Chapter 3 - THE BROTHER WHO BURIED THE TRUTH
Sebastian had not seen Dominic Romano in eight years.
The family had announced that Dominic moved to Europe after a disagreement over business interests. In reality, Sebastian had been told his uncle was no longer welcome in the Romano organization.
His father had refused to explain why.
Now Dominic stood behind the furnace with a pistol in his hand.
He looked older, broader around the waist, but otherwise unchanged. His expensive suit was immaculate, and his expression carried the same patient amusement Sebastian remembered from childhood.
"Put the gun down," Sebastian ordered.
Dominic smiled.
"You always were your father's son. Straight to commands, never to questions."
Marcus moved between them.
"Weapon on the floor. Now."
Dominic lowered his pistol slowly, then nudged it away with his shoe.
"I came to prevent a family disaster."
"You kept my mother in a cellar."
"Your mother chose to disappear."
Elena recoiled.
"You're lying."
Dominic's smile vanished.
"Careful. Twelve years of silence haven't made your memory any more reliable."
Sebastian stepped toward him.
"Explain everything."
"Gladly. Your mother discovered that Antonio was preparing to transfer controlling interests in the family companies into a trust. She believed the transfer would leave you vulnerable to his enemies. She threatened to expose several financial arrangements, and then she vanished."
"That's not what happened," Elena whispered.
Dominic ignored her.
"Your father told everyone she died. He wanted to protect the family name. I was asked to make sure she stayed away until the scandal passed."
"Twelve years?" Sebastian demanded.
"Things became complicated."
"People don't spend twelve years in a locked cellar because things become complicated."
Dominic's eyes flicked toward Elena.
"She wasn't always in this room."
That frightened Sebastian more than any denial.
He turned to his mother.
"Where were you?"
Elena swallowed.
"In a clinic outside Albany. Then a house in Pennsylvania. When I tried to contact you, someone intercepted my letters. They told me you wanted nothing to do with me."
Sebastian felt the old wounds of childhood rearrange themselves into something darker.
He remembered a letter from his mother that had arrived six months after her supposed death. His father had taken it from him, claiming it was a cruel forgery.
Had it been real?
"Who brought you here?" Sebastian asked.
Elena stared at Dominic.
"He said Antonio was dying. He promised I could see my husband one last time."
"Antonio isn't dying."
"I know that now."
Dominic sighed.
"Family history is sentimental, but sentiment won't change the immediate problem. Vanessa has already called the police. She'll claim you attacked her and abducted a woman whose death has been legally documented."
"Then we'll show them the truth."
Dominic laughed.
"With what? A woman whose medical records say she died twelve years ago? A confused old man? A frightened maid? Do you know how much money it takes to make a story disappear?"
Sebastian's jaw tightened.
"Apparently, enough to hide my mother beneath my own home."
Dominic's expression changed.
For the first time, genuine anger broke through his composure.
"Your father built this family. I kept it alive while he sat in that wheelchair. You inherited the empire without understanding what it cost."
"And you think that gives you the right to imprison my mother?"
"I think it gives me the right to prevent her from destroying everything."
Elena suddenly reached into the pocket of her blanket.
She pulled out a small brass key.
"Sebastian, your father gave me this before Dominic took me away."
Dominic lunged.
Marcus caught his arm and drove him against the wall.
Sebastian took the key.
"What does it open?"
Elena shook her head.
"I never found out. Antonio told me that if I survived, I should give it to you. He said the truth was hidden where your father kept his first promise."
Sebastian knew exactly where that was.
The old chapel on the estate grounds.
He had made a promise there as a child, holding his mother's hand beside a stained-glass window.
But before he could leave, Marcus's phone rang.
He answered, listened, and went pale.
"Boss, the police are at the main gate."
"Let them in."
"There's something else. Someone sent them photographs of Clara standing over Margaret's bloodied body."
Sebastian stared at him.
"That makes no sense. Clara tried to save Margaret."
Marcus turned the screen toward him.
The photographs were clear.
And the timestamp showed they had been taken three nights earlier, before Clara's injury had even been reported.
Someone had prepared evidence against the maid before the attack ever happened.
Then Sebastian noticed a reflection in the glass behind Clara.
A man stood in the doorway, holding a camera.
The man wore Sebastian's own security uniform.
And his face was one Sebastian had seen at the family dinner table that very evening.
May you like
His cousin, Nicholas Romano.
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