Chapter 13 - The Traitor Inside Russo House
Dominic never reached Pier 19.
Marco called him before the convoy entered the industrial district.
Ten minutes later he was heading north.
Toward the old Russo house.
Alex remained at the tailor apartment.
For exactly seven minutes.
Then the building fire alarm activated.
Marco checked cameras.
Smoke filled the first floor.
“Move.”
They took the rear stairs.
Outside, two vehicles waited.
Not theirs.
Marco pulled Alex behind a brick wall.
Men emerged.
No gunfire.
No shouting.
One man held up a phone.
On the screen was Isabella.
Anthony’s sister.
Bound to a chair.
Terrified but alive.
“Come quietly,” the man said, “or she dies.”
Marco’s face went cold.
Alex understood immediately.
Victor needed her.
“Call Dominic,” she whispered.
“They’ll jam it.”
“Try.”
Marco pressed a panic signal before surrendering his weapon.
They took Alex.
They took Marco.
The drive lasted twenty minutes.
The Russo house gates stood open.
Victor waited in the library.
Anthony Russo Senior stood beside him.
Isabella sat near the fireplace.
Anthony Junior was there too, bruised but alive.
A family gathered by betrayal.
Victor looked older than Alex remembered.
Hospital pallor.
Bandage beneath his collar.
Yet his eyes remained sharp.
“The accountant.”
Alex stared.
“You could’ve scheduled an appointment.”
Victor smiled.
“Dominic likes you.”
“You kidnapped four people to tell me that?”
“He loves you.”
The word hit harder.
Alex did not respond.
Victor continued.
“That’s unfortunate.”
“For you?”
“For him.”
Uncle Anthony poured whiskey.
“Where’s the ledger?”
“Safe.”
Victor sighed.
“Your father was similarly difficult.”
Alex’s fear transformed into anger.
“You knew him.”
“Very well.”
“You killed him.”
Anthony spoke.
“Careful.”
Alex turned.
“You helped.”
The older Russo’s smile disappeared.
Victor walked toward the piano.
“Thomas Mercer was brilliant.”
He touched the wood.
“Too principled.”
“That’s not a flaw.”
“In our world, it was.”
“Your world.”
Victor looked amused.
“You really believe you’re outside it?”
“Yes.”
“You love Dominic Russo.”
Alex remained silent.
Victor nodded.
“That’s what I thought.”
He opened the piano bench.
“Elena loved this instrument.”
“You betrayed her.”
“No.”
Something strange entered his face.
“I loved Elena.”
Dominic’s mother.
Anthony glanced at him.
Even he seemed uncomfortable.
Victor continued.
“She chose Michael.”
“And so you killed him?”
“Michael was going to destroy everything we built.”
“That sounds like yes.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“I made Dominic strong.”
“You traumatized a seventeen-year-old and called the result strength.”
For the first time Victor looked angry.
Alex pressed.
“You spent years making him believe everyone was coming for him.”
“They were.”
“Because you engineered half the wars.”
“To keep him sharp.”
“To keep him controllable.”
Victor stepped close.
“You think six months of diner coffee makes you understand him?”
“No.”
Alex held his gaze.
“But I understand numbers.”
She nodded toward the room.
“And yours don’t add up.”
Victor frowned.
“You stole millions you never spent.”
Silence.
“Briar accumulated more than forty million dollars over twenty years.”
Anthony Senior turned toward Victor.
“What?”
Alex noticed.
Interesting.
“He didn’t tell you.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
Anthony stepped closer.
“What forty million?”
Alex smiled.
There.
A fracture.
“You thought you were partners.”
Anthony ignored her.
“Victor.”
Victor’s voice became cold.
“Not now.”
“You told me Briar covered operations.”
“It did.”
“Forty million?”
“Enough.”
Anthony stared.
The alliance had always been false.
Victor did not share power.
He collected leverage.
Alex looked toward Marco.
He understood too.
Keep them talking.
Divide them.
“You know what else I found?” Alex said.
Victor looked at her.
“Payments to your private accounts.”
Anthony’s head snapped around.
Alex invented the next part.
“And recordings.”
Victor froze.
That reaction told her recordings existed.
She had guessed.
Anthony saw it.
“What recordings?”
Victor turned.
“Shut up.”
Anthony reached for him.
“You recorded me?”
Chaos happened quickly.
Marco moved.
Anthony Junior knocked over a lamp.
Isabella ran.
Alex ducked.
A door slammed open.
Dominic entered.
He did not shout.
He did not need to.
Everyone froze.
His gaze found Alex first.
Alive.
Then Marco.
Then Victor.
Then his uncle.
Anthony Senior reached inside his jacket.
Dominic’s men appeared behind him.
“Don’t,” Dominic said.
Anthony stopped.
Victor laughed softly.
“Michael’s boy finally came home.”
Dominic walked into the room.
“No.”
His eyes were steady.
“I came to end what you started.”
Victor looked almost proud.
“Look at you.”
“No.”
Dominic stopped ten feet away.
“You don’t get credit for me.”
That landed.
“You made me afraid. You made me angry. You made me believe cruelty was the same as strength.”
Dominic glanced toward Alex.
“She taught me something else.”
Victor’s smile hardened.
“And what is that?”
“That people who love you don’t need you afraid.”
Silence.
Anthony Senior looked toward the doors.
Blocked.
Victor remained calm.
“Ledger.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“You never needed the ledger.”
Victor frowned.
“You needed to know who had copies.”
Dominic removed his phone.
“The authorities received them twenty minutes ago.”
Anthony Senior went pale.
Victor stared.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I already did.”
“You’ll destroy your own family.”
Dominic looked around the old house.
“You did that years ago.”
Sirens became audible in the distance.
Victor’s composure broke.
He moved toward a side door.
Marco blocked him.
Anthony Senior sank into a chair.
For the first time, he looked old.
Dominic walked toward Alex.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“You?”
“I’ve had easier evenings.”
She almost laughed.
Then Victor’s voice came from behind them.
“You think this ends because you hand over a ledger?”
Dominic turned.
Victor smiled.
“You have no idea how many people need you to remain Dominic Russo.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the minute you try to leave your throne…”
Victor’s eyes shifted toward Alex.
“…someone else will come for the queen.”
Dominic lunged forward.
Alex caught his hand.
“No.”
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
“Don’t become him to defeat him.”
Sirens grew louder.
Dominic stopped.
Victor watched him.
And for the first time in decades, Dominic Russo chose restraint when violence would have been easier.
Police entered minutes later.
Victor Hale and Anthony Russo Senior were taken away.
But as dawn approached, Marco received a message.
One of Dominic’s captains had emptied three warehouses.
Two more had vanished.
And word was spreading that Dominic planned to cooperate with authorities.
Victor had been right about one thing.
May you like
The throne was about to become vacant.
And half the city wanted it.
