Chapter 8 - The Brother Who DiedThe Romano chapel had been abandoned for six years.
It sat on private land surrounded by dead trees.
Dominic entered alone.
Evelyn watched from a distance.
He had promised himself he would not trust anyone again.
Inside, the chapel smelled of dust.
The altar had been stripped.
Candles stood untouched.
At the far end, someone waited.
A man stepped into the light.
Older.
Thinner.
Scar along his jaw.
But unmistakable.
Anthony.
Dominic's dead brother.
Dominic raised his gun.
“Don't.”
Anthony stopped.
“You believed I was dead.”
“You were.”
“No.”
Dominic's voice shook.
“I saw your body.”
“A body wearing my ring.”
Dominic stared.
“What happened?”
Anthony sat on the front pew.
“I found the organization before Father did.”
“What organization?”
“The people who used the Romano name.”
Dominic sat across from him.
Anthony continued.
“Father thought he was the boss. He wasn't.”
“Who was?”
Anthony smiled bitterly.
“Grandfather.”
Dominic frowned.
“Grandfather died twenty years ago.”
“That's what everyone believes.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Anthony pulled a photograph from his pocket.
An old family gathering.
Dominic's grandfather stood in the middle.
A young woman stood beside him.
Dominic recognized her.
Isabelle's mother.
His father had always claimed she died when Isabelle was a baby.
Anthony tapped the photograph.
“Do you know what she really was?”
Dominic stared.
“Who?”
“The accountant.”
“The one who built the financial network.”
Anthony leaned closer.
“She created the ledger.”
Dominic's hands tightened.
“She?”
“Yes.”
“The woman in the photograph?”
“Yes.”
Anthony looked toward the altar.
“She created the system that laundered money through companies and foundations. But then she discovered something worse.”
“What?”
“The money was being diverted to fund a private operation.”
“What operation?”
“Control.”
Dominic laughed once.
“You're telling me my family built a conspiracy?”
Anthony didn't smile.
“I'm telling you the conspiracy built our family.”
A sound came from the chapel door.
Dominic turned.
No one.
Anthony whispered:
“They know I'm here.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.”
The stained-glass window exploded.
Bullets tore through the pew.
Dominic dropped.
Anthony pushed him down.
A second volley.
Then silence.
Dominic looked at his brother.
Anthony had been hit.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Anthony!”
Anthony grabbed Dominic's arm.
“Listen.”
He pulled a small black key from his pocket.
“Your father wasn't the first heir.”
Dominic stared at the key.
“Who was?”
Anthony smiled weakly.
“Isabelle.”
Dominic froze.
“What?”
“She was born into the network.”
A bullet struck the wall.
Anthony's grip loosened.
Dominic caught him.
“Don't die.”
Anthony whispered:
“Find the woman in the portrait.”
“Which portrait?”
“The one Isabelle never let you hang.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
Dominic shouted his name.
No response.
He ran outside.
Evelyn was already there.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“What?”
Dominic turned toward the chapel.
Anthony's body had vanished.
Only blood remained.
Evelyn stared.
“That isn't possible.”
Dominic opened his hand.
The black key was still there.
Stamped into its surface was a symbol.
A crown.
May you like
And beneath it:
ROMANO FOUNDATION
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