Chapter 4 - The Traitor at Dominic’s TableGunfire exploded downstairs.
Dominic pulled Khloe behind the hospital bed.
“Stay down.”
Emergency lights flickered red.
Matteo shouted from the hallway.
“Three coming up!”
Dominic fired through the doorway.
Khloe covered Anthony as glass shattered above them.
The old man was shaking.
“There's another exit,” he whispered.
“Where?”
“Bathroom. Service corridor.”
Khloe helped him stand.
Dominic covered them while they moved.
Minutes later, they escaped through a loading entrance and disappeared into Matteo’s armored SUV.
Anthony was transferred to a private Costello property outside Boston.
For forty-eight hours, nobody outside Dominic’s most trusted circle knew he was alive.
Khloe stayed.
She told herself it was because Anthony had answers about her father.
That wasn't the whole truth.
She stayed because Dominic had changed after finding him.
The terrifying certainty disappeared.
He became quieter.
Human.
On the second night, Khloe found him alone in the kitchen.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
He poured coffee.
She took it.
“Thank you.”
“For coffee?”
“For believing my father.”
Dominic leaned against the counter.
“Your father protected mine while my family did nothing for him.”
“You didn't know.”
“I should have.”
Khloe studied him.
“You blame yourself for things you couldn't control.”
“And you apologize for taking up space.”
The words hit harder than she expected.
Dominic looked at her.
“Maybe we're both bad at knowing which burdens belong to us.”
She smiled faintly.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Dominic reached toward her face.
He stopped before touching her.
“May I?”
Khloe nodded.
His thumb brushed the fading bruise on her cheek.
“I should have stopped Vivien the first time she insulted you.”
“Yes.”
“I won't make that mistake again.”
Her heartbeat changed.
Then Matteo entered.
“Sorry.”
He looked extremely unsorry.
“We found Lorenzo.”
Alive.
He had been shot in the shoulder and abandoned near Revere Beach.
Dominic brought him to the house.
Lorenzo confessed everything.
Thomas Bennett had discovered Senator Kensington’s network years earlier.
Anthony Costello helped him collect evidence.
But someone betrayed them.
Anthony was abducted.
Thomas was murdered.
Lorenzo had hidden the key by convincing Thomas to give it to Khloe, reasoning nobody would search a grieving teenage girl's belongings.
“Who betrayed them?” Dominic asked.
Lorenzo looked terrified.
“I never knew.”
Anthony did.
Later that evening, Anthony finally revealed the name.
Matteo Carbone.
The lead bodyguard.
Khloe felt the room tilt.
“That can't be right.”
Dominic said nothing.
Matteo had served him for fourteen years.
He had protected Dominic during three assassination attempts.
He had carried Dominic’s mother from a burning car.
Anthony shook his head.
“Not Matteo.”
Everyone exhaled.
“His father.”
Carlo Carbone.
Matteo’s father had been Salvatore Costello’s closest lieutenant.
Carlo betrayed Anthony and Thomas to Kensington in exchange for money and immunity.
But Carlo died five years earlier.
“Then who is inside the family now?” Dominic asked.
Anthony’s answer was devastating.
“Carlo had a partner.”
“Who?”
Anthony looked toward the doorway.
Dominic’s younger cousin, Julian Costello, was standing there.
Gun in hand.
Matteo reacted first.
Julian fired.
The bullet hit Matteo in the shoulder.
Dominic lunged.
Julian grabbed Khloe and pressed the gun beneath her jaw.
Everything stopped.
“Drop it, cousin.”
Dominic slowly lowered his weapon.
Julian smiled.
“I always wondered what kind of woman could make Dominic Costello surrender his gun.”
Khloe's heart hammered.
“I’m not his woman.”
Julian laughed.
“You should see the way he looks at you.”
Dominic’s gaze remained fixed on Khloe.
“Let her go.”
“You ended a political engagement for a waitress.”
“I ended it because Vivien was poison.”
“And now her father wants your head.”
Julian tightened his arm around Khloe.
Dominic took one step forward.
“Touch her again.”
Julian smiled.
“There it is.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“And I'll forget we're blood.”
Julian pushed the gun harder against Khloe.
Then Khloe did something neither man expected.
She slammed her orthopedic shoe down on Julian's foot and threw her weight backward.
He lost balance.
Dominic crossed the room in two strides.
A brutal punch sent Julian into the wall.
Matteo, bleeding, kicked the gun away.
Dominic pinned his cousin to the floor.
“Who killed Thomas Bennett?”
Julian laughed through blood.
“Kensington ordered it.”
“Who pulled the trigger?”
Julian looked directly at Khloe.
“Ask your fiancé.”
Silence.
Khloe’s stomach dropped.
“Vivien?”
Julian grinned.
“She was nineteen.”
Dominic froze.
“She killed my father?” Khloe whispered.
“No.”
Julian’s smile widened.
“But she was in the car.”
May you like
He looked at Dominic.
“And she knows who did.”
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