Chapter 10 - The Unopened Envelope
The atmosphere in the study shifted instantly.
The joy of the morning evaporated, replaced by a cold, creeping dread.
"A confession?" Dominic repeated, his voice barely a whisper. "Antonio Rossi killed my brother. We just established that. Victoria set him up."
"Victoria gave Antonio the location," Margaret agreed gently. "But Antonio didn't pull the trigger, Dominic."
Dominic's hands tightened around the aged envelope. The red wax cracked slightly under the pressure.
"Who pulled the trigger, Margaret?" Dominic asked, his eyes turning dark and dangerous.
"Open the letter," she replied.
Dominic slid his finger under the flap, breaking the ancient seal completely.
He pulled out a single, handwritten letter.
I watched his eyes dart back and forth across the page.
I watched the man who had just defeated a rival mob boss, who had just reclaimed his family's legacy, completely crumble.
Dominic dropped the letter onto the desk.
He staggered backward, bracing his hands against the mahogany bookshelf.
"No," Dominic breathed. "No, that's a lie. He wouldn't."
I looked at the letter sitting on the desk.
I didn't want to pry, but the tension in the room was suffocating.
"Mr. Romano?" I asked tentatively.
He didn't answer. He just stared at the wall, his breathing ragged.
Margaret stood up slowly with the help of her cane.
"Your father was a hard man, Dominic," Margaret said softly. "He believed that the family business had to be protected at all costs. Vincent was soft. Vincent wanted out. Vincent was going to go to the FBI to get immunity for himself and Victoria."
Dominic turned around. His face was a mask of pure agony.
"My father ordered the hit," Dominic choked out. "My own father paid Antonio Rossi to execute his firstborn son."
The room went dead silent.
The great patriarch of the Romano family, the man Dominic had worshipped and mourned for five years, was the monster who had orchestrated the murder of his own son.
"Why give this to me now?" Dominic asked, his voice shaking with grief and rage. "Why not let me believe it was just the Rossis?"
"Because of the second page, Dominic," Margaret said.
Dominic frowned. He walked back to the desk and picked up the letter.
He moved the first page aside.
He stared at the second page.
"This is a bank ledger," Dominic said, confused. "A list of offshore accounts."
"Yes," Margaret nodded. "Your father felt guilty. In his final years, he siphoned millions of dollars away from the Romano syndicate. Clean money. He hid it."
"For what?"
"For Leo," Margaret said. "He knew Victoria was pregnant. He knew he had a grandson. He hid the money so that one day, Leo could leave the mafia life forever."
Dominic stared at the ledger.
"There's an account number here," Dominic said. "But it requires a physical key to access the deposit box in Geneva."
Margaret nodded. "I don't have the key, Dominic. Your father hid it."
Dominic looked at the bottom of the page.
"He left a clue," Dominic said, reading the scrawled handwriting.
The key is with the woman who knows the weight of my sins. Look to the sun.
Dominic looked up.
May you like
He looked directly at my chest.
At the gold sun necklace his mother had given to my mother.
