Chapter 3 – THE BROTHER’S BRACELET
“Your brother?” I asked, staring at the braided leather. “I thought your brother died five years ago.”
“So did I,” Dominic said softly.
He gripped the leather bracelet so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“Vincent wore this every day,” Dominic murmured. “He swore he lost it in the river the night his car went off the bridge. But he didn’t. He survived.”
The revelation hung heavy in the ruined church office.
Vincent Moretti was alive. And he was working with the Romanos.
“Why would your own brother destroy a food pantry?” my mother asked, holding Leo close.
“Because Vincent always hated the legitimate businesses,” Dominic explained, his jaw tight. “He wanted to run the streets. When my father left the family empire to me, Vincent made a deal with the Romanos to take me down. That’s why he faked his death. He’s been hiding, pulling the strings.”
Dominic looked at the small metal lockbox Leo had saved.
“Madeline wasn’t paying off a debt to the Romanos,” Dominic realized. “She was funding Vincent’s return. The eighty-five thousand dollars wasn’t a mistake. It was a down payment on this church’s land.”
I felt sick. Madeline wasn’t just a greedy socialite. She was a conspirator in a mafia coup.
“We have to get you all out of here,” Dominic said, his protective instincts taking over. “It’s not safe. They will come back for the deed.”
He ushered us out of the church and into his SUV. He drove us to a highly secure penthouse downtown, owned by one of his legitimate holding companies.
Once we were inside, Dominic locked the heavy steel doors.
Leo sat on the velvet sofa, his eyes wide as he looked at the luxury around him. I brought him a glass of milk and a blanket.
“You were very brave tonight, Leo,” I smiled gently.
“The bad man said they are going to take the church away,” Leo whispered. “Where will we get food?”
“Nobody is taking the church, buddy,” Dominic said, crouching down to eye level with the little boy. “I promise you.”
Dominic stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the Chicago skyline.
I walked over to him. “What are you going to do?”
“I have to find Vincent,” he said. “If he’s alive, the Romanos are preparing for a full-scale war. Madeline is the only one who knows where he’s hiding.”
Dominic pulled out his phone. He dialed Richard, his lawyer.
“Richard. Where is Madeline?”
There was a long pause on the other end.
“Dominic,” Richard’s voice was shaking. “She’s gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?”
“After you left the mansion, a team of armed men stormed the gates. They didn’t take any money. They just took Madeline.”
Dominic swore under his breath.
“They didn’t kidnap her, Richard. She went with them willingly. She’s with Vincent.”
“Dominic, there’s something else,” Richard said quietly. “Before she left, Madeline went into your private safe. She took the ledger.”
Dominic froze.
“The offshore ledger?”
“Yes. She has everything, Dominic. The account numbers, the shell companies, the routing codes. Vincent has access to your entire empire.”
Dominic hung up the phone. He looked at me, a deep vulnerability showing in his dark eyes for the first time.
“They took everything, Olivia.”
“Not everything,” I said firmly. “They didn’t get the deed to the church. And you still have the truth.”
Dominic looked at me, truly looked at me. The barrier between the billionaire boss and the housemaid was completely gone.
“Why are you so calm?” he asked softly.
“Because my mother raised me to believe that bad people always make a mistake when they get greedy.”
Dominic smiled, a genuine, warm expression that made my heart skip a beat.
Then, little Leo walked over to us.
“Mister Dominic?” Leo tugged on Dominic’s jacket.
“Yeah, Leo?”
Leo held out his small hand.
“When the bad man dropped his bracelet, he dropped this, too. I found it under the desk.”
Leo opened his hand.
Resting in his small palm was a crumpled, blood-stained valet parking ticket.
And printed across the top was the name of the most exclusive hotel in Chicago.
The Grand Azure.
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