Chapter 5 - The Betrayal Inside the House
Marco did not reach for his gun.
That frightened me more than if he had.
He simply stared at the recorder.
Luca stared at him.
They had known each other since childhood.
Marco had protected Luca for almost fifteen years.
He had eaten at his table.
Stayed at his hospital bed after a shooting.
Carried Luca’s mother’s coffin.
Now my father’s voice accused him of betrayal.
“That recording is nine years old,” Marco said.
Luca’s face remained unreadable.
“My father trusted you.”
“He did.”
“Michael Sullivan didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Marco looked at me.
“Because your father misunderstood what he saw.”
“What did he see?”
“Me meeting Carlo.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“So it was you.”
Marco looked at her.
“You have no idea what happened.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Explain it.”
Marco hesitated.
Then he removed his weapon.
Slowly.
He placed it on the table.
“I was spying on Carlo for Salvatore.”
Thomas scoffed.
“Convenient.”
Marco ignored him.
“Your father suspected Bellini was stealing from him. He sent me inside.”
“And Michael?”
“Saw us meeting and assumed the worst.”
“Why didn’t my father clear your name?”
“He died before he could.”
Thomas shook his head.
“That’s a lie.”
Marco looked at him.
“You disappeared the night Salvatore died.”
“Because people were being killed.”
“Or because you helped kill them.”
The air became dangerous.
Luca raised one hand.
“Stop.”
Then an alarm sounded upstairs.
One of the guards spoke into his radio.
“Sir. The Bellini vehicles are retreating.”
Luca looked at Marco.
“You’re confined to the east guest room.”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“Luca—”
“Until I know the truth.”
Marco nodded.
The fact that he obeyed mattered.
But it didn’t prove anything.
Vanessa was kept in another room.
Thomas stayed under guard.
And I sat beside Bruno until dawn.
The old dog slept against my feet.
Dante lay by the door.
At seven, Luca entered carrying two cups of coffee.
He gave me one.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I don’t sleep much.”
“I noticed.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
He looked different in morning light.
Less like the feared man everyone described.
More like a son who had just discovered his father’s death might have been murder.
“You can leave,” he said.
I looked at him.
“My family can be protected.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“If this is connected to your father, you shouldn’t be here.”
“It’s connected to mine too.”
He studied me.
“I can’t order you to stay.”
“You can’t order me to leave either.”
Something almost like respect appeared in his eyes.
“No.”
Then Bruno woke.
He struggled upright.
Dante approached him.
The two dogs touched noses.
Luca crouched beside them.
“Your father’s recording said Bruno carries the route.”
I remembered something.
“His tag was missing.”
Luca nodded.
“Vanessa removed it.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew what it contained.”
We confronted her.
At first, Vanessa refused to speak.
Then Luca placed the 314 and 315 tags on the table.
Her confidence cracked.
“My father has Bruno’s tag.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“He sent you here to get it?”
“Yes.”
“And Dante?”
“He wanted both dogs.”
“Why?”
“Because Dante knows where the evidence is hidden.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Dogs don’t understand bank records.”
“No.”
Vanessa looked toward me.
“But dogs understand places.”
She explained.
Years earlier, Salvatore and Michael Sullivan had trained Bruno and Dante to follow specific scent markers hidden at properties around Chicago.
Bruno knew the route.
Dante knew the final location.
Carlo had spent seven years trying to recreate it.
He failed.
So he kept Dante alive.
Then three weeks earlier, Dante escaped.
Carlo believed the dog might return to Luca.
Vanessa found him first.
She hid him in the garage while searching for the tag.
Then Bruno discovered Dante.
That was why she needed both animals gone before Luca returned.
“What is the evidence?” I asked.
Vanessa looked at Luca.
“Records showing my father ordered Salvatore’s death.”
Luca went completely still.
“And Michael Sullivan?”
She looked at me.
“I think he ordered that too.”
My coffee cup slipped in my hands.
“But that isn’t the worst part.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“What could be worse?”
Vanessa’s voice dropped.
“Your father wasn’t killed because of stolen money.”
“Then why?”
“Because he discovered Carlo wasn’t working alone.”
She pointed toward the mansion.
“There are people inside your organization who have spent seven years waiting for you to find that evidence.”
“And when I do?”
“They’ll kill everyone who has seen it.”
A shot shattered the window.
Vanessa screamed.
Luca threw me to the floor.
A second bullet struck the wall.
Security rushed in.
Bruno barked.
Dante ran toward the broken window.
Luca covered me until the firing stopped.
Then one of the guards shouted from the hallway.
“They took Thomas Reed!”
Luca stood.
Blood ran from a cut along his cheek.
Marco’s room was empty too.
And on the bed, someone had left Bruno’s missing brass tag.
With a note beneath it.
May you like
BRING THE DOGS TO THE OLD LAKE HOUSE.
OR THOMAS AND MARCO DIE.
