Chapter 4 - The Secret Isabel Buried for Eleven YearsI stared at the phone in my hand.
“Carlo, you've made one mistake.”
“And which mistake is that?”
“You assumed I was still the man who trusted you.”
His laughter faded.
“Be careful, Dominic. You have enemies you don't even know about.”
“Then I'll enjoy meeting them.”
I ended the call.
Vincent glanced at me from the front passenger seat. We were heading toward a private residence on the outskirts of Chicago, a property registered under three different companies and known to only a handful of people.
Lily sat beside Isabel in the back seat, clutching the grocery bag as though someone might take it away.
I had arranged for a physician to meet us there. Isabel needed medical attention, and whatever secrets she carried could wait until she was no longer struggling to breathe.
But when we arrived, she refused to leave the car.
“Dominic, you can't bring us to one of your houses.”
“It's the safest place available.”
“Your houses are the first places Carlo will search.”
I looked at her.
“You seem to know an extraordinary amount about my organization for someone who disappeared eleven years ago.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I never stopped watching.”
Those words disturbed me more than they should have.
For eleven years, I had wondered whether Isabel had abandoned Marco before his death, whether she had stolen his money, whether she had known his enemies. I had considered every possibility except the one in which she had been trying to protect me.
The doctor finally persuaded her to enter the house. Within twenty minutes, she was in bed with a blanket over her shoulders, receiving medication for a severe respiratory infection and dehydration.
Lily refused to leave her side.
I ordered dinner for everyone, but the little girl only ate after Isabel managed to swallow several spoonfuls of soup.
Then she pushed her bread toward her mother's plate.
“Here, Mommy. You need it more.”
Isabel covered Lily's hand with her own.
“No, sweetheart. We share. Remember?”
Lily nodded and broke the bread into two equal pieces.
I turned away before either of them noticed my expression.
My mother had done exactly the same thing.
When the physician finished, he assured me that Isabel could recover with proper treatment and rest. I thanked him, arranged for round-the-clock medical supervision, and returned to the bedroom.
Isabel was waiting.
“Close the door,” she said.
I did.
“Now tell me why Carlo wants that ledger.”
She looked toward Lily, who had fallen asleep on the sofa.
“Because it contains the names of every official who helped him build an operation beneath your businesses. Police commanders, judges, city contractors. People who appeared respectable in public while protecting murderers behind closed doors.”
“And Marco found it.”
“Marco discovered the money first. Then he found the payments.”
I sat beside the window.
“Why didn't he come to me?”
“He did.”
My head turned.
“What?”
“Three days before he died, Marco brought his findings to you. You told him you would investigate after the Bellandi deal closed.”
I remembered that conversation. I had been preparing to expand into another territory. Marco had complained about missing payments, and I had accused him of being distracted.
Two days later, he was dead.
Isabel watched the realization cross my face.
“He knew Carlo was listening to every conversation inside your office,” she whispered. “He was trying to protect you from making a decision without proof.”
“Where did he get the ledger?”
“From Carlo's private accounts. He made a copy, then hid the original.”
“And you took it?”
She nodded.
“I had planned to give it to you after the funeral. But someone searched my apartment that night. I realized the people who killed Marco had access to your security network.”
“So you disappeared.”
“I ran because I was pregnant.”
The room became utterly silent.
I looked at the sleeping child.
“Lily?”
Isabel shook her head.
“No. I discovered I was pregnant several years after Marco died. Lily isn't connected to Marco. Her mother was a woman named Elena Morales, my younger sister.”
I remained motionless.
Isabel continued, her voice breaking.
“Elena discovered the same operation Marco had uncovered. She tried to testify. Carlo arranged for her to disappear, and I found Lily after Elena died. She was only a baby.”
I finally understood the name on the paper.
Morales wasn't a disguise. It was Lily's real family name.
“Carlo knows where Elena's body is?”
“I don't know.” Isabel swallowed. “But he believes Elena left behind evidence before she died. He thinks Lily may know where it is.”
I glanced toward the child.
“She's six years old.”
“That's why she's dangerous to him. He doesn't know what Elena told her before she died, or what Lily might remember.”
A chill settled over me.
“And the blue ledger?”
“It's not just financial records. Elena added something to it before she died.”
“What?”
Isabel's gaze sharpened.
“A recording. Something Carlo cannot afford to let anyone hear.”
Before I could ask another question, Vincent knocked on the door.
“Boss, we've found the men from the laundromat.”
“And?”
“One of them is a former Chicago police detective.”
Vincent handed me a photograph.
The man in the picture was standing beside Carlo Bellandi.
But it was the document attached to the photograph that made my stomach tighten.
The detective had been paid through a company owned by my organization.
A company I personally controlled.
Someone had been using my money to finance the men hunting Isabel.
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Someone close enough to sign my name.
And until I knew who it was, nobody in my organization could be trusted.
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