Chương 8 - The Night the Empire Fell
Dominic did not remember leaving the hotel.
Later, he would remember pieces.
Cole shouting.
Anthony grabbing his shoulder.
Emily running beside him.
The helicopter.
The forty-minute flight that felt like forty years.
What he remembered clearly was Lily’s voice.
They’re in the house.
Again.
The estate’s emergency system had locked down seconds after the transmission.
Security cameras went offline.
Grace and Lily had been moved into a reinforced safe room with their nanny, Margaret.
Then someone disabled the backup generator.
Someone still inside Dominic’s organization.
The helicopter landed on the frozen lawn.
Dominic ran.
Emily followed.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
He did not waste time arguing.
Inside, the estate was dark.
A gunshot sounded upstairs.
Dominic’s team spread out.
Emily knew where the girls would go if the safe room failed.
The wine cellar.
The hiding place.
She ran toward the service stairs.
“Emily!”
Dominic followed.
They found Margaret unconscious in the corridor.
Alive.
The safe-room door stood open.
Empty.
Dominic’s face went white.
Emily grabbed his arm.
“They know what to do.”
He looked at her.
“Because you taught them.”
They reached the cellar.
No girls.
Then Emily noticed a tiny pink ribbon tied around the wine rack.
Grace’s.
An arrow had been drawn in dust.
Emily almost laughed.
“Lily.”
They followed the trail into an old service tunnel beneath the estate.
Dominic had not known it existed.
Isabella had.
The tunnel led toward the lake.
Halfway down, they heard crying.
Grace.
Dominic ran.
A man held both girls near the tunnel exit.
Samuel Reed.
Alive.
Dominic raised his gun.
“Let them go.”
Reed looked exhausted and wounded.
“I’m trying to save them.”
Lily shouted, “He’s not the wolf!”
Dominic hesitated.
Reed lowered his weapon.
“Ricci’s people breached the house. I got the girls out.”
“You kidnapped them.”
“No. Victor did. I followed the van and caused the crash. I tried to get the girls away, but they ran before I could reach them.”
Emily understood.
That was why Lily had thought Reed betrayed them.
She had seen him near the kidnappers.
Reed pulled a phone from his pocket.
“I have everything.”
“What?”
“Seven years of recordings.”
Dominic stared.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Because Victor was your uncle.”
Reed laughed bitterly.
“And because the last person who told you the truth was Isabella.”
That hurt.
Dominic lowered his weapon.
Reed handed him the phone.
“Ricci has judges, cops, customs officers. But not enough to survive this.”
Federal agents arrived minutes later.
The arrests began before sunrise.
Victor Vale was taken from the abandoned hotel.
Antonio Ricci tried to negotiate immunity.
He failed.
The recordings connected him to trafficking, murders, bribery and Isabella’s death.
They also implicated Dominic.
Not in trafficking.
But in racketeering, illegal gambling, extortion and financial crimes.
Cole met Dominic in the library.
“You understand what happens now.”
“Yes.”
Emily stood near the fireplace.
Anthony looked grim.
Dominic removed his watch and placed it on the desk.
Then his phone.
Then the signet ring he had inherited from his father.
He walked upstairs.
Lily and Grace were awake.
Dominic knelt before them.
“Daddy has to go away for a while.”
Grace immediately cried.
“No.”
Lily understood more.
“Because you did bad things?”
Dominic swallowed.
“Yes.”
Emily looked away.
Lily wrapped her arms around him.
“Are you bad?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“I’ve done bad things.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
He looked at his daughter.
“No.”
Lily nodded.
“Then fix them.”
Dominic kissed both girls.
When he came downstairs, federal agents waited.
Emily stood by the door.
He stopped in front of her.
“I had Anthony prepare guardianship documents.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“For the girls.”
“Dominic—”
“Margaret will remain their legal caretaker. Anthony will supervise the trust.”
Emily exhaled.
Then Dominic added, “But they asked for you.”
Her eyes filled.
“You barely know me.”
“I know enough.”
“Which is?”
“You had thirty-eight dollars and nothing to gain, and you still opened a door for two children.”
Emily stared at him.
“How do you know about the thirty-eight dollars?”
“I told you. Efficient people.”
She laughed through tears.
Dominic smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”
Emily stepped closer.
“I’ll be here.”
“You don’t owe me that.”
“No.”
She touched his face.
“I don’t.”
Then she kissed him.
Not dramatically.
Not like a movie.
A quiet kiss between two exhausted people whose lives had been torn apart in seventy-two hours.
When she pulled back, Dominic rested his forehead against hers.
“I wanted to give you something.”
“A reward?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“I know.”
“Then what?”
Dominic looked toward the staircase.
“My daughters asked me something this morning.”
“What?”
“If you could stay.”
Emily smiled sadly.
“You’re being arrested, Dominic.”
“I’m aware.”
“Terrible timing.”
“I’ve had a difficult week.”
She laughed again.
Federal agents approached.
Dominic turned.
Emily caught his hand.
“One thing.”
He looked back.
“Come home.”
Dominic’s expression broke.
Then he nodded.
“I will.”
The front doors opened.
Snow had stopped falling.
For the first time in days, the sky over Chicago was clear.
Dominic Vale walked outside without guards, without weapons and without the empire that had protected him his entire adult life.
Emily stood in the doorway watching.
Grace slipped her tiny hand into Emily’s.
“Is Daddy coming back?”
Emily looked at the disappearing federal vehicle.
“Yes.”
Lily joined them.
“How do you know?”
May you like
Emily squeezed their hands.
“Because this time, he knows where home is.”
