Chapter 6 - What Dominic Left Out

Luca Russo’s office was on the third floor of a narrow brick building near the harbor.

Vincent wanted Camilla to stay behind.

She refused.

“I have spent six years doing what Raymond told me because I was afraid of what happened if I didn’t.”

She put on her shoes.

“I’m done.”

Dominic stayed at the estate with Mr. Bennett.

Vincent did not trust leaving him alone.

He trusted taking him even less.

I went with Vincent and Camilla.

Again.

At that point, I stopped asking why.

Maybe Vincent wanted a witness who did not share his last name.

Maybe I was simply the person who kept being in the room when the truth arrived.

Luca’s office door was open.

The lights were on.

No Luca.

One chair overturned.

Papers on the floor.

Camilla ran inside.

“Luca?”

Vincent checked the back room.

Empty.

I noticed coffee dripping from a cracked cup beneath the desk.

Still warm.

Then Camilla saw the blood.

A thin smear on the filing cabinet.

She covered her mouth.

“Luca.”

Vincent crouched beside the desk.

A laptop was missing.

The drawers had been emptied.

But the printer tray held one page.

He pulled it out.

A bank transfer.

Nine million dollars.

Scheduled for 8:00 a.m.

From a Marino holding company.

To an account in the Cayman Islands.

Authorized by:

VINCENT MARINO.

Camilla stared at it.

“He is doing it tonight.”

Vincent nodded.

“Raymond wants me blamed before the ledger reaches anyone.”

A phone rang somewhere inside the office.

Not ours.

We followed the sound.

Inside a locked cabinet.

Camilla knew the code.

Her brother’s birthday.

The phone had one missed call.

DOMINIC MARINO.

Vincent’s expression changed.

“My father called him.”

Camilla looked at the time.

1:58 a.m.

Before we found the ledger.

Vincent called Dominic.

He answered immediately.

“Where is Luca?”

Dominic was silent.

Vincent’s voice cooled.

“You called him.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“To warn him.”

“About what?”

Another pause.

“Raymond.”

Vincent looked at Camilla.

“She says Luca sent us a message.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“Because Luca called me first.”

Vincent’s jaw tightened.

“What did he tell you?”

Dominic exhaled.

“That he had the recording.”

“And?”

“That the recording contains more than Raymond’s threat.”

Vincent looked toward the dark windows.

“Tell me now.”

“I told Raymond I would keep you out of the family companies.”

Vincent did not speak.

Dominic continued.

“I told him I would remove your name from the trusts.”

Camilla looked at Vincent.

His face went still.

“Why?”

“Because you were nineteen.”

“That is not why.”

Dominic’s voice dropped.

“No.”

“Then say it.”

“I thought you were too close to Raymond.”

Vincent laughed once.

“My uncle raised me because you vanished.”

“I know.”

“You punished me for surviving the way you forced me to survive.”

“I know.”

There it was again.

I know.

Two words Dominic used when there was no defense.

Vincent leaned against the desk.

“So Raymond can make the recording sound like I was the reason you disappeared.”

“Yes.”

“And that is what he meant when he said you left something out.”

“Yes.”

Camilla whispered:

“He wants Vincent angry enough to stop trusting you.”

Dominic heard her.

“He does not need help.”

The line went quiet.

Then another voice came through Dominic’s phone.

Mr. Bennett.

“Vincent.”

“Yes?”

“We have company.”

A crash.

The call ended.

Vincent was moving before I understood.

We ran down the stairs.

Camilla behind us.

Back at the estate, the west entrance was open.

One guard unconscious near the wall.

Alive.

Vincent checked.

Then went inside.

The study door was open.

The floor compartment was empty.

The ledger was gone.

Dominic was missing.

Mr. Bennett sat against the desk with blood on his forehead.

Vincent knelt beside him.

“Charles.”

The old man opened his eyes.

“Raymond.”

“Where did he take my father?”

Mr. Bennett shook his head.

“He didn’t.”

Vincent stared.

“What?”

“Dominic went willingly.”

Silence.

Mr. Bennett reached into his coat.

He removed the cracked phone from the wooden box.

“Your father gave me this before he left.”

The voicemail screen was open.

But now there were two recordings.

One from fourteen years ago.

One made three minutes earlier.

Vincent pressed play.

Dominic’s voice filled the study.

“Vincent, if you are hearing this, Raymond has Luca.”

Camilla went white.

The message continued.

“He offered a trade. Me and the ledger for Luca and the original recording.”

Vincent closed his eyes.

Dominic’s voice softened.

“I have already taken enough years from you. I will not take someone else’s brother too.”

Then one final sentence.

“Do not follow me.”

Vincent stopped the recording.

He looked at Camilla.

Then at the blood on Mr. Bennett’s head.

Then at the empty compartment.

“Everyone keeps telling me not to go somewhere.”

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He stood.

“I’m getting tired of listening.”