Chapter 5 - The Night the Marino Empire Burned
Dominic's security chief ordered the household into lockdown.
The black SUV stopped near the front gate.
Three more vehicles appeared behind it.
Dominic moved quickly.
“Where is my mother?”
“She left the estate.”
“Good.”
“And Mrs. Marino?”
Dominic froze.
“She's not here.”
The security chief nodded.
“Then we need to keep her that way.”
A gunshot cracked through the night.
The windows shook.
Dominic pulled Vanessa behind the stone column.
“Stay here.”
She grabbed his arm.
“They're going to kill you.”
“I know.”
Another shot.
Then another.
Dominic's guards returned fire.
The estate became chaos.
What no one in the house knew was that the attack was a diversion.
Two men entered from the rear property line.
They bypassed the security system using a code obtained months earlier.
They entered the basement.
The place where Dominic stored his most sensitive files.
Within minutes, flames appeared.
Smoke began pouring through the lower hall.
“Fire!” someone shouted.
Dominic ran toward the basement.
The security chief stopped him.
“You can't go down there.”
“My records.”
“Forget them.”
Dominic looked at the fire.
He knew exactly what was stored below.
Names.
Accounts.
Contracts.
Evidence.
Everything that could destroy him.
Or protect him.
Then he thought about Carrie.
Her archive.
Her notes.
Her caution.
She had always told him that paper outlived people.
He had laughed.
Now the paper was burning.
The fire department arrived twenty minutes later.
By then, the basement was ruined.
Dominic stood outside in the cold rain watching smoke rise into the sky.
Vanessa stood several feet away.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
“No.”
Dominic stared at the burning mansion.
“This is my fault.”
Vanessa whispered, “Carrie warned you.”
He looked at her.
“When?”
“More times than you remember.”
Dominic said nothing.
Across town, Carrie woke suddenly.
She did not know why.
Her phone vibrated.
Rebecca.
“Carrie, the Marino estate was attacked.”
Carrie sat upright.
“What?”
“There's been a fire.”
“Dominic?”
“He's alive.”
Carrie's eyes closed.
Relief arrived before she could stop it.
She hated that.
“Was anyone hurt?”
“Several guards are injured. No civilians.”
Carrie exhaled.
Then Rebecca said:
“There's more.”
“What?”
“The fire destroyed the basement archives.”
Carrie thought immediately of the foundation documents.
“Can you recover anything?”
“Possibly.”
Carrie stood.
“I have copies.”
Rebecca paused.
“You do?”
“I kept everything.”
That sentence suddenly changed the entire case.
Carrie drove to Rebecca's private office the next morning.
Evelyn joined them.
They spent seven hours reconstructing the records.
By midnight, they had a financial map.
Larkstone.
Arthur Kane.
Victor Salerno.
Vanessa.
And one additional name.
Edward Marino.
Dominic's cousin.
Carrie stared at the name.
“Edward?”
Rebecca nodded.
“He had access to the original foundation structures.”
“I thought he left the company.”
“He did publicly.”
Evelyn leaned closer.
“Where did he go?”
Rebecca opened another file.
“Florida.”
Carrie stared.
“Why?”
“He controls three companies connected to Larkstone.”
Carrie felt cold.
The conspiracy was not outside the family.
It was inside.
The next morning, Dominic received a call from Edward.
“Cousin.”
Dominic's voice was flat.
“Where are you?”
“Out of town.”
“Were you involved in the attack?”
Edward laughed.
“You always were suspicious.”
“Answer me.”
“Don't worry about the fire.”
Dominic's blood ran cold.
“You know about it.”
“I know a lot of things.”
The call ended.
Dominic stared at the phone.
Then he called his mother.
“Mom, did you know Dad trusted Edward?”
Margaret was silent.
“What?”
“He didn't.”
Dominic frowned.
“Then why did he keep him close?”
“Because your father believed Edward could be useful.”
“For what?”
“Because Victor Salerno wasn't the biggest danger.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“Who was?”
Margaret answered quietly.
“Someone inside the family.”
Meanwhile, Carrie sat in Rebecca's office looking through archived photographs.
One photograph caught her attention.
A foundation dinner.
Vanessa standing beside Dominic.
Arthur Kane behind them.
And Edward in the background.
Carrie zoomed in.
On Edward's wrist was a gold watch.
Carrie recognized it.
Her father-in-law's watch.
She remembered Dominic mentioning it years ago.
“He gave that to Edward.”
“Why?”
“For being family.”
Carrie stared at the image.
Then she noticed something else.
Edward was holding a small black folder.
A folder she had seen before.
In Dominic's old office.
She turned to Rebecca.
“The folder.”
“What about it?”
“I know where that folder came from.”
“Where?”
“My home.”
Evelyn looked up.
“Your marital home?”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
Carrie shook her head.
“I never opened it.”
“Where is it now?”
Carrie thought.
“I think Dominic kept it in his study.”
Rebecca immediately called someone.
Minutes later, a security officer sent photographs from the estate.
The study had been damaged.
But a hidden drawer remained intact.
Inside was the folder.
Carrie asked for digital copies.
When they arrived, she opened the file.
The first page was a handwritten note from Dominic's father.
If you are reading this, then Edward has chosen the wrong side.
Carrie stopped breathing.
She turned the page.
Victor Salerno was never the architect.
Edward was.
Victor simply provided the muscle.
Carrie read faster.
The Marino empire was designed to survive without my son.
But it cannot survive without Caroline.
Dominic does not know how much she knows.
Do not tell him unless necessary.
He must discover the truth himself.
Carrie closed her eyes.
“Why would your father write that?”
Rebecca answered softly.
“Because he knew Dominic would ignore you.”
Carrie looked at the final page.
There was one sentence.
If Dominic ever loses Caroline, he loses the family.
Carrie touched the screen.
The words felt cruel now.
Not because they were wrong.
Because Dominic had finally begun to understand them.
That afternoon, Dominic went to the hospital to check on one of his injured guards.
Outside the room, he saw Carrie.
She was there visiting.
Their eyes met.
Neither moved.
Dominic's face changed.
“Carrie.”
She looked at him.
He took one step forward.
“You're safe.”
“I am.”
“You should not have come here.”
“I came because he worked for me.”
Dominic swallowed.
“I should have protected you.”
Carrie looked at him calmly.
“You should have protected the woman standing beside you.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
For several seconds, they simply stood there.
Then Carrie said:
“I am not coming back.”
Dominic's face tightened.
“I understand.”
She nodded.
“Good.”
She walked away.
Dominic watched her disappear around the corner.
For the first time in his life, Dominic Marino understood that loving someone and possessing someone were completely different things.
Carrie had been his wife.
He had treated her like property.
May you like
Now she was free.
And someone was trying to kill the only person who could help him save everything.
