violently both men nearly collided.
“Move.”
“The shooter wants you exposed.”
“I said move.”
“You die on my stairs and Salvatore wins everything.”
Dominic stared at him.
Then Mateo shouted from behind a vehicle.
“He’s moving!”
Gunfire erupted near the trees.
Lorenzo released Dominic.
“Go.”
Dominic entered the house.
He climbed the staircase two steps at a time.
When he reached the bedroom, Madeline was on the floor surrounded by shattered glass.
Blood stained her bandages.
Dominic dropped beside her.
“Where are you hit?”
“I’m not.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“The first wound opened.”
He touched her face.
She flinched.
The movement was small.
But Dominic felt it like a knife.
His hand stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
Madeline looked at him.
“You should be.”
There was no cruelty in her voice.
That made it worse.
Dominic swallowed.
“The sniper?”
“Missed.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes for one second.
Then he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
Madeline looked down at it.
“A little late.”
He almost broke.
Instead he said quietly, “I know.”
Outside, gunfire faded.
Lorenzo entered.
“We got one.”
Dominic stood.
“One?”
“There were two shooters.”
“Who sent them?”
“The living one may tell us.”
Mateo appeared behind him.
His shoulder was bleeding.
Madeline’s face changed.
“Mateo.”
“Scratch.”
“It’s not a scratch.”
“I’ve had worse breakfasts.”
Dominic looked at Lorenzo.
“My uncle?”
“Gone.”
“He escaped the garage.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Lorenzo gave him a hard look.
“Because somebody has been keeping him informed.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“You think I have another traitor.”
“I think Salvatore spent twenty years placing men around you.”
Dominic looked toward Madeline.
She still held the recorder.
“Let me hear it.”
Madeline hesitated.
Then handed it to him.
Dominic pressed play.
His father’s voice filled the room.
If I sign those papers, Dominic walks away from this life.
Dominic stopped breathing.
He listened to the entire recording without moving.
When it ended, he pressed play again.
Then again.
On the third repetition, Madeline reached over and stopped it.
“Dominic.”
He stared at the recorder.
“My father wanted me out.”
“Yes.”
“Salvatore told me my father wanted me to lead.”
Lorenzo laughed without humor.
“Salvatore wanted you to lead.”
Dominic looked up.
“What did my father know?”
“Enough to die for.”
Lorenzo laid photographs on the table.
Antonio.
Gabriel.
Federal courthouse.
Dominic studied each image.
His entire adult life rearranged itself in front of him.
Every war.
Every revenge killing.
Every business taken from the Castigliones.
Every man who had died because Dominic believed Lorenzo’s family murdered Antonio.
“You knew,” Dominic said.
Lorenzo’s expression went cold.
“I suspected before the murder. I knew afterward.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I came to the hospital.”
“You came armed.”
“My father had just disappeared.”
“You threatened my uncle.”
“Because he killed yours.”
Dominic stepped forward.
Lorenzo did not retreat.
Madeline stood between them.
“Enough.”
Both men looked at her.
“You can spend another six years hating each other after we survive tonight.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Madeline continued.
“Salvatore still expects you at Pier Fourteen.”
“What time?”
“Three.”
Dominic checked his watch.
2:21 a.m.
Lorenzo said, “Then we have thirty-nine minutes.”
Mateo entered again with two guards dragging a wounded man.
The captured sniper.
Blood soaked one trouser leg.
He wore black tactical clothing without insignia.
Mateo pushed him into a chair.
Dominic approached.
“Name.”
The sniper said nothing.
Dominic crouched.
“Who hired you?”
Silence.
“You fired at my wife.”
Still nothing.
Dominic’s eyes became empty.
Madeline knew that look.
“Dominic.”
He did not turn.
“Not like this.”
“He tried to kill you.”
“And if you kill him before he speaks, he becomes useless.”
Lorenzo smiled faintly.
“She’s better at this than you are.”
Dominic ignored him.
Madeline stepped toward the sniper.
“You were told I had something.”
The man’s eyes flickered.
There.
A reaction.
“The recorder?” she asked.
Nothing.
“The shipping ledger?”
Another flicker.
Madeline saw it.
“So you know about the ledger.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What ledger?”
“I didn’t have time to tell you.”
“Tell me now.”
Madeline faced him.
“The shipments being intercepted were not random.”
“I know that.”
“They contained old company records.”
Dominic frowned.
“Which records?”
“Containers processed under Vitiello Maritime between 2008 and 2012.”
Lorenzo swore softly.
Mateo stared.
Dominic asked, “Why does that matter?”
“Because Salvatore has spent six weeks destroying evidence.”
“Of what?”
Madeline looked at the sniper.
Then back at her husband.
“Your father wasn’t only leaving the criminal business.”
She took a slow breath.
“He was building a case against Salvatore for trafficking.”
Dominic went still.
“What kind?”
“Women.”
The word landed heavily.
“Runaways. undocumented workers. girls moved through private freight channels. Antonio found out.”
“No.”
“He shut down three routes quietly.”
Dominic shook his head.
“My father would have killed anyone involved.”
“He tried.”
“That business never existed under my family.”
“Not under Antonio.”
Her meaning was clear.
Under Salvatore.
Dominic looked toward Mateo.
Mateo’s face had gone pale.
“What?” Dominic demanded.
Mateo did not answer.
“What do you know?”
Mateo sat down slowly.
“When I was younger, your father sent me to inspect a warehouse in Red Hook.”
Dominic stared at him.
“I found twelve women inside.”
Madeline covered her mouth.
“What happened?”
“Antonio moved them. Paid for identities. Housing. He told me if Salvatore ever learned I knew, both of us would die.”
Dominic’s face turned to stone.
“You kept this from me for seventeen years?”
“I promised your father.”
“He was dead.”
“I promised him I would protect you from becoming what Salvatore wanted.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Did that work?”
Mateo had no answer.
A phone rang.
Not Dominic’s.
The sniper’s.
Everyone looked down.
Mateo removed it from the man’s pocket.
One incoming message.
PIER FOURTEEN ACTIVE.
PHASE TWO BEGINS AT 3:00.
Dominic looked at the clock.
2:31.
Madeline said, “What is phase two?”
The sniper smiled.
The first expression he had shown.
“You really don’t know?”
Dominic grabbed his collar.
“Tell me.”
The sniper looked directly at Madeline.
“Pier Fourteen was never the real target.”
Her stomach tightened.
“Then what is?”
The man’s smile widened.
“The hospitals.”
Madeline froze.
Her foundation funded three trauma centers and two emergency shelters.
“What hospitals?”
The sniper laughed.
“Ask your wife where the witnesses are.”
Dominic looked at Madeline.
Her face lost all color.
“Madeline?”
She whispered, “Oh God.”
“What?”
“The women Antonio rescued.”
“You know where they are?”
“Not the original women.”
She looked at Lorenzo.
“Their families.”
Then Dominic understood.
The foundation.
Madeline had spent three years building emergency housing programs using old files anonymously delivered to her office.
Someone had been leading survivors to her.
Someone had been assembling witnesses.
Salvatore knew.
Madeline rushed toward the phone.
“St. Catherine’s shelter has twelve residents tonight.”
Lorenzo’s face hardened.
“How many guards?”
“Two.”
Dominic looked at Mateo.
“Call everyone.”
Mateo was already moving.
Madeline grabbed Dominic’s arm.
“My program director is there.”
“Name?”
“Sarah.”
“We’ll get her.”
“Her seven-year-old daughter is with her.”
Dominic stopped.
A child.
The sniper laughed again.
“You’re too late.”
Dominic hit him once.
The chair toppled backward.
Then Mateo shouted from the hall.
“Dominic!”
Everyone turned.
Mateo held his phone away from his ear.
His face was white.
May you like
“What?”
“St. Catherine’s just exploded.”
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