Chapter 5 - The Price of a Daughter
Dominic wanted an army.
I wanted Sophie.
Those were not the same thing.
“She is three years old,” I said. “If Salvatore sees twenty armed men—”
“He kidnapped my daughter.”
The words silenced the room.
My daughter.
Dominic seemed to hear himself say it too.
His eyes closed briefly.
Then he looked at me.
“Our daughter.”
Something inside me cracked.
There wasn't time to feel it.
Marco traced the kidnappers to an abandoned Valenti-owned warehouse near the Calumet River.
Dominic studied the blueprints.
“Three entrances.”
“No,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
“Four.”
“How do you know?”
I didn't.
Then another memory surfaced.
I had been there before.
At seventeen.
My father had taken me through a drainage tunnel beneath the eastern loading dock.
Dominic changed the plan.
At 2:40 a.m., he entered through the front carrying a fake copy of the memory card.
Marco and I used the tunnel.
I wasn't supposed to come.
I came anyway.
Through a crack in the warehouse wall, I saw Sophie.
She sat on a chair clutching her knees.
Salvatore Valenti stood nearby.
Sixty-two years old.
Silver hair.
Tailored suit.
Black onyx ring.
Sophie looked at him.
“You're mean.”
Salvatore almost laughed.
“Your father used to say that.”
“Dominic is my daddy?”
My breath stopped.
Nobody had told her yet.
Salvatore crouched.
“He doesn't deserve that title.”
Sophie frowned.
“He gives good hugs.”
Even Marco almost smiled.
Then Salvatore grabbed her arm.
Dominic's voice came from the darkness.
“Take your hand off my daughter.”
Salvatore released her.
Dominic stepped into the light.
Alone.
He held up the memory card.
“You wanted this.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You always were sentimental.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“I corrected a problem.”
“She is family.”
“So was Elena.”
Dominic's face changed.
I felt Marco tense beside me.
Salvatore continued.
“Anthony Moretti wanted to destroy everything our families built. His daughter inherited his stupidity.”
“You ordered the crash.”
“I ordered Hale to frighten her.”
“She nearly died.”
“An unfortunate complication.”
My nails dug into my palms.
Dominic's voice remained calm.
“And four years ago?”
Salvatore looked almost amused.
“Vivienne panicked.”
There it was.
Confirmation.
“She realized your little ghost had returned. Worse, you had fallen in love with her again.”
Dominic didn't move.
“You knew.”
“Of course.”
“And you let me believe she abandoned me.”
“I protected you.”
“You destroyed her memory.”
“Hale did.”
“At your command.”
Salvatore shrugged.
Dominic's hand curled.
But Sophie was watching.
So he did nothing.
That restraint told me more about Dominic than violence ever could.
Salvatore extended his hand.
“The card.”
Dominic tossed it.
Salvatore caught it.
He nodded toward Sophie.
“Take her.”
Dominic walked forward.
That was when a gun appeared behind him.
Vivienne.
She stepped from the shadows.
“You always choose her.”
Dominic turned slowly.
Vivienne's hands shook.
“You chose Elena when we were teenagers. Then Claire appeared and you chose her without even knowing why. And now this child.”
“You drugged her.”
“I saved you!”
“You erased four years of her life.”
Vivienne's face twisted.
“She was supposed to disappear.”
I stepped through the side door.
“No.”
Every head turned.
Vivienne stared at me.
I raised my phone.
“You were supposed to confess.”
Her face drained.
Marco emerged behind me.
Police sirens erupted outside.
The memory card Dominic had brought was fake.
The real one had already been copied and delivered to federal investigators.
Salvatore understood immediately.
He reached for his gun.
Dominic lunged.
The shot exploded.
Sophie screamed.
Dominic hit the floor.
For one horrifying second, I thought he'd been shot.
Then Salvatore collapsed.
Marco had fired first.
Vivienne ran.
I went for Sophie.
She flew into my arms.
“Mommy!”
“I've got you.”
Dominic rose.
Blood stained his shoulder.
“Dominic!”
“Not mine.”
Salvatore was alive.
Barely.
Federal agents poured into the warehouse.
Vivienne reached a side exit.
An agent blocked her.
Handcuffs snapped around her wrists.
She looked at Dominic.
“You'll regret choosing her.”
Dominic didn't even answer.
He crossed the warehouse toward us.
Sophie reached for him.
He hesitated.
Then she said the word that changed his entire face.
“Daddy.”
Dominic stopped.
Sophie stretched both arms toward him.
“Five minutes?”
He took her from me.
“No.”
Sophie blinked.
May you like
Dominic kissed her hair.
“This time you get as long as you want.”
