Chapter 15 - The Knock After Midnight
Three weeks after Lucian and Valeria fell, the Romano mansion looked normal again.
Normal was deceptive.
The board had stabilized.
The stolen proxy votes were void.
Most of the diverted funds had been traced.
Several accounts were frozen.
Margaret's forged documents had been formally invalidated.
The foundation restored her as an honorary trustee.
Lucian remained in custody pending trial.
Valeria's attorneys attempted to separate her case from his.
Their alliance had turned into mutual accusation.
For the public, the scandal had become another story about greed.
For Dominic, the real story had barely begun.
Gabriel Romano remained invisible.
Peter Voss remained hidden.
Arthur Bell remained missing by choice.
And nobody had explained Elena.
Dominic hired a private researcher to trace the photograph.
The answer came late on a rainy Thursday.
"There was an Elena Mercer in Boston in 1988."
Dominic stood beside his study window.
"Age?"
"Twenty-nine."
"Connection to Gabriel?"
"Unknown."
"Angelo?"
"She worked briefly for one of Romano Holdings' early investment subsidiaries."
"Where is she now?"
A pause.
"She disappeared from public records in 1994."
"Dead?"
"No death certificate."
"Children?"
Another pause.
"One child appears on a hospital registration."
Dominic gripped the phone.
"Name?"
"The record is sealed."
"Why?"
"Private court order issued in 1995."
"Who requested it?"
"We haven't confirmed."
Dominic looked at the photograph on his desk.
Angelo.
Gabriel.
Elena.
A baby.
"Keep digging."
He ended the call.
Margaret entered.
She had finally repaired the old handbag.
The torn handle had been reinforced.
The leather was still worn.
Dominic smiled.
"You didn't replace it."
"No."
"Why?"
"Your father would win."
She sat opposite him.
"Anything on Elena?"
"Not enough."
Margaret studied the photograph.
"I've been trying to remember whether Angelo ever mentioned Boston."
"And?"
"Once."
Dominic leaned forward.
"When?"
"The year before you married."
"What did he say?"
"We were arguing about business. He told me there were things he had done to keep the family safe that he hoped you would never have to understand."
"That's vague."
"He was very good at vague."
Dominic smiled sadly.
Margaret continued.
"He mentioned a hospital."
Dominic's smile disappeared.
"What hospital?"
"I don't remember."
"Try."
She closed her eyes.
"Saint something."
"St. Gabriel?"
Margaret opened her eyes.
They stared at each other.
The bank where Angelo hid the evidence was St. Gabriel Private Bank.
Coincidence?
Dominic no longer believed in coincidences.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Dominic Romano?"
The voice belonged to a man.
Older.
Calm.
Dominic signaled Margaret to remain quiet.
"Who's calling?"
"You've been looking for me."
Dominic's pulse quickened.
"Gabriel?"
The man laughed softly.
"No."
"Then who are you?"
"Peter Voss."
Dominic stood.
"Where are you?"
"Close enough."
"You've been disappearing for weeks."
"For good reason."
"Then give me one."
Peter hesitated.
"Lucian was never supposed to find Angelo's ledger."
"Obviously."
"You're misunderstanding me."
Dominic waited.
Peter continued.
"Lucian wasn't looking for the financial records."
"What was he looking for?"
"The photograph."
Dominic looked at the photograph on the desk.
Margaret saw his expression.
"Why?"
"Because Gabriel doesn't care about Romano Holdings anymore."
"Lucian said he wanted Emma."
Peter went silent.
Dominic's voice hardened.
"Why did he say that?"
"Because of Elena."
"What does Elena have to do with my daughter?"
Peter breathed slowly.
"Dominic, listen carefully. Do not bring Emma anywhere near St. Gabriel Bank."
"Why?"
"Because the second key isn't a key."
Dominic remembered the locked compartment beneath Box 317.
"What is it?"
"A biometric token."
"Whose?"
Peter whispered, "A Romano descendant."
Dominic felt cold.
"My blood would open it."
"No."
"What?"
"Angelo designed it so yours wouldn't."
Dominic's grip tightened.
"Then whose?"
Peter did not answer.
Dominic looked toward Margaret.
"Emma?"
Peter's silence confirmed it.
Dominic's voice exploded.
"My father designed a vault that requires my daughter?"
"Not exactly."
"Then explain it."
"Angelo didn't build the system for Emma."
"She wasn't born."
"Correct."
"Then who was it built for?"
Peter whispered, "Elena's child."
The line went dead.
Dominic stood motionless.
Margaret stared at him.
"What did he say?"
Before Dominic could answer, the mansion doorbell rang.
Once.
Then again.
It was 12:17 a.m.
Security called from downstairs.
"Mr. Romano?"
"Yes."
"There is a woman at the front gate."
"Name?"
"She won't give one."
"Then send her away."
The guard hesitated.
"Sir, she has something for Mrs. Romano."
Margaret frowned.
"What?"
Dominic asked.
The guard answered.
"An old photograph."
Dominic and Margaret looked toward the photograph already lying on the desk.
The guard continued.
"And she says she knows Elena."
Margaret stood so quickly the chair moved backward.
"Let her in."
Dominic shook his head.
"No. We go downstairs first."
They entered the foyer together.
Rain struck the tall windows.
Two security guards waited beside the front door.
Dominic checked the exterior camera.
A woman stood beneath the covered entrance.
Approximately forty.
Dark coat.
Wet hair.
Her face remained partly turned from the camera.
In her hands was an envelope.
Margaret whispered, "I've never seen her."
Dominic opened the intercom.
"State your name."
The woman looked directly toward the camera.
"My name won't mean anything to you."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because Lucian Hale failed."
Dominic's hand tightened.
Security moved closer.
The woman continued.
"And Gabriel knows you found the photograph."
Margaret stepped toward the intercom.
"Who are you?"
The woman's expression changed when she heard Margaret's voice.
Pain.
Recognition.
Almost affection.
"Mrs. Romano."
Margaret froze.
The stranger lifted the envelope.
"Angelo told me that if anything ever happened to him, I was supposed to give you this."
Dominic looked at his mother.
Margaret's voice trembled.
"When did Angelo tell you that?"
"Thirty-two years ago."
Dominic did the calculation.
Before Emma.
Before his marriage.
Long before Lucian entered the company.
The woman continued.
"But I didn't know where you were until Peter contacted me."
Margaret whispered, "Peter sent you?"
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
The stranger looked toward Dominic.
"Because Peter is missing."
Dominic stepped closer to the door.
"What do you mean missing?"
"He was supposed to meet me tonight."
"Where?"
"St. Gabriel Bank."
Dominic felt his stomach turn.
"What was he doing there?"
"Trying to remove the last item from Box 317 before Gabriel reached it."
Dominic looked at Margaret.
"The compartment."
The woman nodded as if she could hear him through the door.
"Yes."
"What is inside?"
The stranger lowered the envelope.
"I don't know."
"Then what do you know?"
She hesitated.
"Who the vault was built for."
Dominic's hand hovered over the lock.
"Elena's child?"
The woman closed her eyes.
Margaret whispered, "How does she know that name?"
Dominic repeated more loudly.
"Was it Elena's child?"
The woman looked directly into the camera.
"No."
Dominic stopped.
Peter had lied.
Or misunderstood.
The stranger continued.
"Elena wasn't holding her own baby in that photograph."
Margaret's face drained of color.
Dominic stared at the screen.
"Whose baby was she holding?"
The woman stepped closer to the camera.
For the first time, the light revealed her face clearly.
Margaret gasped.
She knew those eyes.
Not from life.
From photographs.
Angelo's eyes.
The stranger whispered:
"Yours."
Dominic stopped breathing.
Margaret grabbed the table beside her.
"No."
The woman lifted the envelope.
"There are two birth certificates inside."
Dominic stared at her.
"I have my birth certificate."
"You have the one Angelo wanted you to have."
Margaret shook her head violently.
"Dominic was born in New York. I gave birth to him."
The woman looked at Margaret with tears in her eyes.
"I know."
"Then what are you saying?"
"I'm saying there were two boys."
The foyer became completely silent.
Dominic looked at his mother.
Margaret looked as if the floor had disappeared beneath her.
The stranger continued.
"One was Dominic Romano."
A long pause.
"And one was the child Gabriel believed should inherit everything."
Dominic's voice came out barely above a whisper.
"Where is the other boy?"
The woman looked behind her toward the darkness beyond the gate.
Then back toward the camera.
Her fear became obvious.
"That's why I'm here."
Dominic moved toward the door.
"Where is he?"
The woman whispered:
"I think he's already inside your house."
At that exact moment, the lights went out.
Emma screamed from upstairs.
Dominic turned.
Margaret shouted his name.
A heavy sound came from the second floor.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Moving toward Emma's room.
Dominic ran for the staircase.
Behind him, the stranger pounded against the locked front door.
"Dominic!"
He looked back once.
She pressed both hands against the glass.
"Don't trust the man who comes down those stairs."
Dominic turned toward the darkness above.
A figure appeared at the top landing.
Only a silhouette.
Tall.
Male.
Completely still.
Margaret whispered from below:
"Who is that?"
The man took one step forward.
And from somewhere inside the darkness, Emma stopped crying.
Dominic began climbing.
The stranger outside screamed one final warning.
"Dominic, Gabriel was never the brother Angelo was hiding from you."
Dominic stopped halfway up the stairs.
The silhouette tilted its head.
Then the man spoke.
"Hello, brother."
May you like
And the mansion went silent.
Nếu bạn muốn tiếp tục phần sau, tôi có thể nối thẳng từ câu “Hello, brother.” thành Chapter 16 đến Chapter 30 và giữ nguyên toàn bộ continuity của phần này.
