Chapter 2 - The House in Westchester
The drive north felt impossibly slow despite the SUV moving at dangerous speed through near-empty streets.
Dominic called his mother twelve times.
No answer.
His sister Elena five.
Nothing.
Lorenzo’s men were twenty minutes behind another Russo vehicle already heading toward Westchester.
Madeline sat across from Dominic, arms folded around herself beneath a blanket Lorenzo found in the rear compartment.
Dominic wanted to speak.
Every apology felt too small.
He had thrown her into the rain while the attack she warned him about began underneath his own building.
Madeline finally looked at him.
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re staring.”
Dominic looked away.
Lorenzo said, “Save the relationship autopsy for daylight.”
Madeline almost laughed.
Dominic did not.
“Who inside my team?”
Lorenzo leaned back.
“Still working on it.”
“Salvatore knew camera rotations.”
“Yes.”
“Private elevator.”
“Yes.”
“Garage access.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not a leak. That’s command-level.”
Madeline nodded.
Dominic looked at her.
“You suspected someone?”
“Not a name.”
“Tell me.”
“Vincent.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
Vincent Vale.
His father’s younger cousin.
Head of family security.
A man Dominic had trusted since he was seventeen.
“Why?”
“Because he was the only person who objected when I suggested changing the penthouse emergency routes.”
Dominic remembered.
Vincent called it unnecessary.
“Anything else?”
“He asked twice whether you still kept physical ledgers at the Westchester house.”
Dominic stared.
“What ledgers?”
Madeline turned to Lorenzo.
“You didn’t tell him?”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“Not my place.”
Dominic’s patience snapped.
“What ledgers?”
Madeline took a breath.
“Your father’s.”
Dominic went still.
Gianni Vale had died three years earlier.
Officially a stroke.
He had kept records.
Not criminal ledgers.
Business ledgers.
Who owed what.
Who transferred money.
Which companies were fronts for joint investments between the Vales and the Russo organization before their alliance collapsed.
Dominic believed most were destroyed.
Madeline had learned otherwise.
“How?”
“Your mother told me.”
Dominic stared.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“She made me promise.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Everyone protects me with secrets.”
Madeline’s eyes hardened.
“You punish people who bring you bad news.”
That landed.
Dominic looked down.
Fair.
Lorenzo said nothing.
The SUV exited the highway.
Westchester roads narrowed.
Rain turned the trees into black walls.
Dominic’s mother lived in a stone Tudor house set behind iron gates.
The front gate stood open.
Wrong.
The guard booth was empty.
Worse.
Lorenzo’s first vehicle waited fifty yards down the drive.
Lights off.
Two men approached.
“House breached.”
Dominic opened the door.
Lorenzo grabbed him.
“Wait.”
“My mother is inside.”
“So are people with rifles.”
Dominic pulled free.
“I’m going.”
Madeline stepped out too.
Dominic turned.
“No.”
Her expression became ice.
“Try throwing me out again.”
He stopped.
Lorenzo muttered, “I like her.”
Madeline ignored him.
They moved behind the stone wall near the garden.
One Russo guard reported three intruders entered through the kitchen.
Another likely at rear stairs.
No shots heard.
That could be good.
Or very bad.
Dominic knew the house.
He led Lorenzo around the greenhouse to an old storm-cellar entrance.
Gianni had installed it after a burglary when Dominic was a child.
Inside, narrow stairs climbed toward the wine room.
They entered.
The cellar was dark.
Dominic heard voices above.
One male.
Then Elena.
“You’re not getting anything.”
Alive.
Dominic exhaled.
A man slapped someone.
Dominic moved.
Lorenzo stopped him.
“Plan.”
Dominic nodded reluctantly.
They split.
Lorenzo and one guard toward the rear corridor.
Dominic and another toward the kitchen.
Madeline stayed in the cellar.
At least that was the plan.
Upstairs, Elena sat tied to a dining chair.
Their mother, Sofia Vale, stood near the fireplace with one gunman behind her.
She looked furious rather than afraid.
A second man searched drawers.
“Where’s the ledger?”
Sofia smiled.
“You came all this way for a notebook?”
The gunman struck the table with his weapon.
“Where?”
She looked at him.
“If I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”
He grabbed her shoulder.
Dominic entered from the kitchen.
“Take your hand off her.”
Everyone turned.
The gunman raised his weapon.
Dominic fired into the chandelier above him.
Crystal exploded.
The man ducked.
Lorenzo’s team entered from the hall.
Chaos.
One intruder ran.
Elena kicked the chair sideways into his knees.
He fell.
Sofia grabbed a brass fireplace poker and struck another man’s wrist.
His gun dropped.
Dominic stared.
His mother looked at him.
“What?”
Nothing.
Of course.
Within thirty seconds, the intruders were disarmed.
One escaped through the garden.
Lorenzo sent men after him.
Dominic cut Elena’s restraints.
“You okay?”
“I’m furious.”
“Good.”
Sofia slapped Dominic.
Hard.
He stared.
“That’s for not answering my calls yesterday.”
Elena laughed.
Dominic almost did too.
Then Madeline entered.
Sofia’s expression softened immediately.
“Thank God.”
Dominic noticed.
His mother hugged Madeline.
“You warned him?”
“I tried.”
Sofia pulled back.
“What did he do?”
Madeline looked at Dominic.
He sighed.
“Later.”
Sofia knew.
Mothers always did.
She looked disappointed.
Worse than another slap.
Dominic changed subject.
“The ledger.”
Sofia’s face hardened.
“What about it?”
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
“Which safe?”
“Not here.”
Lorenzo entered.
“One got away.”
Dominic cursed.
Lorenzo continued.
“He left a phone.”
They examined it.
Burner.
One recent message.
FIND LEDGER. IF NOT, TAKE SOFIA.
Dominic’s blood went cold.
Kidnap.
Not murder.
Leverage.
Sofia read it.
“Salvatore always lacked imagination.”
Dominic stared at her.
“You’re taking this too calmly.”
“I married your father.”
Fair.
Madeline asked, “What’s in the ledger that scares Salvatore?”
Sofia looked at Dominic.
“Your father documented the last ten years of joint money.”
Dominic frowned.
“Taxes?”
“Everything.”
Lorenzo’s face changed.
“Everything?”
“Payments. Judges. Contractors. Shell companies. Political donations. Bribes.”
Madeline stared.
Sofia continued.
“And the agreement Salvatore signed before the families split.”
Dominic knew of no agreement.
“What agreement?”
Sofia looked at him.
“The one proving Salvatore stole from both families.”
Silence.
That changed everything.
The war between Vale and Russo had begun after Salvatore accused Gianni of taking twenty million from a joint real estate fund.
Men died.
Businesses burned.
Friendships ended.
Dominic hated Lorenzo because he believed Russo blood started it.
Lorenzo hated Dominic because he believed Vale betrayal started it.
Sofia looked at both men.
“You were lied to.”
Lorenzo’s face hardened.
“By who?”
“Salvatore.”
Madeline closed her eyes.
Of course.
One lie.
Two families.
Years of hatred.
Dominic sat down.
“My father knew?”
“Eventually.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He planned to.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
Everyone planned to tell him things later.
Sofia continued.
“Gianni died before he could.”
Madeline looked sharply at her.
“Stroke?”
Sofia hesitated.
Dominic saw it.
“No.”
Sofia looked down.
“We never proved it.”
Dominic stood.
“What?”
“Your father was healthy enough to travel the day before.”
Lorenzo stared.
“Salvatore killed Gianni?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you suspect it.”
“Yes.”
Dominic felt the room tilt.
Then Elena’s phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She answered on speaker.
Salvatore.
His voice was calm.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“The ledger?”
“No.”
A pause.
Then Salvatore said:
“Madeline.”
Everyone went still.
Salvatore laughed softly.
“Bring her to me, Dominic, and maybe your mother wakes up tomorrow.”
Sofia’s eyes narrowed.
Dominic stared at Madeline.
She looked back.
Now he understood.
The attack was not only about evidence.
May you like
Madeline knew something Salvatore feared more than the ledger.
And Dominic had almost delivered her to him by throwing her into the street.
