Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO CAME BACK
His name was Dominic Moretti.
Michael’s younger brother.
Forty.
Former attorney.
Former Moretti family adviser.
And according to Michael, traitor.
We watched surveillance video from a motel parking lot in Fort Lee.
Regina stepped from a black SUV.
Dominic followed.
He resembled Michael enough that I would have recognized the relationship immediately.
Same dark hair.
Same height.
Different eyes.
Michael’s were controlled.
Dominic’s looked restless even in a silent image.
“How long have they been together?”
Luca answered.
“At least three weeks.”
I looked at Michael.
“Could Dominic have arranged my father’s crash?”
“He knew the route.”
“So yes.”
“Yes.”
“But why come back now?”
“Bellweather.”
Everything returned to money.
Or so I thought.
Then Regina called me.
Directly.
I answered before Michael could stop me.
“Aurora.”
Her voice sounded tired.
“You sold me.”
“That isn't what happened.”
“You signed my name.”
“I was trying to save you.”
I laughed.
“From what?”
“Michael Moretti.”
The room went still.
I looked at Michael.
He heard.
“Explain.”
“You think Tony is dangerous?”
“He tried to force me into marriage.”
“Because I let him.”
I almost dropped the phone.
“What?”
“I needed him to think I was still helping.”
“Why?”
“To keep Dominic alive.”
Michael’s face changed.
Regina continued.
“Michael will tell you Dominic betrayed him.”
“He did.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“Dominic found out Tony sabotaged Gabriel’s car.”
My heart pounded.
“Then why disappear?”
“Because Michael blamed him.”
Michael took one step toward the phone.
I held up a hand.
“Continue.”
Regina said:
“Dominic had proof. Tony found out. Dominic ran.”
“For seven years?”
“He was injured. Then hiding.”
“Why were you helping him?”
Silence.
“Aurora…”
“Why?”
“Because he is my brother.”
The room froze.
I stared at nothing.
“What?”
“My half brother.”
My stepmother and Michael Moretti’s brother?
No.
Regina continued.
“Our mother gave him up before I was born. I didn't know about him until years later.”
I looked at Michael.
He looked equally shocked.
“Does Michael know?”
“No.”
“Why marry my father?”
Another silence.
“At first?”
The word terrified me.
“At first what?”
“Tony told me Gabriel knew where Bellweather was. I agreed to get close.”
My chest cracked.
“So you did target him.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“I fell in love with him.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Because betrayal is never kind enough to be simple.
“He found out who I was,” Regina continued.
“When?”
“Four months before he died.”
“And didn't leave you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel believed people could become better than their worst choice.”
That sounded painfully like Dad.
“Did he forgive you?”
“He was trying.”
“Did he know about Dominic?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I was ashamed.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Family disease.”
Regina began crying.
“The marriage contract was fake.”
“I know.”
“I needed Tony to believe you were within reach.”
“You bruised me.”
“No.”
“Your men did.”
“They were Tony’s men.”
“You led them to me!”
“Yes.”
There was no escaping that.
“I thought if I appeared useful, he wouldn't kill Dominic.”
“You traded me to protect your brother.”
“I thought Michael would intervene once he saw your name.”
I stared at Michael.
The restaurant.
Zach.
The setup.
She had engineered Michael meeting me.
“You used Zach too.”
“I didn't know Tony would involve the boy.”
“Don't lie.”
“I swear.”
Michael finally spoke.
“Regina.”
Silence on the line.
“Michael?”
“You lured my son into that restaurant.”
“No.”
“He was approached by a woman matching your description.”
“It wasn't me.”
“Then who?”
Regina’s voice dropped.
“Tony’s wife.”
Michael went still.
Tony had a wife?
Regina continued.
“She resembles me from a distance. Red hair.”
Luca began typing.
“Name?”
“Marissa Russo.”
Michael looked furious.
“Why Zach?”
“To force you to show.”
My stomach turned.
All of us had been pieces on a board.
“Where are you?”
I asked.
“I can't tell you.”
“We already know.”
She stopped.
Michael's expression hardened.
“You have Dominic.”
“Yes.”
“Put him on.”
“No.”
“Regina.”
“He doesn't trust you.”
“He should.”
“He spent seven years believing you wanted him dead.”
Michael flinched.
The first genuine emotional wound I had seen.
Then a man's voice appeared.
“Michael.”
Dominic.
Michael stepped toward the phone.
“Dom.”
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Then Dominic said:
“I didn't sell Gabriel’s route.”
“Then why did Tony have it?”
“Marissa.”
Tony’s wife.
“She accessed my office after one of our dinners.”
Michael closed his eyes.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“After the crash.”
“You disappeared.”
“Because you put Luca outside my apartment.”
Luca looked uncomfortable.
Michael said:
“To bring you in.”
“I thought you were going to kill me.”
“I would never—”
“You were Michael Moretti after your wife’s father was murdered and Gabriel died saving you. You weren't exactly approachable.”
Michael had no answer.
Dominic continued.
“I found proof in Montreal. Tony moved money through his wife's account after paying the mechanic who tampered with your car.”
“Where is the proof?”
“Safe.”
“We need it.”
“I need something first.”
“What?”
“Aurora.”
My blood chilled.
Michael’s voice became lethal.
“No.”
“I need her to identify something her father left.”
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“What?”
Michael turned.
“Aurora.”
“No more people deciding.”
Dominic spoke.
“Gabriel gave me a sealed envelope the night he died.”
I froze.
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you deliver it?”
“Because I ran.”
My throat tightened.
“What’s inside?”
“I never opened it.”
“Then how do you know I can identify something?”
“There’s a symbol on the envelope.”
“What symbol?”
“Three stars.”
My mother’s music box.
I looked at Michael.
He looked back.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“Michael.”
“He wants to use you.”
“Maybe.”
“Aurora.”
“If my father left me something, I want it.”
Silence.
Then he said:
“I’ll go with you.”
Dominic laughed bitterly through the phone.
“Still controlling everything?”
Michael’s face hardened.
I interrupted.
“He comes.”
Dominic stopped.
“My choice.”
For the first time, Michael looked at me with something warmer than respect.
“Fine,” Dominic said.
A meeting was arranged in a neutral lawyer’s office.
Not warehouse.
Not alley.
Not abandoned dock.
Sophia insisted.
I appreciated her.
Dominic entered first.
Regina behind him.
Seeing my stepmother after everything filled me with rage.
She looked older than she had a week earlier.
Bruised emotionally, if not physically.
I did not hug her.
Dominic placed an envelope on the table.
Three stars.
My hands shook.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Aurora,
If Dominic gives you this, then either I was right about him or desperate enough to hope.
I swallowed.
Dad wrote that Bellweather contained another secret.
Money mattered.
But Tony wanted something else more.
A list of witnesses Victor Santoro had secretly helped relocate.
People who could testify against criminal associates.
The third ledger fragment did not contain money.
It contained identities.
My father had hidden them.
If Tony got the list, he could destroy people who had escaped years earlier.
And the flash drive we opened?
Only half the files.
The brass key from my mother’s music box opened the rest.
Not a bank vault.
A private archive.
Dad gave the address.
An old church storage room in Brooklyn.
Michael read over my shoulder.
His face darkened.
Tony wasn't chasing me for four million dollars.
He was chasing people.
Michael whispered:
“We get there first.”
Dominic nodded.
Then Regina said:
“You’re too late.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Tony found the church yesterday.”
My heart stopped.
“But he didn't find the archive.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he called me.”
She looked at the brass key in my hand.
“He knows Aurora has the key.”
Then the office windows shattered.
Everyone dropped.
Not bullets.
A brick.
Wrapped around it:
A phone.
The screen lit.
Incoming video call.
Tony Russo.
Michael answered.
Tony smiled.
Behind him sat Zach.
Tied to a chair.
My blood froze.
Michael made a sound I had never heard from another human being.
Tony grinned.
“Bring me the key.”
And suddenly every fight about money stopped mattering.
May you like
Because Tony had taken the one person in Michael Moretti’s world he could never afford to lose.
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