Chapter 3 - The Ledger Under the Floorboards
Dominic moved Serena to a secure penthouse before sunrise.
He wanted doctors.
She refused.
She wanted one thing.
The truth.
For the first time in twelve years, Dominic opened every locked room in the Carbone Grand.
The underground archive was beneath the original hotel's foundation.
Only four people had access.
Dominic.
His father had once.
Marco.
And now Serena.
They descended the narrow staircase at dawn.
Livia followed.
She looked smaller without makeup, frightened and exhausted.
Serena didn't forgive her.
But she no longer believed Livia was the architect of everything.
The archive contained boxes arranged by year.
Dominic opened 2010.
Nothing.
Nothing.
A box labeled DAYNE.
He stared at Serena.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Open it.”
Inside was an employment file.
Serena's mother.
Dominic looked up.
“My mother worked for your father?”
“She did.”
The file described a position as executive accountant.
Several pages had been removed.
Then Dominic found a photograph.
Serena's mother stood beside Vincenzo.
And beside them was Nico.
Livia gasped.
“That’s my father.”
Dominic stared at his brother's face.
Nico looked happy.
Alive.
Young.
Then he noticed another person in the photograph.
Arthur Bell.
The elderly investor from the anniversary dinner.
Dominic's stomach tightened.
“Arthur knew.”
Marco opened another file.
Arthur had funded a company called Northstar Holdings.
Northstar had received hundreds of millions in development contracts.
The contracts were awarded through Carbone-controlled intermediaries.
Serena read faster.
“There are missing pages.”
“Yes,” Dominic said.
“Who removed them?”
“I don't know.”
Livia spoke quietly.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
“Matteo?”
She shook her head.
“His mother.”
Dominic frowned.
“My aunt?”
“Her name appears in my father's records.”
Livia explained that after Nico died, her mother disappeared.
For years, Livia believed she had abandoned her.
Then three months earlier, she received an envelope containing Nico's photograph and a DNA test instruction.
The sender wanted her to discover she was a Carbone.
The sender also gave her Dominic's private schedule.
That was how the affair began.
Livia had believed Dominic knew the truth.
She thought he was secretly investigating his family.
She thought he was using her.
But Dominic had been equally blind.
Someone had constructed a false reality around both of them.
Serena picked up another document.
It was a hospital record.
Her second miscarriage.
Her name was there.
So was Dominic's.
But beneath it was a second signature.
Dr. Peter Rowan.
Serena remembered him.
He had been the physician who managed her pregnancies.
He had been recommended by Vincenzo.
She looked at Dominic.
“Did your father choose my doctor?”
Dominic's expression changed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Marco took the document.
“There's another note.”
He read it aloud.
“Patient remains physically capable of carrying pregnancy. Emotional stress expected to increase probability of loss.”
Serena felt cold.
“What does that mean?”
Marco looked at Dominic.
“It means someone knew stress could affect her pregnancies.”
Dominic's face turned rigid.
“My father?”
“Maybe.”
Serena looked at Livia.
“Do you know anything about Dr. Rowan?”
Livia hesitated.
“He treated me once.”
“For what?”
“I was attacked when I was eighteen.”
Dominic snapped his head toward her.
“By whom?”
“I never saw his face.”
She pulled a photograph from her purse.
A man stood in the background.
Serena recognized him.
So did Dominic.
Matteo.
The investigation changed direction immediately.
They learned Matteo had been paying Rowan for twelve years.
Not just for medical consultations.
For confidential information.
Every time Serena had a pregnancy test.
Every time she visited the hospital.
Every time Dominic was away.
Everything had been reported.
Dominic stared at the payments.
“He knew about every pregnancy.”
Serena whispered, “Someone wanted us broken.”
“Why?”
Harold answered.
“Because grief isolates people.”
Dominic looked at Serena.
“And isolated people are easier to control.”
The truth became more horrifying.
The two miscarriages might not have been natural in the sense they had believed.
There was no proof yet that anyone had directly caused them.
But someone had manipulated Serena's environment, monitored her health, fed information to the men who wanted Dominic distracted, and engineered pressure at the worst possible moments.
Dominic left the archive and called every doctor involved in Serena's care.
One refused.
Another disconnected.
The third broke down crying.
“I was paid to alter reports,” he admitted.
Dominic nearly put his fist through a wall.
“By whom?”
“I never met him.”
“Name.”
“Arthur Bell.”
That name changed everything.
Arthur.
The charming investor.
The old friend.
The man who had toasted their marriage.
The man who had watched Serena give her anniversary speech.
Dominic returned upstairs.
Arthur was waiting in the lobby.
He looked calm.
Too calm.
“Dominic,” he said.
Dominic approached.
“Come with me.”
Arthur smiled.
“To where?”
“The truth.”
Arthur's smile vanished.
Serena watched from the staircase.
Dominic leaned in.
“You knew about my brother.”
Arthur said nothing.
“You knew about Livia.”
Nothing.
“You knew about Serena's pregnancies.”
Arthur finally looked at Serena.
“Your wife is clever.”
Serena walked down the stairs.
“Clever enough to know you’re lying.”
Arthur laughed.
“You think exposing me solves everything?”
“No.”
Serena stopped in front of him.
“I think it starts with making you afraid.”
Arthur's eyes hardened.
“You have no idea what your husband is.”
Serena answered quietly.
“I know exactly what he is.”
She looked at Dominic.
“A man who spent twelve years believing love could make him better.”
Then back at Arthur.
“And a man who just discovered what happens when the people around him stop lying.”
Arthur's expression changed.
He whispered one sentence.
“Ask him what happened the night Nico died.”
Dominic went still.
May you like
Because there was one thing no one in the family had ever discussed.
The last person to see Nico alive had been Dominic.
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