Chapter 5 - Shadows of Doubt
The question hung in the air like a falling blade.
My breath caught in my throat, and for a terrifying second, the ground seemed to drop out from beneath my feet. I stood up so quickly that Lily stirred in her sleep, letting out a soft whimper before settling back against my shoulder.
"My... my brother, Mr. Moretti?" I stammered, my voice trembling as the implications of his question crashed over me. "Leo? He’s worked at the port terminals for three years. But... what does Leo have to do with this?"
Dominic didn't blink. His expression remained an impenetrable mask of ice and calculation. "Leo Martinez requested a transfer last month to the central security database division, citing financial pressure from medical debts. And twenty minutes before the catering staff arrived tonight, an encrypted data packet was routed from an IP address registered to his apartment in Queens directly into our estate’s mainframe server."
The room seemed to tilt on its axis. My mind raced wildly, piecing together fragments of conversations, Leo’s recent nervousness, the sudden influx of expensive gifts he had bought for our mother, and the vague, hurried phone calls he had taken behind closed doors.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head fiercely as hot tears sprang to my eyes. "No, Mr. Moretti, you’re wrong. Leo is my brother. He made mistakes in the past, yes, but he would never—he knows what happens to people who cross you. He wouldn't risk his life, or mine, or Lily’s!"
"People desperate for money do foolish things, Elena," Dominic said, his voice terrifyingly quiet, devoid of anger yet heavy with an absolute, crushing finality. "Greed is a powerful motivator. It blinds men to consequences."
"Check my phone!" I pleaded, stepping forward and holding out my mobile device toward him, my hands shaking violently. "Check my calls, my messages, my bank accounts! I swear to God I didn't know anything about this! If Leo did something stupid, I had nothing to do with it! Please, don't hurt my family—"
Before I could finish, Salvatore’s radio crackle interrupted the tense silence.
"Boss! We intercepted an encrypted transmission originating from the perimeter fence near the western orchards. Someone was trying to broadcast a localized bypass signal to open the vehicle gates."
Dominic’s eyes flashed with sudden, lethal intensity. "Did you catch them?"
"We cornered the operator near the old greenhouse," the guard reported, breathless and panting. "He tried to swallow a cyanide capsule before we could tackle him, but we forced his jaw open in time. Boss... it’s Leo Martinez. Elena’s brother."
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My knees buckled. If Salvatore hadn't reached out and caught my elbow, I would have collapsed onto the concrete floor with Lily still in my arms. The room spun around me in a blur of gray monitors and harsh fluorescent light. My own brother—the flesh and blood I had protected, covered for, and supported through years of hardship—had not only betrayed the Moretti syndicate, but his actions had nearly resulted in the murder of an innocent eight-year-old boy, putting my own daughter directly in the crosshairs of a ruthless mafia war.
"Bring him down to the lower holding cells," Dominic ordered, his voice dropping into a register of pure, terrifying frost. "And bring Elena and her daughter with us. It’s time for a family reunion."
