Chapter 7 - The Man Luca Trusted
Marco’s guards moved toward Dominic.
He raised both hands.
“That message did not come from me.”
Marco held the phone up.
“D.”
Dominic shook his head.
“Too obvious.”
Victor said:
“He’s right.”
Marco looked at him.
Victor continued.
“Dominic never signs anything that can be traced to him.”
Anna whispered:
“Then who sent it?”
A knock sounded at the study door.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two more.
Father Ellis stared.
“That pattern.”
Marco looked at him.
“What?”
The priest walked to the door.
Marco stopped him.
“No.”
Father Ellis shook his head.
“I know who it is.”
The door opened.
An elderly man stood outside.
Seventy-five, maybe older.
Thin.
Gray hair.
Dark driver’s coat.
He held a leather folder beneath one arm.
Victor whispered:
“Thomas Bell.”
The man looked at him.
“Still alive, Victor.”
Victor stared.
“You disappeared.”
“No.”
Thomas looked at Anna.
“I was hidden.”
Marco stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
Thomas looked at his face for a long moment.
“I drove for your father.”
Marco frowned.
“I know every driver Luca Santoro employed.”
“You know every driver Dominic allowed you to know.”
Marco said nothing.
Thomas opened the leather folder.
Inside were old photographs.
A fuel receipt.
A clinic invoice.
And one handwritten logbook.
“Your father hired me privately during the last six months before the warehouse fire.”
“Why?”
“To move Anna without Dominic knowing.”
Anna nodded.
Thomas continued.
“I drove Luca to the warehouse that night.”
Marco’s eyes sharpened.
“You saw what happened?”
“Some of it.”
“Tell me.”
Thomas placed the logbook on the desk.
“Victor arrived first. Then Dominic. Luca went inside alone.”
Victor lowered his head.
“Twenty minutes later, I heard two gunshots.”
Dominic snapped:
“That is a lie.”
Thomas looked at him.
“I said I heard gunshots. I did not say you fired them.”
Marco turned to Dominic.
Then back to Thomas.
“Who did?”
“I never saw.”
Victor spoke quietly.
“My father had men there.”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
Marco asked:
“Then the fire?”
“Started from the rear office. I saw Victor drag Luca through a loading door before the roof collapsed.”
Marco looked at Victor.
Victor whispered:
“That part is true.”
Thomas continued.
“I followed them to the clinic. Later Dominic arrived with two men and took Luca.”
Marco looked at the logbook.
“What is this?”
“My route record.”
Thomas turned to a page.
A license plate.
A time.
A location.
St. Matthew’s rectory.
Then another entry at 5:42 a.m.
Dominic’s sedan leaving.
At 6:11 a.m.:
A Vane vehicle arriving.
Marco looked at Victor.
“You went back.”
Victor nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To save Luca.”
Anna closed her eyes.
Marco asked:
“Was he alive when you arrived?”
Victor’s answer came slowly.
“No.”
Marco gripped the desk.
Thomas said:
“But Dominic was gone thirty minutes before Luca died.”
Marco looked at Father Ellis.
“Then who killed him?”
The priest looked toward Victor.
Victor stared back.
“No.”
Father Ellis said:
“You have to tell him.”
Victor shook his head.
“I promised.”
“Luca is dead.”
“I know.”
“Anna lost twenty-four years.”
“I know.”
“Marco deserves the truth.”
Victor covered his face with both hands.
Alessandra stepped toward him.
“Dad.”
Victor lowered his hands.
His eyes were wet.
“I arrived at the rectory at six eleven.”
Marco waited.
“Luca was on the floor beside the bed.”
“Shot?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“What then?”
“Someone had injected him.”
Marco frowned.
“With what?”
“A sedative. Too much.”
Father Ellis added:
“The physician from the death petition was there.”
Marco remembered the blacked-out signature.
“The doctor.”
Father Ellis nodded.
Victor whispered:
“He worked for my father.”
Marco stared.
“Your father ordered Luca killed after Dominic left.”
Victor nodded.
“Yes.”
Dominic exhaled slowly.
“You spent twenty-four years letting him think it was me.”
Victor looked at him.
“You threatened the boy. You forged the body. You stole Luca’s company. You were not innocent.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
Marco looked between them.
Two families.
Two decades.
Two versions of the same betrayal.
Then Thomas tapped the phone showing the threat message.
“That still leaves tonight.”
Marco looked at him.
Thomas pointed at the timestamp.
“This message was sent after Dominic entered the house.”
“So?”
“So the sender is still outside.”
A security alarm sounded.
Not from the front gate.
From the east wing.
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