Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Died TwiceDominic’s younger brother had been dead for twelve years.
At least that was what everyone believed.
Nicholas Moretti had supposedly drowned off the coast of Maine at twenty-four.
His boat was found.
His jacket was found.
His blood was found on the deck.
His body never was.
Dominic had stopped searching after eleven months.
His father stopped after three.
“That bothered Elena,” Dominic said while we drove toward Manhattan.
I had insisted on coming.
Lily and the triplets remained at the mansion under Victoria and six armed security guards.
Dominic had argued for fifteen minutes.
I had argued for sixteen.
“She believed Nicholas survived?” I asked.
“She thought the investigation ended too quickly.”
“Did you?”
“At the time? No.”
“And now?”
Dominic stared through the tinted window.
“Now my dead wife has a bank box opened by my dead brother.”
The bank manager met us privately.
The box had been established thirteen years earlier.
Nicholas had placed Elena’s name on it as a secondary authorized holder.
That meant they knew each other before she met Dominic.
I watched Dominic absorb that fact.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
The box contained no money.
Only a flash drive.
A keycard.
Two photographs.
And a handwritten ledger.
One photograph showed Nicholas with Elena.
The other showed Nicholas with Raymond Moretti.
Dominic’s uncle.
The ledger listed payments stretching back fifteen years.
The same shell companies Elena had named.
Northlake.
Carrow Investments.
Silvergate Development.
Millions moving through accounts.
Dominic flipped pages.
Then stopped.
“What?”
He pushed the ledger toward Marco.
One line:
N.M. — monthly transfer — $50,000.
Nicholas Moretti.
Payments continued for eleven years after his supposed death.
“He’s alive,” I whispered.
Dominic looked as though someone had struck him.
Marco inserted the flash drive into an isolated laptop.
One video file appeared.
The timestamp was seven months before Elena died.
Elena filled the screen.
She looked nervous.
“Dominic,” she began.
He leaned closer.
“If you’re watching this, then I failed to fix this myself.”
She explained.
Nicholas had survived.
His disappearance had been deliberate.
He discovered evidence that Raymond had been siphoning money from Moretti companies and using criminal intermediaries the family had supposedly abandoned.
Nicholas threatened to expose him.
Raymond threatened Dominic.
So Nicholas vanished.
Years later, Elena discovered the truth while reviewing charitable foundation accounts.
She found Nicholas.
They worked together secretly.
Then Elena made a mistake.
She confronted Raymond.
Dominic stood so abruptly his chair crashed backward.
Onscreen, Elena continued.
“Raymond said if I told you, he would make certain the boys grew up without either parent.”
Dominic’s face became terrifyingly still.
“I thought I could gather enough evidence first.”
The video ended with Elena crying.
“I’m sorry, Dom. I should have trusted you.”
The screen went black.
No one spoke.
Then Dominic punched the wall.
Once.
Hard enough that his knuckles split.
“Dominic.”
“Don’t.”
He turned away.
I remembered how anger had consumed me after Michael died.
For months I imagined finding the drunk driver.
Imagined screaming.
Imagined making someone hurt as much as I did.
But grief doesn’t become smaller when you give it to someone else.
I approached Dominic.
“Your boys need you.”
His jaw flexed.
“Don’t tell me what I need.”
“I said what they need.”
He looked at me.
“They need a father who comes home.”
Something in his face cracked.
Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then cursed.
“What?”
“Raymond’s at the mansion.”
Dominic went pale.
“What?”
“He arrived twenty minutes ago. Victoria let him through.”
We ran.
The drive that had taken forty minutes took twenty-six.
Dominic called Victoria repeatedly.
No answer.
Marco called security.
Nothing.
Every camera feed from the mansion had gone offline.
Dominic’s voice turned lethal.
“If he touches them—”
“Focus.”
He looked at me.
“He won’t take the main gate,” Marco said.
“We’ll use the south entrance.”
We entered through a maintenance road.
The mansion was silent.
Too silent.
Two guards were unconscious near the security room.
Alive.
Drugged.
Dominic grabbed one guard’s weapon.
I stared.
“You know how to use that?”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful. Another thing missing from the job description.”
He almost looked annoyed by my timing.
We reached the secure wing.
The door was open.
Empty.
My knees nearly gave out.
“Lily.”
A noise upstairs.
We ran.
Then I heard laughter.
Children’s laughter.
From Elena’s sealed bedroom.
Dominic froze.
The door stood open.
Inside, Raymond Moretti sat in an armchair.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
Smiling.
Four children sat on the carpet eating cookies.
Victoria stood beside the window.
Alive.
Terrified.
“Uncle Raymond,” Dominic said.
Raymond smiled.
“There he is.”
Dominic raised the gun.
The children screamed.
“Dad!”
I immediately stepped between the weapon and them.
“Dominic.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Raymond calmly bit into a cookie.
“Still dramatic.”
“You killed her.”
His smile faded.
“Did I?”
“Elena.”
Raymond sighed.
“You always were too emotional about that woman.”
Dominic moved.
I caught his arm.
“Not in front of them.”
His entire body shook with rage.
Raymond watched me.
“You must be Claire.”
I hated that he knew my name.
“You made the call.”
“No.”
He looked almost amused.
“I’m not your anonymous caller.”
I didn’t believe him.
Then Lily stood up.
“Mom.”
She held my phone.
“I recorded him.”
Everyone looked at her.
“You what?”
“He said weird stuff, so I pressed the red button.”
My brilliant child.
Raymond’s smile disappeared.
Dominic lowered the gun.
Lily handed me the phone.
Raymond rose.
“You think that matters?”
Marco appeared in the doorway with security.
Raymond’s expression changed.
Dominic stepped toward his uncle.
“Yes.”
His voice was quiet.
“I think it matters very much.”
Raymond was escorted downstairs.
But as he passed me, he whispered:
“You’re all looking at the wrong Moretti.”
I turned.
“What does that mean?”
He smiled.
“You’ll find out.”
That night police arrested Raymond on charges related to financial crimes, witness intimidation, and evidence connected to Elena’s death.
But one problem remained.
Raymond’s phone records proved something impossible.
At the exact moment someone called me about Lily, Raymond had been in federal court.
His phone surrendered to security.
His movements recorded.
He couldn’t have made the call.
May you like
Someone else wanted me gone.
And that someone was still close enough to watch us.
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