Chapter 6 - THE PORTRAIT CAME DOWN
By afternoon, the portrait of Lorenzo Caruso no longer hung in the dining room.
Dominic removed it himself.
The painting had been there longer than he had been alive: Lorenzo in a dark suit, one hand resting on the back of a carved chair, eyes fixed on anyone who entered as though he still owned the building and perhaps the people inside it.
Dominic had spent his childhood eating beneath those eyes.
He lifted the frame from its hooks and carried it into the hall.
A footman appeared.
“Where would you like it, sir?”
“Storage.”
The man hesitated. “Which storage?”
Dominic looked at the portrait.
“Somewhere without a wall.”
Nicholas watched from the doorway.
“You always this dramatic?”
Dominic handed the portrait to the footman.
“Only before lunch.”
Nicholas smiled.
The DNA test would take hours even with expedited private lab work, but neither brother behaved as though they expected a surprise.
The resemblance had become impossible to ignore.
When Nicholas removed his jacket, Dominic noticed the same small birthmark near the left wrist that their mother had once told Dominic ran through her side of the family.
When Dominic became irritated, Nicholas rubbed his thumb against his index finger in the same repetitive motion.
Even their silences felt related.
Marisol noticed too.
“You both glare at coffee before drinking it,” she said.
Nicholas looked offended. “I evaluate coffee.”
Dominic replied, “He glares.”
Lucy sided with Dominic because Dominic had allowed chocolate chips in her pancakes.
That morning, she sat at the breakfast table wearing fresh clothes Teresa found in town and holding Benny, who now had more stitches than some surgical patients.
Nicholas sat across from her.
Lucy pointed her fork at him.
“You’re Mr. Dominic’s brother.”
“Apparently.”
“Where were you?”
The adults froze.
Nicholas looked at the child.
“Far away.”
“Why?”
“That is a very long story.”
“I like stories.”
“I noticed.”
“Did you get lost?”
Nicholas considered the question.
“In a way.”
Lucy nodded as though this made perfect sense.
“My mommy gets lost in parking garages.”
Marisol nearly dropped her coffee.
“I do not.”
“You did at the hospital.”
“That garage was badly designed.”
Dominic looked down to hide another smile.
For ten minutes, the house felt almost ordinary.
Then Frank entered.
“Victor has called six board members.”
Dominic’s fork stopped.
“What did he say?”
“That you’re unstable.”
Nicholas leaned back. “Efficient.”
Frank continued. “He says Anthony Bellini arrived with fabricated documents, a con man is claiming to be your brother, and you’re considering actions that could damage South Harbor.”
Dominic wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“He moved before we did.”
“Yes.”
Marisol looked worried. “Can he take the company from you?”
“Not easily.”
Nicholas said, “But he doesn’t need to. He only needs to make Dominic look irrational long enough to control the response.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You understand boards.”
“I run a maritime compliance company.”
Dominic blinked.
“You run what?”
Nicholas looked amused. “You never asked what I do.”
“I was busy discovering you existed.”
“Fair.”
“What company?”
“Northline Maritime.”
Frank turned slowly.
Dominic stared.
Northline was one of the most respected port compliance firms on the East Coast. Caruso companies had used its audits twice.
“You audited us.”
“Yes.”
“You were in my building.”
“Three times.”
“You never came upstairs.”
“No.”
Dominic stared at him.
Nicholas’s expression softened.
“I wanted to.”
That made it worse.
Before Dominic could answer, his phone buzzed.
The lab.
Results available.
He opened them.
Probability of full sibling relationship: 99.98 percent.
Nobody spoke.
Dominic turned the screen toward Nicholas.
Nicholas looked at it for several seconds.
Then he laughed once, quietly.
“Well.”
Dominic nodded.
“Well.”
Lucy leaned across the table.
“Does the phone say you’re brothers?”
“Yes,” Dominic said.
“Couldn’t you tell from your grumpy faces?”
Nicholas laughed harder.
Dominic surrendered and joined him.
Marisol watched them with an expression that made Dominic feel oddly exposed.
Frank cleared his throat.
“Sorry to interrupt the reunion, but Victor scheduled an emergency board session for six.”
Dominic’s laughter disappeared.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“He wants everyone in one room.”
Nicholas understood first.
“You’re going to give him one.”
Dominic stood.
At four, the independent forensic accountant arrived.
At four-thirty, a trust attorney from Milwaukee arrived because Dominic deliberately chose someone with no Chicago family connections.
At five, copies of the locker documents were scanned, cataloged and placed into separate secure storage.
At five-fifteen, Dominic called South Harbor’s general counsel and informed her that potentially fraudulent historical records had been discovered and must be preserved.
At five-thirty, he called every board member personally.
He did not defend himself.
He did not accuse Victor.
He said only:
“You will see evidence tonight. Judge it yourself.”
At five-forty-five, Nicholas appeared in the library wearing one of Dominic’s suits.
Dominic stared.
Nicholas adjusted the cuffs.
“What?”
“That’s mine.”
“You told Teresa to find me clothes.”
“I didn’t tell her to raid my closet.”
Nicholas looked down. “You buy boring suits.”
“You’re wearing it.”
“Under protest.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Then Marisol entered with Lucy.
She had changed back into her housekeeping uniform.
Dominic frowned.
“Why are you dressed for work?”
“Because I work here.”
“Not tonight.”
Her chin rose.
“I’m not taking charity because my mother hid something in a teddy bear.”
“This is not charity.”
“What is it?”
“An instruction.”
“That sounds worse.”
Nicholas looked between them and quietly left.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“Marisol, someone broke a window three feet from your daughter last night.”
“I know.”
“You are not cleaning silver while this house is full of people tied to that.”
She looked toward Lucy.
Fear passed across her face.
Dominic softened his tone.
“Stay upstairs. Guest wing. Frank will put someone outside the hall.”
“I don’t like guards.”
“Neither do I.”
“You have twelve.”
“Exactly. Imagine how much I must dislike everyone else.”
She laughed despite herself.
Lucy tugged Dominic’s sleeve.
“Can Benny go to the meeting?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Benny has caused enough corporate problems.”
“Benny tells the truth.”
Dominic looked at the bear.
“So far, yes.”
At six, the Caruso board assembled in the formal dining room.
Victor arrived last.
He wore a navy suit and the expression of a man entering a room he expected to control.
Then he saw Nicholas.
He stopped.
For one fraction of a second, pure fear appeared on his face.
Dominic saw it.
So did Nicholas.
Victor recovered.
“This is the con man?”
Nicholas smiled. “You must be Victor.”
“I know who you claim to be.”
Dominic slid the lab report across the table.
“You know who he is now.”
Victor did not touch it.
“Private tests can be bought.”
“So can board votes.”
The room went still.
Victor looked offended. “Are you accusing me?”
“Not yet.”
Dominic placed copies of the ledger page, transfer records and Alessandra’s letter in front of each director.
He spoke for twenty minutes.
No threats.
No family theatrics.
Dates.
Documents.
Accounts.
He explained that money had been taken from an employee trust and used to finance the purchase of South Harbor.
He explained that an independent forensic review was already underway.
He explained that the company would notify appropriate beneficiaries and regulators if the records were authenticated.
One board member looked ill.
Another asked, “Do you understand what this could do to valuation?”
Dominic replied, “Do you understand what was done to the people whose money built it?”
Victor leaned forward.
“This is insanity. You’re risking thousands of jobs over ancient bookkeeping.”
Nicholas’s eyes narrowed.
Dominic said, “The money belonged to widows and children.”
“It was thirty-seven years ago.”
“So theft has an expiration date?”
“Businesses survive because leaders protect them.”
“From truth?”
“From self-destruction.”
Dominic looked around the table.
“This family has called concealment protection for a very long time.”
Victor slapped one hand on the table.
“Your father built everything you have.”
Dominic’s voice remained calm.
“With money that wasn’t his.”
“And you enjoyed the result.”
“Yes.”
That answer surprised everyone.
Dominic continued.
“I benefited from something I didn’t know. Now I know. That creates an obligation.”
Victor’s face tightened.
Nicholas watched his brother carefully.
The general counsel asked for all originals to be placed under legal hold.
Dominic agreed.
Victor stood.
“You’re letting a stranger destroy this family.”
Dominic looked at Nicholas.
“My brother is not a stranger.”
Victor laughed harshly. “You met him last night.”
“Blood apparently matters a great deal to you when you want my loyalty and not at all when it complicates your argument.”
A few directors looked down.
Victor gathered his papers.
“This board needs a competency review.”
“You can request one.”
“I will.”
“Good.”
Victor stared at him.
Dominic stood.
“One more thing.”
He placed the microfilm memorandum on the table.
Victor looked at his mother’s name.
His face changed.
Dominic watched carefully.
“You knew,” Dominic said.
Victor’s eyes lifted.
“That proves nothing about me.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“You’re trying to shame my mother.”
“I’m trying to understand what happened.”
“My mother is dead.”
“So is mine.”
Victor leaned closer.
“Then let them stay dead.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“That’s what people say when the dead left records.”
Victor walked out.
The meeting continued without him.
At 8:17 p.m., Frank entered and handed Dominic a phone.
“Security footage from last night,” he said quietly.
“We enhanced the man in the garden.”
Dominic looked at the screen.
The intruder’s face remained partially hidden, but a frame captured his left hand as he climbed through the library window.
A signet ring flashed.
Frank zoomed in.
Caruso crest.
Black onyx.
Dominic knew that ring.
Victor had worn one for twenty years.
But Victor’s was on his right hand.
The man in the footage wore his on the left.
Nicholas looked over Dominic’s shoulder.
“Who else has one?”
Dominic stared at the image.
Only three men had received those rings from Salvatore.
Dominic.
Victor.
And Frank Mercer.
May you like
Slowly, Dominic looked up.
Frank was standing directly across from him.
