Chapter 11 - Domenico's Real Message
Valentina walked to the television and turned it back on.
“Play it again.”
Marco did not move.
“Why?”
“Because if you wanted me dead, I would already be dead. You want them to choose.”
She nodded toward the capos.
“So let them hear everything.”
Tomas, still loyal and still armed, connected the microSD to a second laptop.
“The audio fragment has embedded checksum references.”
Marco’s eyes snapped toward him.
Tomas noticed.
“So there is more.”
He ran a recovery script.
Thirty-two seconds appeared.
The television crackled.
Domenico’s sentence replayed.
“Valentina must never control the family...”
A pause that had been cut.
Then:
“...alone.”
Marco’s mouth tightened.
Domenico continued.
“She is too young, too angry, and too much like me. She needs a witness who will tell her no when everyone else is afraid.”
Nico lifted his head.
The recording continued.
“Nico Serrano was there when I amended the trust. If the day comes when this recording matters, ask him what he saw.”
Every face turned toward Nico.
Marco swore quietly.
Valentina crossed to him and cut the ties on his wrists herself.
“You were there?”
Nico rubbed his hands.
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“Your father made me swear.”
“To what?”
“To keep one thing hidden until Garden Seven surfaced.”
Marco’s hand moved toward his jacket.
Three guns aimed at him instantly.
Nico stepped to the old liquor cabinet.
He pulled out the bottom drawer.
Pressed two fingers against the back panel.
A false compartment opened.
Inside lay a thick leather ledger wrapped in oilcloth.
Gerald made a sound under his breath.
Marco went very still.
Nico placed it on the table.
Domenico Carbone’s initials were stamped into the cover.
Valentina opened the first page.
Names.
Payments.
Codes.
Twenty years of betrayal.
Nico looked at Marco.
“This is what you were afraid Lily would find.”
Then he turned to Valentina.
May you like
“And there’s one page your father never wanted you to see until now.”
