Chapter 7 - DANIEL COMES HOME
Daniel Ferraro looked smaller in a hospital bed.
Dominic hated that.
His younger brother had always seemed impossible to diminish.
Daniel was forty-two, sharp, sarcastic, and normally incapable of entering a room without making at least one person regret speaking.
Now a bruise darkened his left temple.
Two fingers were fractured.
His lip was split.
Dominic stood beside the bed.
“Who?”
Daniel opened one eye.
“Nice to see you too.”
“Who did this?”
“Coffee first.”
Dominic handed him water.
Daniel drank.
Then looked toward the police officer outside.
“You actually called cops?”
“Yes.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“Father is spinning in his grave.”
“Good.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Then winced.
“Lenora?”
“At the mansion.”
“Still?”
“For now.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Dominic waited.
Finally:
“She knows.”
“What?”
“I was investigating Larkspur.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because you react to betrayal with all the subtlety of a building collapse.”
Fair.
Dominic said nothing.
Daniel continued.
“I found the debt six weeks ago.”
“The mortgage?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t sign it.”
“I know.”
“Someone used my credentials.”
“Lenora?”
“Partly.”
Dominic sat.
“Explain.”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“Lenora’s luxury company is failing.”
Dominic knew she owned a high-end interior brand.
He did not know it was failing.
“She owes lenders?”
“Eight million.”
“That doesn’t explain twenty-eight.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I confronted her.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“What did she say?”
“That someone offered to erase her debts if she helped push Amendment 14-C.”
“Who?”
“She claimed she didn’t know.”
“You believed her?”
“No.”
Daniel smiled weakly.
“I married her, Dom. I’m not entirely stupid.”
Dominic gave him a look.
Daniel continued.
“I started tracing Larkspur.”
“Thomas?”
“He processed transactions.”
“Did he design the scheme?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then who?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Remember Marcus Vale?”
Dominic went still.
Marcus Vale had served as Angelo Ferraro’s attorney and private adviser for decades.
He disappeared from family business after Angelo’s death.
Officially retired.
Arizona.
Or so Dominic had been told.
“He’s eighty.”
“Seventy-six.”
“Same thing.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Marcus created Larkspur for Dad.”
“What for?”
“Off-book property transactions.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
Mafia inheritance.
Old money liked dark corners.
“Where is Marcus?”
“No idea.”
“Then why mention him?”
“Because the signatures after Dad died match authorization patterns only Marcus knew.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“So Lenora works for Marcus?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“I think she works for whoever claimed to be him.”
Dominic paused.
Interesting.
Daniel continued.
“I arranged to meet someone who said he could prove it.”
“At the hunting lodge?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Anonymous.”
Dominic stared.
Daniel shrugged painfully.
“I said I wasn’t entirely stupid.”
“What happened?”
“I arrived.”
“Then?”
“Someone hit me from behind.”
“Who found you?”
“The caretaker.”
“Phone?”
“Gone.”
“Documents?”
“Gone.”
“What documents?”
Daniel looked at him.
“A copy of Elena’s original trust.”
Dominic froze.
“You knew?”
“For two weeks.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I wanted proof the reversal was forged.”
Dominic stood.
Daniel raised a hand.
“Sit down before your blood pressure embarrasses the family.”
Dominic remained standing.
Daniel continued.
“I talked to Elena’s old estate attorney.”
“Who?”
“Margaret Sloan.”
Dominic remembered her.
Retired.
Colorado.
“She confirmed Elena transferred the mansion to Maisie.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because Elena was scared of someone.”
Dominic’s anger cooled.
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t tell Margaret.”
Daniel reached toward a drawer beside the hospital bed.
He removed a folded photocopy.
“This was in my jacket. Whoever took the file missed it.”
Dominic opened it.
Elena’s handwriting.
Meeting notes.
One sentence circled twice:
L. KEEPS ASKING WHAT HAPPENS IF MAISIE ISN’T RECOGNIZED.
Dominic looked up.
“L?”
Daniel nodded.
“Lenora.”
“She was asking before Elena died?”
“Apparently.”
That changed everything.
Lenora’s interest in Maisie’s inheritance was not recent.
It had begun while Elena was alive.
Daniel looked away.
“There’s more.”
Dominic waited.
“I found a private email between Lenora and Elena.”
“What did it say?”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“Lenora accused Elena of trapping you with a child.”
Dominic’s face became stone.
Daniel continued.
“Elena replied that paternity was none of Lenora’s business.”
“Why would she say that?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic felt uncertainty enter where anger had been.
Daniel saw it.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t let Lenora do exactly what she wants.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You’re Maisie’s father.”
“The test—”
“The report is fake.”
“We don’t know yet.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“I do.”
Dominic frowned.
“How?”
Daniel smiled weakly.
“Because Elena told me.”
Silence.
Dominic sat.
Daniel looked at his brother.
“Maisie is yours.”
Dominic felt something loosen.
But only slightly.
“Why did Elena discuss that with you?”
Daniel hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
“What?”
“She was planning to leave you.”
Dominic stared.
Daniel immediately continued.
“Not permanently.”
“What does that mean?”
“She was scared.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Of this family.”
Dominic looked toward the window.
Another secret.
Another thing Elena had carried alone.
Daniel reached for his arm.
“Dom.”
Dominic looked back.
“The mansion wasn’t the only thing Elena put in Maisie’s trust.”
“What else?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Voting control over Ferraro Heritage Holdings.”
Dominic froze.
That company controlled several of the family’s legitimate properties.
Hotels.
Warehouses.
Land.
Hundreds of millions.
Daniel whispered:
“If Maisie’s trust is restored, Lenora doesn’t just lose the mansion scheme.”
May you like
He looked at Dominic.
“She loses the entire future she thought she was buying.”
