Chapter 6 - DAMIAN LEARNED HIS FATHER MAY HAVE BEEN THE FIRST VICTIM
Doctor Elias Vale woke shortly before sunset.
Victor placed him in a secure guest room under guard.
Damian, Martha, and Lucia entered together.
Vale’s face was gray.
A bandage covered one side of his head.
When he saw Damian, fear appeared instantly.
“Don’t.”
Damian stopped.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t ask me anything if Renzi is here.”
Victor remained outside.
Damian closed the door.
“He isn’t.”
Vale looked toward Martha.
“Who is she?”
“Andrew Bellini’s sister.”
Vale shut his eyes.
“Oh God.”
Martha stepped closer.
“You knew Andrew.”
Vale opened his eyes.
“He asked questions.”
“What questions?”
“About Matteo.”
Damian’s voice became cold.
“What did you do to my father?”
Vale flinched.
“I treated him.”
“That email says you warned Enzo against further alteration.”
Vale stared.
Damian placed the printed message beside the bed.
The doctor’s hands trembled.
“Where did you get that?”
“Answer.”
Vale looked toward Lucia.
“Your father was sick.”
Lucia’s eyes hardened.
“No.”
“He developed symptoms.”
“From what?”
Vale swallowed.
“I didn’t know at first.”
Martha watched.
The man was frightened.
Andrew had written exactly that.
Watch the doctor because he’s afraid.
Damian asked,
“What did Enzo ask you to do?”
Vale shook his head.
“He didn’t ask directly.”
“What did he do?”
“He brought supplements.”
Lucia stared.
“What?”
“He said Matteo was taking them privately.”
“He wanted me to confirm they wouldn’t interfere with his prescriptions.”
“Did they?”
Vale’s eyes filled.
“I found something inconsistent.”
“With what?”
“I told him to stop.”
Damian stepped closer.
“Stop what?”
Vale shook his head.
“I can’t prove—”
“Eleven years is a long time to hide behind proof.”
Vale looked at him.
“I found evidence your father was being exposed to something that should not have been in his system.”
Martha felt cold.
Damian’s voice became quiet.
“And you said nothing.”
“I told Enzo.”
Lucia almost laughed in disbelief.
“You told the man who brought it?”
“I didn’t know.”
“When did you suspect?”
“Later.”
“How much later?”
“After Matteo died.”
Damian’s face went still.
Martha had learned this expression.
It was the one that appeared when rage became dangerous enough to require silence.
“What happened after he died?”
Vale looked away.
“Enzo paid off my medical-school debt.”
Lucia stared.
“You accepted it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vale’s voice cracked.
“Because I was a coward.”
No elaborate excuse.
Just cowardice.
Martha looked at Damian.
He absorbed the word.
Perhaps because he understood his own version.
Vale continued.
“I told myself it wasn’t proof.”
“I told myself Matteo had heart disease nobody had found.”
“I told myself the payment was gratitude.”
“And Andrew?”
“He found the old records.”
“How?”
“He asked for your father’s health files as part of an insurance audit.”
Lucia frowned.
“I authorized an audit.”
Vale nodded.
“He came to me.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing.”
Martha stepped forward.
“You lied to my brother.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“He came back.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before he died.”
“What did he have?”
“Copies of the email.”
“Anything else?”
Vale swallowed.
“He had a bank transfer from Enzo.”
“To you?”
“Yes.”
Martha looked at Damian.
The chain tightened.
Andrew had found both communication and money.
Vale continued.
“He told me I had forty-eight hours to tell Damian.”
Damian closed his eyes.
Martha stared.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid Enzo would kill me.”
“And Andrew?”
Vale looked at her.
“I thought he was bluffing.”
Martha’s eyes burned.
“He’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Don’t say you know.”
“I saw his body.”
She stopped.
“What?”
Vale immediately looked like he wished he had remained silent.
Damian stepped closer.
“Where?”
Vale’s breathing quickened.
“Not after the river.”
Martha froze.
“Then when?”
“Before.”
The room became silent.
Martha whispered,
“You saw Andrew before he died.”
Vale nodded.
“Where?”
“At North Crest warehouse.”
Damian stared.
“What was he doing there?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“The night he died.”
Martha’s chest tightened.
“How long before the crash?”
“Maybe an hour.”
“Was he alone?”
Vale looked toward Damian.
“No.”
“Who was with him?”
Vale closed his eyes.
“Enzo.”
Martha’s heart hammered.
Damian said,
“You saw my uncle with Andrew.”
“Yes.”
“Arguing?”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
“Why were you there?”
Vale stared at the blanket.
“Enzo called me.”
“For what?”
“He said Andrew had questions.”
Lucia whispered,
“He wanted you to reassure him.”
Vale shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“He wanted me to tell Andrew Matteo died naturally.”
Martha’s hands clenched.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“And Andrew believed you?”
Vale almost smiled despite the fear.
“No.”
That sounded like Andrew.
Martha’s eyes filled.
“What happened?”
“Andrew left.”
“Enzo followed?”
“Not immediately.”
“Who did?”
Vale hesitated.
“A Crest Security driver.”
“Name?”
“I don’t know.”
Damian asked,
“Car?”
“Black sedan.”
Martha closed her eyes.
There it was.
The same car Andrew documented.
The same company tied to the sniper.
Vale continued.
“I left through another door.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized Enzo knew I had talked to Andrew privately.”
“What did you think would happen?”
Vale did not answer.
Martha’s voice sharpened.
“What did you think?”
“That Andrew was in danger.”
“And you still left.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled with rage.
Damian moved slightly between them.
Not protecting Vale from her physically.
Creating distance.
Martha glared.
“Move.”
“No.”
“You think I’ll hurt him?”
“I think you’re angry enough to regret whatever comes next.”
She stared.
“Don’t manage me.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Damian’s voice stayed quiet.
“Then walk away because you choose to.”
That stopped her.
Choice.
Martha looked at Vale.
Her brother had died because several people were afraid.
Damian delayed.
Victor hid the security flaw.
Vale hid the medical evidence.
Lucia kept the investigation inside the family.
No single cowardice pulled Andrew into the river.
Together they created the road.
Martha stepped back.
“Finish.”
Vale looked surprised.
Damian nodded.
“Why did Andrew tell us not to call you?”
Vale swallowed.
“Because he knew Enzo monitored my clinic communications.”
Victor’s legacy security flaw.
Martha understood.
“If we called you after the shooting—”
“Enzo would know Damian survived.”
“But he already knew.”
Vale frowned.
“Then someone else reported it.”
The phone call before sunrise.
Enzo had indeed known too early.
Damian asked,
“Who hit you tonight?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where?”
“Clinic hallway.”
“Before or after the shooting?”
“After.”
“Why?”
Vale looked at him.
“I think whoever did it wanted me found alive.”
Martha frowned.
“Why?”
“So I’d say Renzi.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“You said his name when Victor found you.”
Vale nodded.
“Because the man who hit me whispered it.”
Martha felt cold.
“What exactly?”
Vale looked at her.
“He said, ‘When you wake up, tell Damian Renzi did this.’”
Victor had been framed deliberately.
Not subtly anymore.
Damian turned toward Lucia.
“Enzo needs me to kill Victor.”
“Why?”
Victor controlled the security records.
Martha answered.
“Because Victor is the only one who can reconstruct the old network.”
Damian nodded.
“And if I believe Victor betrayed me, I remove the one person capable of proving who used my father’s system.”
Vale whispered,
“Enzo knows how your family works.”
Damian looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“He knows you punish betrayal fast.”
The words landed heavily.
Martha watched Damian.
His reputation had become part of the weapon against him.
Enzo did not need Damian dead immediately if he could make Damian destroy his own witnesses first.
Andrew had understood that.
That was why his warnings seemed contradictory.
Do not trust Victor blindly.
But do not assume Victor was the traitor.
Watch Vale.
But understand fear.
Martha whispered,
“Andrew wasn’t leaving us suspects.”
Damian looked at her.
“He was leaving us brakes.”
Lucia frowned.
“What?”
Martha continued.
“Every warning slows Damian down.”
“Don’t give the card to Victor.”
“Don’t call Vale.”
“Ask questions.”
“Verify.”
“He knew whoever did this would plant obvious answers.”
Damian stared toward the door.
“My uncle knows I react to betrayal.”
“Yes.”
Martha looked directly at him.
“Andrew knew it too.”
For the first time, Damian’s power became a liability.
His habits.
His pride.
His willingness to use force.
Enzo understood them.
If Damian wanted the truth, he would have to become less predictable than the man his uncle had spent decades helping raise.
That decision would shape everything that followed.
Damian took out his phone.
“Lucia.”
“Yes?”
“Call your federal contact.”
Her eyes widened.
Martha stared.
“You’re involving law enforcement?”
Damian looked toward Vale.
“Andrew wanted outside eyes.”
Lucia hesitated.
“This exposes everything.”
“I know.”
“Not just Enzo.”
“I know.”
“Your businesses too.”
“Yes.”
Martha studied him.
“What changed?”
Damian looked at her.
“Three people are dead or nearly dead because I kept believing I could solve family problems inside the family.”
He glanced toward Andrew’s lighter.
“I’m done repeating that mistake.”
For the first time, Martha believed him.
Not trusted.
Believed.
There was a difference.
May you like
And somewhere across Boston, Enzo Falcone was about to learn that his nephew had finally done the one thing he had spent years making sure no Falcone would ever do.
Ask outsiders for help.
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