Chapter 9 - BrothersBy afternoon, rumors had spread.
At 12:21, Dominic was in the back of an armored SUV racing toward Manhattan.
Evelyn sat beside him despite every argument he made.
Adrian had been taken to a secure location.
Vincent remained under guard.
Isabella was alive with bruises but no serious injuries.
None of that mattered.
Camille was alone.
“Why would Daniel want Camille?” Evelyn asked.
Dominic stared out the windshield.
“Because she knows where her mother kept the original records.”
“I thought you had the archive.”
“I have my father’s half.”
“And Camille has her mother’s.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You neglected to mention that.”
“I found out yesterday.”
“That defense is getting old.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Can we fight about my communication skills after we survive tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
They reached the safe property eighteen minutes later.
The front door was open.
Two guards lay unconscious inside.
Alive.
Dominic entered first with Marco.
Evelyn was ordered to remain downstairs.
This time she listened.
Mostly because she was becoming nauseated.
Pregnancy apparently did not care about gunmen.
She sat on the bottom stair breathing slowly.
Then heard movement behind her.
A hand covered her mouth.
Evelyn kicked backward.
The person grunted.
She twisted free.
Camille stood there.
“Quiet!”
Evelyn stared.
“You’re alive.”
“For now.”
Camille pulled her into a utility room.
“Daniel is upstairs.”
“Why?”
“He thinks I have my mother’s records.”
“Do you?”
Camille hesitated.
“Oh my God.”
“I have one page.”
“One page of what?”
“My mother’s diary.”
Camille removed a folded sheet from inside her shoe.
“There’s a name on it.”
Evelyn read.
Thomas Vale.
She frowned.
“Who is Thomas?”
Camille whispered, “Dominic’s older brother.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
“Dominic doesn’t have an older brother.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Footsteps sounded above.
Camille continued quickly.
“My mother wrote that Antonio had a son before he married Isabella.”
Evelyn’s mind raced.
“Is he alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Daniel’s voice echoed upstairs.
“Camille!”
Dominic shouted.
A struggle.
Gunshot.
Evelyn grabbed Camille.
They stayed silent.
Then Marco called.
“Clear!”
They emerged.
Daniel lay injured on the hallway floor.
Dominic stood over him.
Daniel was laughing.
“You have no idea,” he said.
Dominic crouched.
“No idea about what?”
Daniel looked toward Evelyn.
His smile widened.
“Ask your mother about Thomas.”
Dominic froze.
Evelyn stepped forward.
“We know.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
Camille handed him the diary page.
He read it once.
Then again.
His face emptied.
“No.”
“Dominic…”
“My father had no other son.”
Daniel laughed.
“Yes, he did.”
Dominic turned.
“Who is Thomas?”
Daniel smiled through blood.
“The man who should have inherited everything.”
Marco called emergency medical support.
Dominic grabbed Daniel’s jacket.
“Where is he?”
“Closer than you think.”
“Who?”
Daniel whispered something.
Evelyn couldn’t hear.
Dominic did.
He released Daniel as though burned.
“What did he say?” Evelyn asked.
Dominic looked at Marco.
Then Camille.
Then his wife.
“He said Thomas has been inside my organization for twenty years.”
Evelyn’s blood went cold.
Daniel was transported under guard.
At dawn, Isabella arrived.
Dominic placed the diary page in front of her.
She looked at it.
Then sat slowly.
“Tell me,” Dominic said.
Isabella closed her eyes.
“Thomas was born two years before I met your father.”
“Who was his mother?”
“Maria Bellini.”
“Where is he?”
“She died when Thomas was four.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Your father brought him into our home.”
Dominic stared.
“I would remember having a brother.”
“You knew him by another name.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Evelyn’s pulse began pounding.
Isabella looked toward the doorway.
Toward Marco.
Marco stopped moving.
Dominic followed her gaze.
“No.”
Isabella’s face crumpled.
“Dominic…”
“No.”
Marco looked stunned.
“What is she talking about?”
Isabella whispered, “Your birth name wasn’t Marco Russo.”
Nobody breathed.
“You were six when Antonio took you in.”
Marco stepped backward.
“No.”
“Your mother was Maria.”
“No.”
“Antonio changed your name because there were enemies looking for you.”
Marco shook his head.
“My father was Carlo Russo.”
“Carlo was Antonio’s driver. He raised you.”
Marco stared at Dominic.
Dominic stared back.
Twenty years of loyalty.
Twenty years of friendship.
The man who had guarded Dominic through wars, weddings, funerals, and betrayal.
His brother.
His older brother.
Marco’s voice broke.
“Did you know?”
Dominic answered immediately.
“No.”
Marco looked at Isabella.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“All these years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Antonio believed if anyone knew who you were, they would use you against Dominic.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“So he erased me.”
“He protected you.”
“He stole my name.”
Isabella flinched.
Marco turned toward the door.
Dominic stopped him.
“Marco.”
“Move.”
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“You’re my brother.”
Marco stared at him.
“For thirty years, I was your employee.”
“You were never just that.”
“Don’t.”
Dominic stepped aside.
Marco walked out.
Evelyn followed him onto the terrace.
“Marco.”
He stopped.
She didn’t know what to say.
So she said the truth.
“I’m sorry.”
Marco stared across the city.
“All my life I thought I owed the Vale family everything.”
He laughed once.
“Apparently they owed me my entire life.”
Evelyn stood beside him.
Then Marco said something that terrified her.
“If I’m Antonio’s firstborn son, Dominic isn’t the heir.”
Evelyn looked at him.
Marco’s expression darkened.
“And if someone has been trying to destroy Dominic over succession…”
He didn’t finish.
He didn’t need to.
May you like
The pregnancy might never have been the real threat.
Maybe the true threat had been the man standing beside her all along.
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