Chương 9 - Thirty-Eight Dollars
Eleven months later, Emily stood in a hospital corridor holding her first nursing-school transcript in eight years.
She had passed everything.
Not barely.
Not generously.
Everything.
“Miss Parker?”
Emily turned.
Dr. Harris smiled.
“Congratulations.”
She stared at the evaluation.
“I keep expecting someone to tell me there was an administrative error.”
“There wasn’t.”
“I’m twenty-seven.”
“So?”
“Half my class is twenty-one.”
“And half your class asks you for help.”
Emily laughed.
Life had become strange.
Vale Atlantic had survived under court-appointed management after Dominic surrendered control.
Federal investigators dismantled Antonio Ricci’s trafficking network across four states.
Victor Vale accepted a plea agreement after evidence connected him to Isabella’s murder.
Samuel Reed entered federal protection.
Anthony Russo testified against his father.
And Dominic?
Dominic pleaded guilty to several financial and racketeering charges.
His cooperation mattered.
So did the evidence he provided.
So did his decision to dismantle his own criminal network rather than preserve it.
But consequences still mattered.
Emily respected him more because he understood that.
Lily and Grace lived at the Vale estate under Margaret’s guardianship.
Emily technically lived in her own apartment.
Technically.
She spent five nights a week at the estate.
Grace had developed an obsession with pancakes.
Lily had decided she wanted to become a federal agent because “they get cooler jackets.”
Emily had banned both girls from describing Anthony as Uncle Criminal Lawyer at school.
They ignored her.
Every Sunday, they visited Dominic.
He had been transferred to a minimum-security federal facility after six months.
The first visit had been difficult.
Grace cried for twenty minutes.
Lily asked fourteen questions about prison toilets.
Emily had sat across from Dominic and tried not to notice that he looked unfairly attractive in plain clothes.
“You cut your hair,” he said.
“You’re in federal custody and that’s your observation?”
“I had several others.”
“Keep them.”
He smiled.
That smile had become easier over the months.
So had Emily’s feelings.
They wrote.
Not romantic letters at first.
Mostly reports.
Grace lost another tooth.
Lily punched a boy.
Why?
He said Grace was stupid.
Did you punish her?
Yes.
How severely?
No dessert.
Cruel.
Eventually the letters changed.
Dominic wrote about Isabella.
His father.
The choices he regretted.
Emily wrote about her mother.
Nursing school.
Fear.
And the strange guilt of becoming happy after spending years merely surviving.
One Sunday in October, Dominic sat across from her.
“You look nervous.”
“I have something.”
She slid an envelope across the table.
He opened it.
Inside was thirty-eight dollars.
Dominic stared.
“What is this?”
“The amount I had the night I found Lily and Grace.”
“I know.”
“Of course you do.”
He smiled.
Emily continued.
“For years, I thought money was the difference between being safe and being one disaster away from losing everything.”
Dominic looked at the bills.
“And now?”
“Now I think sometimes thirty-eight dollars is enough.”
“For what?”
“To make one decision.”
“What decision?”
“To open the door.”
Dominic looked at her for a long moment.
Then he folded the envelope carefully.
“I’m keeping this.”
“It’s yours.”
“No.”
He slid it back.
“Ours.”
Emily’s throat tightened.
Dominic leaned forward.
“My release hearing is next month.”
“I know.”
“The prosecutor isn’t opposing supervised release.”
“I know.”
“You know everything.”
“Efficient people.”
He laughed.
Then became serious.
“Emily, when I get out, things cannot return to what they were.”
“Good.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
“No armed men at the house unless they’re licensed security. No illegal businesses. No people calling me Don.”
“That last one might take time.”
“I’ll survive.”
She smiled.
Dominic studied her.
“I sold the lakefront warehouse.”
“Good.”
“I also sold the club.”
“Very good.”
“And Miller’s Corner.”
Emily stopped.
“What?”
“I bought it after Calvin died.”
“You what?”
“His sister wanted to sell.”
“Dominic.”
“I know that tone.”
“You secretly bought my diner?”
“It was not technically secret.”
“I didn’t know.”
“That seems like the definition of successful secrecy.”
Emily glared.
He almost smiled.
“What did you do with it?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Why?”
“I was waiting.”
“For?”
“You.”
Emily stared.
Dominic explained that Calvin’s sister had wanted the building preserved.
He had arranged for ownership to be transferred into a community trust.
Emily’s name was listed as director.
“I don’t need a diner.”
“No.”
“What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Whatever you want.”
She thought about nursing school.
Children arriving cold.
People without insurance.
Families choosing groceries over medicine.
An idea began forming.
Dominic saw it happen.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That is not a nothing face.”
“A community clinic.”
His expression softened.
“The diner?”
“Keep the counter. Convert the kitchen. Add examination rooms in the back.”
“And the pie?”
“We keep pie.”
“Good.”
“Medical necessity.”
“Obviously.”
Emily laughed.
A guard announced the visit was ending.
Dominic stood.
Emily did too.
Normally they were allowed only a brief embrace.
This time Dominic whispered beside her ear.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“If I come home next month…”
Emily pulled back.
“If?”
“When.”
“Better.”
“When I come home, I want to ask you something.”
“Ask now.”
“No.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“I hate surprises.”
“That is demonstrably false.”
“How?”
“You kept two mystery children beneath a diner booth.”
“That was not a fun surprise.”
Dominic smiled.
The guard called his name.
He stepped away.
Emily watched him walk toward the door.
“Dominic.”
He turned.
“What are you going to ask?”
His smile deepened.
“Wait thirty days.”
Then he disappeared through the door.
Emily stared after him.
Thirty days.
For someone who had survived armed kidnappers, a criminal conspiracy and nursing exams, thirty days should have been easy.
It was not.
Especially when Lily discovered a velvet ring box hidden inside Anthony’s desk two weeks later.
May you like
And announced to the entire breakfast table:
“I think Daddy is going to marry somebody.”
