Chapter 13 - Secrets in the Bloodline
Within two hours, the grand dining hall of the Back Bay brownstone was transformed into an interrogation bunker. The heavy velvet curtains were drawn shut against the gray afternoon light, and three armed sentries stood motionless behind the mahogany chairs.
My uncles Vincenzo, Salvatore, and Luca sat around the long conference table once again, but the jovial, cigar-smoking atmosphere of the wedding was completely gone. In the center of the table lay the rusted iron key, the photograph of Elena, and a detailed banking ledger that my intelligence team had extracted from our encrypted private server less than an hour ago.
"You called an emergency tribunal, Dominic," Uncle Vincenzo spoke, his gravelly voice filled with defensive irritation. "We gave you our blessing with the girl. We accepted the four boys into the succession. What else do you want from us?"
"I want the name of the traitor who sat at my father's right hand and sold my woman to the Barretts," I said coldly, walking slowly around the perimeter of the table, my footsteps echoing off the parquet floor.
Luca shifted uncomfortably in his leather chair, avoiding my gaze. Salvatore scoffed, throwing his hands in the air. "Dominic, this is ancient history! Barrett has always been a snake. He probably hired private investigators to scour every hospital in the Midwest!"
"Private investigators don't possess a key to the Moretti family safety deposit vault at the Bank of Boston," I said, slamming the rusted iron key down directly in front of Uncle Luca.
Luca flinched, his face turning an ashen gray.
"Recognize it, Uncle?" I leaned down, bringing my face inches from his. "This key belonged to my father's personal strongbox. It was moved out of our offshore holdings six years ago, two weeks after Elena disappeared. The signature on the withdrawal authorization wasn't my father's. It was yours."
A suffocating silence dropped over the room. Vincenzo and Salvatore turned their heads slowly toward their younger brother, their expressions darkening with shock and disbelief.
"Luca..." Vincenzo growled, his voice deep and menacing. "Tell me you didn't."
Luca swallowed hard, his hands trembling as he tried to adjust his silk tie. "You don't understand, Vincenzo! Dominic was twenty-nine years old, blinded by an obsession with a girl who had no bloodline, no money, and no political connections! The Barrett family was offering us fifty percent of the deep-water shipping lanes! If Dominic married Elena, the syndicate would have fractured! Arthur Barrett approached me with a proposal: get Elena out of Boston quietly, give him leverage over her whereabouts, and he would guarantee our port dominance!"
"You sold my pregnant wife to our sworn enemy," I whispered, the words coming out so quietly, so lethal, that even Vincenzo pulled his chair back.
"I didn't know she was pregnant!" Luca pleaded, terror finally breaking through his arrogant exterior. "Barrett swore to me he would just keep tabs on her to ensure she never returned! I thought I was protecting the family empire!"
"You didn't protect the empire," I said, drawing a heavy semi-automatic handgun from my holster and placing it on the table with a dull, hollow thud. "You handed our mortal enemy a loaded gun pointed directly at my sons' heads."
Before Luca could scream, the double doors of the dining hall clicked open.
Standing in the doorway, wearing matching dark wool sweaters and looking like an elite miniature tribunal, were Leo and Dante. They didn't look frightened by the weapon on the table or the violent tension choking the room.
"Dad," Leo said clearly, his six-year-old voice slicing through the deadly standoff. "Mom said lunch is getting cold. And Dante says if Uncle Luca is crying, he can have his dessert."
Luca buried his face in his hands, trembling with shame. I looked at my sons, then down at the weapon on the table. The monster inside me wanted to paint the mahogany walls red, but the father in me knew that the true war was waiting out on the docks.
"Christian," I commanded without taking my eyes off my uncle. "Strip Luca of every asset, every bank account, and every property in the Commonwealth. Confine him to the basement quarters at the Gloucester compound under twenty-four-hour surveillance. If he speaks to a single soul outside those walls, feed him to the harbor."
Christian nodded crisply. "Understood, Boss."
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I picked up the iron key, re-holstered my weapon, and walked toward my sons. As I reached the doorway, I dropped to one knee, brushing Dante’s dark hair out of his eyes.
"Go tell your mother we're coming," I said softly, the lethal chill draining from my voice. "And nobody touches Dante's dessert."
