Chapter 5 - The Man My Father Knew
Daniel Carter was found unconscious in a private clinic outside Manhattan.
He had three cracked ribs.
A fractured wrist.
And bruising around his throat.
When Emma saw him, she broke down.
I stayed outside the room.
Some moments belonged to families.
Then Daniel asked to see me.
I entered.
He looked at me for a long moment.
“You’re Dominic Castellano.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
“How?”
He smiled weakly.
“My father told me.”
I stopped.
“Your father?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“My biological father.”
Emma had always believed Daniel was her half-brother.
Their mother never discussed their father.
Now Daniel was telling me he knew who he was.
“Name.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Anthony Vale.”
Peter Vale.
The man from the warehouse.
I immediately called Marco.
“Bring Peter here.”
Twenty minutes later, Peter entered the room.
Daniel stared at him.
“You knew.”
Peter looked down.
“Yes.”
Emma stepped closer.
“Knew what?”
Peter closed his eyes.
“I should have told you years ago.”
She looked furious.
“Tell me now.”
Peter sat.
“Your mother worked for Dominic’s father.”
“I know that.”
“No.”
Peter shook his head.
“She was his personal assistant.”
Emma frowned.
“My mother barely finished high school.”
“Your mother was extremely intelligent.”
“What did she do?”
“She discovered that your father was stealing from the Castellano family.”
I watched Emma absorb the information.
“Who was my father?”
Peter looked at me.
“Antonio Carter.”
Daniel spoke.
“And that’s where everything changed.”
Peter nodded.
“Antonio was secretly working with Kolov.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
My father’s business empire had collapsed in one area shortly before his death.
We always blamed Kolov.
But perhaps the betrayal had started inside.
“What happened to Antonio?”
Peter looked toward the window.
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“January 17, 2006.”
The same date as the photograph.
My father had been with Emma’s mother the day Antonio disappeared.
And nine months later, Emma was born.
Lucia entered suddenly.
“Dominic.”
She held her phone.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone accessed your personal files.”
“From where?”
She looked at Emma.
“Her house.”
Emma went pale.
“My house?”
Marco entered behind her.
“It was searched this morning.”
“What was taken?”
“Nothing.”
I stared at him.
“Then what did they want?”
Marco placed a tiny object on the table.
A microSD card.
“We found this hidden inside the wall.”
Emma recognized it.
“My mother used to hide things there.”
I inserted it into my laptop.
One video appeared.
A woman sat in front of the camera.
Emma’s mother.
She looked younger.
Healthy.
Terrified.
“My name is Maria Carter.”
Emma covered her mouth.
Maria looked directly into the lens.
“If you are watching this, then I am probably dead.”
Emma began crying.
Maria continued.
“I need my children to know the truth.”
She looked toward someone off camera.
“Especially Emma.”
The screen flickered.
Then Maria said the sentence that turned the entire room silent.
“Emma is Dominic Castellano’s daughter.”
The video ended.
No one moved.
Emma stared at me.
I stared back.
There are moments when the world changes without making a sound.
This was one of them.
Then Marco’s phone rang.
He listened.
His face hardened.
“Boss.”
May you like
“What?”
“Someone just killed Peter Vale.”
