Chapter 15 - The Other Child
Salvatore reached Sophia's foster home in nineteen minutes.
Matteo arrived in sixteen.
The small suburban house looked absurdly normal.
White siding.
Plastic bicycle near the garage.
A pumpkin decoration hanging from the front porch.
Then gunfire shattered the upstairs window.
Salvatore drew his weapon.
Carmine grabbed his shoulder.
"Police are two minutes out."
"Sophia doesn't have two minutes."
Salvatore moved.
Matteo followed.
Inside, a man lay bleeding near the kitchen.
Foster father.
Alive.
A woman crouched behind the island.
She pointed upstairs.
"He took her!"
Salvatore ran.
Dominic stood in Sophia's bedroom.
His injured shoulder was bandaged.
One arm around the girl.
Gun against his own thigh.
Not pointed at her.
That mattered.
"Dominic."
He turned.
His face looked exhausted.
Sophia trembled beside him.
"Don't come closer."
Salvatore aimed.
"Let her go."
"I'm taking my daughter."
"By shooting her family?"
"They aren't her family."
Sophia flinched.
Salvatore saw it.
So did Dominic.
"You hear yourself?" Salvatore asked.
Dominic's eyes flashed.
"You stole your son from an orphanage and suddenly you're a parenting expert?"
"I didn't steal him."
"You brought him into gunfire."
"And you're doing better?"
Dominic's jaw clenched.
The truth hit.
Sophia began crying.
"Daddy, I want Mrs. Keller."
Dominic looked at her.
"I'm your father."
"I want Mom."
The word destroyed something in him.
Not biological mother.
Foster mother.
Family was not blood.
Leo had taught Salvatore that almost immediately.
Dominic had not learned it yet.
Salvatore lowered his gun slightly.
"Let her choose."
Dominic laughed bitterly.
"Children don't know what they want."
"That's what Vittorio thought."
Dominic's face changed.
Salvatore continued.
"That's what all of them thought. Vittorio. Domenico. Matteo. Me."
Matteo looked offended.
"Why am I included?"
Salvatore ignored him.
"We keep deciding what children need, then destroying everything around them to give it."
Dominic's eyes moved toward Sophia.
Salvatore lowered his weapon fully.
"Ask her."
Dominic's gun hand trembled.
"Sophia."
The girl wiped her face.
"Do you want to come with me?"
She shook her head.
Dominic closed his eyes.
Pain crossed his face.
For a moment Salvatore thought he would surrender.
Then sirens approached.
Dominic panicked.
He grabbed Sophia tighter.
Matteo raised his pistol.
Salvatore pushed it down.
"No."
Dominic backed toward the window.
"Don't."
Salvatore stepped forward.
"Dominic, don't make her watch you die."
That stopped him.
Sophia whispered, "Please."
Dominic's face crumpled.
Then he shoved her toward Salvatore.
Salvatore caught her.
Dominic jumped.
Second-story window.
Glass exploded.
He landed on the garage roof and rolled.
By the time officers surrounded the property, he had vanished through neighboring yards.
Sophia clung to Salvatore's neck.
It felt strangely familiar.
Another terrified child.
Another adult war.
He carried her downstairs to Mrs. Keller.
The woman sobbed and wrapped Sophia in both arms.
The girl did not look back at Dominic's escape route.
That image stayed with Salvatore.
At home, Leo waited awake.
He saw Sophia beside Salvatore.
"Who's she?"
"Dominic's daughter."
Leo's expression sharpened.
"He kidnapped her too?"
"Sort of."
Sophia looked at Leo.
"Your dad is scary."
Leo shrugged.
"Only if you're stupid."
Salvatore looked at him.
"Excuse me?"
Leo ignored him.
The two children sat together.
Within twenty minutes they were sharing crackers.
Children had a strange ability to step around adult history.
Later, Sophia told them something important.
Dominic had visited her secretly for almost a year.
He brought toys.
Told her stories about the Moretti family.
Promised that one day she would live in a mansion.
"Did he talk about Leo?" Salvatore asked.
Sophia nodded.
"He called him the prince."
Leo made a face.
"I hate that."
"What else?"
"He said the prince had to go away before I could be princess."
The room went cold.
"Go away how?"
Sophia's eyes dropped.
"He said forever."
Leo became still.
Salvatore moved closer to him.
Sophia continued.
"But then Daddy started acting different."
"How?"
"He cried once."
Dominic crying seemed almost impossible.
"Why?"
"He said he didn't know if he could do it anymore."
Salvatore exchanged a glance with Matteo.
Maybe Dominic's plan had begun as murder.
Maybe fatherhood had disrupted it.
Just as it had disrupted Salvatore.
The difference was Dominic had gone too far to retreat easily.
Sophia reached into her backpack.
"Daddy gave me this."
A flash drive.
"He said if anything happened, give it to a policeman."
Salvatore looked at Carmine.
"Computer."
The drive contained videos.
Dozens.
Dominic speaking directly to camera.
Insurance files.
Evidence against Matteo.
Evidence against Vittorio.
Evidence against Moretti captains.
And one recording dated six months earlier.
Dominic sat in a parked car.
"I found Elena Bellini today."
Salvatore stopped breathing.
The video continued.
"She knows about Sophia. She knows about the trust."
Dominic looked exhausted.
"She offered me a deal."
Matteo leaned closer.
"What deal?"
Dominic answered from the screen.
"She said she would give me the ledger if I promised never to touch Leo."
Salvatore stared.
Dominic continued.
"I agreed."
Then his voice cracked.
"But Elena doesn't know someone followed me."
The camera shook.
"I think Matteo knows where she is."
Matteo stepped back.
"That's a lie."
The video continued.
"If Elena dies, Salvatore will blame the wrong person."
Salvatore looked at Matteo.
Matteo shook his head.
"I didn't kill her."
"Did you follow Dominic?"
"No."
Dominic's recording ended with one final sentence.
"The person following me was Carmine."
Every eye in the room shifted.
Carmine slowly stood.
Leo stared at him.
Salvatore's face became unreadable.
Carmine raised both hands.
"Boss."
"Tell me."
Carmine looked toward Leo.
Then back.
"I knew where Elena was."
Salvatore's world narrowed.
"For how long?"
May you like
Carmine swallowed.
"Eight years."
