Chapter 2 - Echoes in the Empty Room
That statement fell onto the cold kitchen floor like a dagger piercing my chest.
For the past fourteen months, I had lived in relentless torment, blaming myself for failing to protect my family, for letting the enemy-ridden underworld drag Isabella down. Yet, hearing my own flesh and blood—the child who had fallen mute from the trauma of her mother's death—whisper that I was the murderer made my entire world collapse.
Rosa let out a small, horrified gasp, tears spilling over. The young maid stepped back in terror, clutching her apron as if bracing for a brutal outburst from the most powerful man in New York.
"Lucia... what did you just say?" My voice shook, a hoarse rasp that none of my enemies on the battlefield or business rivals had ever heard.
The little girl didn’t blink. Her wide, tear-filled eyes looked at me not with the innocence of a four-and-a-half-year-old child, but with absolute terror and cold fury. Her tiny fingers still clutched my suit jacket, digging deep into the expensive fabric.
"No... not you," Rosa rushed over, dropping to her knees beside Lucia, her voice frantic. "My little princess, what nonsense are you talking about? Your daddy loves you more than anything in the world..."
"Stand up, Rosa," I commanded, my voice heavy with authority while my mind was in complete chaos.
I knelt down to face Lucia, reaching out my large, scarred, tattooed hand to touch her cheek. But Lucia flinched away, retreating behind her twin sisters who were hugging each other and crying hysterically.
"Mom said..." Lucia’s voice choked, the pauses between her words filled with agonizing pain. "...Mom said Daddy is a bad man. Mom said Daddy brought guns home... and that car that day..."
My heart skipped a beat.
The car that day? The assassination at the Queens intersection? The NYPD Police Chief and federal agents had always insisted it was a flawless ambush orchestrated entirely by the Mendoza cartel. But why... why did my daughter say I was involved?
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I looked up at Rosa. The elderly housekeeper nodded tearfully, her eyes haunted. "Dominic... there are things you don't know. The night before the accident... the mistress overheard your phone call in the study."
The kitchen suddenly felt more suffocating than ever.
