Chapter 8 - THE MAN DOMINIC NEVER SUSPECTED
Anthony’s trial was scheduled eight months later.
By then, prosecutors had more than Rebecca Bennett’s tape.
Vincent testified.
Carl testified.
Frank testified.
Financial records proved Anthony had diverted millions from family-controlled funds.
And the giant assassin survived.
His name was Leon Varga.
Former private military contractor.
Six foot eight.
Three hundred eighteen pounds.
Sadie learned those facts in a newspaper.
The article referred to her only as “a restaurant employee.”
She appreciated that.
Varga eventually admitted Anthony hired him.
But one detail disturbed Dominic.
Anthony insisted he did not choose Lombardi’s.
He claimed someone else gave Varga the location.
Dominic assumed Frank.
Frank denied it.
Nobody could prove otherwise.
The loose thread remained.
Sadie noticed Dominic becoming quieter as trial approached.
One evening she found him in his office staring at an old family photograph.
Vittorio.
Teresa.
Teenage Dominic.
Thirteen-year-old Anthony.
Vincent stood behind them.
Sadie entered carrying two coffees.
“You’re doing the staring thing.”
“What staring thing?”
“The one where you pretend staring at paper will make dead people explain themselves.”
He took the coffee.
“Thank you.”
She sat.
“Anthony testified today.”
“I know.”
“He said something.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
“He claimed someone told him you were eating at Lombardi’s.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“He refused to say.”
“Why?”
“He said that person was innocent.”
Sadie frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“Anthony rarely does.”
She looked at the photograph.
Then something caught her attention.
Vincent’s wrist.
Thin red cord bracelet.
The same one from the assassin.
Sadie had seen it in photographs before.
A family custom, maybe.
“Where did those bracelets come from?”
Dominic looked.
“My father.”
“What?”
“He gave one to every boy who worked closely under him.”
“Why?”
“Superstition. Calabrian tradition.”
Sadie’s mind started moving.
“So Varga’s bracelet wasn’t necessarily Vincent’s.”
“No. Anthony had one too.”
“Frank?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else?”
Dominic frowned.
“Dozens over the years.”
Sadie leaned closer to the photograph.
“Your driver?”
“What?”
“The man driving the SUV the night Frank pulled the gun.”
“Eddie?”
“Yes.”
Dominic stared.
“He’s been with my family twenty years.”
Sadie went cold.
The phrase sounded familiar.
He was the one man nobody noticed because he was always there.
The driver knew Dominic’s restaurant plans.
He had been in the car with Frank.
And after Frank pulled the gun—
Eddie had conveniently caught the weapon.
Sadie thought back.
“No.”
Dominic sat forward.
“What?”
“Frank fired twice.”
“Yes.”
“One bullet hit the roof.”
“Yes.”
“The other hit the dashboard.”
“Yes.”
“But Eddie never ducked.”
Dominic stared.
“What?”
“I remember because I did.”
Sadie closed her eyes.
“Frank turned the gun toward him, but Eddie didn’t look surprised.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“He knew Frank wasn’t going to shoot him.”
“Or knew Frank would miss.”
Dominic stood.
“Eddie was the person who knew exactly where I was going.”
“And he drove us toward Saint Matthew’s after.”
“That was my order.”
“But he controlled the route.”
Dominic’s phone was already in his hand.
He called security.
“Find Eddie.”
Silence.
His face hardened.
“When?”
He hung up.
Sadie stood.
“What?”
“Eddie called out sick this morning.”
Her stomach dropped.
Dominic pulled internal records.
Edward Mazza.
Family driver.
Fifty-seven.
Worked for Vittorio.
Continued under Dominic.
Widowed.
One daughter.
No criminal record beyond a sealed assault charge decades earlier.
Sadie asked, “Why would he help Anthony?”
Dominic stared at the file.
“I don’t know.”
Then another record appeared.
Eddie’s wife.
Maria Mazza.
Maiden name—
Bellini.
Dominic went still.
“My father was killed outside Bellini’s.”
Sadie stared.
“That family owned the club?”
“Yes.”
“Were they involved?”
“No.”
“At least according to the story you knew.”
Dominic dug deeper.
Maria had died fourteen years ago.
Date?
Two days after Vittorio.
Cause?
Suicide.
Dominic whispered, “Jesus.”
Old police files revealed something worse.
Maria had been inside Vittorio’s car when Anthony’s hired men began shooting.
She survived the first bullets.
Police reports claimed she escaped unharmed.
Two days later, she died from an overdose.
But a hospital admission record showed she had actually suffered a gunshot wound.
Someone had changed the report.
Sadie understood.
“Eddie blamed your family.”
“Maybe.”
“Did Anthony know Maria would be in the car?”
Dominic called him through attorneys.
Anthony refused.
So Dominic visited the prison.
Sadie waited outside.
An hour later, he returned pale.
“What happened?”
Dominic leaned against the wall.
“Anthony hired men to frighten my father.”
“Yes.”
“He told Eddie.”
Sadie stared.
“What?”
“Eddie wanted Vittorio scared too. My father was sleeping with Maria.”
Everything shifted.
Eddie’s wife had been having an affair with Vittorio.
Anthony knew.
Eddie knew.
The plan had two architects.
Anthony wanted his father frightened.
Eddie wanted revenge.
But the hired shooters lost control.
Vittorio died.
Maria was wounded.
Then, according to Anthony, Eddie gave Maria enough pills to stop her from telling police he had known about the ambush.
Sadie felt sick.
“So Eddie killed his own wife.”
Dominic nodded.
“And he stayed beside your family for fourteen years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To wait.”
“For what?”
Dominic’s eyes became dark.
“For Anthony and me to destroy each other.”
That was the one man Dominic never suspected.
Not Vincent.
Not Frank.
Not his brother.
The driver who opened doors.
Waited beside curbs.
Heard private conversations while becoming invisible.
Eddie had guided Anthony’s paranoia.
He had told Varga where Dominic would eat.
He planted Vincent’s stolen belongings on the assassin.
He recruited Frank by convincing him Vincent planned to betray Dominic.
And when Anthony’s schemes began collapsing, Eddie simply stepped back.
Let the brothers destroy each other.
Dominic whispered, “He drove me to my father’s funeral.”
Sadie touched his hand.
“I know.”
“He taught Anthony to drive.”
“I know.”
“He was there every Christmas.”
“I know.”
Dominic looked at her.
“How did I not see him?”
Sadie answered quietly.
“Because invisible people hear everything.”
She knew something about that.
Then Dominic’s phone rang.
Teresa.
He answered.
His face changed immediately.
“Ma?”
A man spoke instead.
Eddie.
“Come home, Dominic.”
Dominic’s expression became stone.
“What did you do?”
Eddie laughed softly.
“Your mother and I are having one final conversation.”
Sadie felt cold.
Dominic said, “Touch her and—”
“Still threats.”
Eddie sighed.
“You learned nothing.”
The call ended.
Dominic grabbed his coat.
Sadie caught his arm.
“You’re not going alone.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Sadie.”
“He wants you angry.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“He has waited fourteen years for angry.”
Dominic stopped.
She stepped closer.
“That’s the trap.”
He looked at her.
“You want me to stay?”
“No.”
Sadie’s voice steadied.
“I want you to stop giving men exactly what they expect from Dominic Russo.”
He stared at her.
Then called federal investigators.
Not soldiers.
Not gunmen.
Police.
Sadie saw the decision cost him something.
That was why it mattered.
They drove toward Teresa’s estate.
As they approached, Dominic reached for Sadie’s hand.
She looked down.
Then at him.
“For luck?” she asked.
“No.”
“What then?”
“So I remember what I’m coming back to.”
Sadie’s breath caught.
May you like
She squeezed his hand.
And together they drove toward the man who had spent fourteen years waiting for the Russo family to finally bleed itself dry.
