Chapter 2 - The Order That Changed Everything“You did your job,” Dominic repeated. “And I failed to do mine.”
Gemma stared at him.
In two years of working for Dominic Falcone, she had heard him admit mistakes exactly once. That occasion had involved a miscalculated acquisition that cost his legitimate investment company eleven million dollars.
He had corrected the problem before lunch.
This felt different.
“Sir?”
“I knew you hadn't slept. I watched you drink coffee instead of eating. I watched you handle a crisis that should have required an entire department.” His jaw tightened. “And I still asked you to attend a meeting at three in the morning.”
Gemma looked toward the rain-streaked windows.
“I wasn't forced to stay.”
“No,” Dominic said. “You were afraid of what would happen if you left.”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
That was answer enough.
Dominic released her wrist immediately.
“Your position is safe. You're going home. You'll have the next three days off, fully paid.”
“Three days?”
“Four, if you argue.”
Despite her exhaustion, Gemma almost smiled.
Almost.
Then her phone vibrated.
The screen illuminated with a number she recognized.
St. Catherine's Medical Center.
Her expression changed so abruptly that Dominic noticed before she answered.
“Hello?”
She listened.
Her shoulders stiffened.
“Yes, this is his daughter.”
A pause.
“What do you mean the payment wasn't processed?”
Dominic watched the color drain from her face.
“No, please. You can't cancel the procedure. His cardiologist said waiting another week could be dangerous.”
She pressed two fingers against her forehead.
“I understand the policy. I just need until Friday.”
Another silence.
“Please.”
The call ended.
Gemma lowered the phone slowly.
Dominic waited.
She reached for her laptop again.
“I need to finish the vendor reconciliation before I leave.”
“Who was that?”
“Personal matter.”
“Gemma.”
“Mr. Falcone, respectfully, I would prefer not to discuss my family.”
He studied her for a moment.
Then nodded.
“Fair enough.”
He stood, removed his jacket, and draped it over the back of his chair.
“There's a car downstairs. The driver will take you home.”
“I can get a cab.”
“The car is already here.”
“Then I'll reimburse the company.”
“You can try.”
She finally gave him a small, tired smile.
It disappeared when her phone buzzed again.
This time it was a text.
FINAL NOTICE: PAYMENT REQUIRED BEFORE 9:00 A.M.
Gemma turned the screen facedown.
Dominic pretended not to see.
But he understood something he hadn't understood thirty minutes earlier.
Gemma wasn't merely overworked.
She was desperate.
And desperate people inside his organization were vulnerable to the very men he trusted to keep it running.
At 4:22 a.m., Dominic entered his private office and found Dante waiting beside the fireplace.
“The meeting's cancellation is already causing problems,” Dante said.
Dominic poured himself a glass of water.
“Then solve them.”
“Sal thinks you're protecting the girl.”
“She's my employee.”
“She's a secretary.”
Dominic set down the glass.
Dante recognized the warning but continued.
“I'm telling you what the others are saying. You dismissed three port bosses because your secretary needed a nap.”
“Careful.”
Dante folded his arms.
“Dominic, I've been beside you for fifteen years. I can tell you when you're making a mistake.”
“Then tell me.”
“You're letting an employee become a weakness.”
Dominic regarded him without expression.
“Is that what you think she is?”
“I'm saying men will notice.”
“They already have.”
Dante hesitated.
Dominic moved behind his desk.
“Now explain something to me. Why did Sal's east-dock reports show a twenty-percent discrepancy only after the federal raid?”
“Because Sal's been stealing.”
“Maybe.”
Dante frowned.
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Gemma found three separate accounts receiving identical transfers. Sal's signature appears on one authorization. The other two were approved using an executive credential.”
“Whose?”
Dominic watched him.
“That's what I'm going to find out.”
For the first time that night, Dante looked uncomfortable.
Only for a second.
Then he shrugged.
“Could be an accounting error.”
“Gemma doesn't make accounting errors.”
Dante's eyes hardened.
“Everybody makes mistakes.”
Dominic said nothing.
After several seconds, Dante left.
The moment the door closed, Dominic opened the internal audit file Gemma had prepared.
He scrolled through shipping invoices, vendor payments, and transaction summaries.
Then he noticed a small annotation at the bottom of one spreadsheet.
It had been added at 2:51 a.m., shortly before Gemma fell asleep.
Executive authorization mismatch. Verify before disclosure.
Below it appeared a reference number.
FAL-0917.
Dominic went still.
He knew that number.
It belonged to an account his father had supposedly closed fourteen years earlier.
An account connected to the night Dominic's younger brother disappeared.
At 7:16 a.m., Gemma woke to the sound of someone pounding on her apartment door.
She had been asleep for less than two hours.
Her father, Thomas Hayes, was sitting in the kitchen when she emerged from her bedroom.
He was sixty-three, thin from months of cardiac illness, and stubborn enough to insist he could still repair the apartment's broken cabinets.
“Someone's here,” he said.
Gemma pulled on a sweater.
“Did you order something?”
Thomas shook his head.
The pounding came again.
She approached the door and checked the peephole.
A man in a dark coat stood outside.
Behind him waited another man.
Neither looked familiar.
“Miss Hayes?” the first called.
“Who is it?”
“We need to speak with you about the documents you reviewed last night.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What documents?”
“The ones belonging to Mr. Falcone.”
Gemma stepped backward.
The man continued, his voice suddenly colder.
“Open the door, Gemma.”
Then he said something that made her blood turn to ice.
“Your father needs his surgery, doesn't he?”
Across the city, Dominic was studying the dormant account when his private phone rang.
The caller ID showed Gemma.
He answered immediately.
“Gemma?”
For a moment, he heard only breathing.
Then her voice.
Very quiet.
“Mr. Falcone, there are two men outside my apartment.”
Dominic was already standing.
“Don't open the door.”
“They know about my father.”
“Gemma, listen carefully. Lock yourself in a room away from the entrance.”
A heavy impact sounded through the phone.
Thomas shouted.
Gemma gasped.
Then a man's voice came through the receiver.
“Tell Falcone to stop looking for his brother.”
The connection went dead.
Dominic stared at the screen.
May you like
His brother had been missing for fourteen years.
And someone had just threatened Gemma over a secret that was supposed to have died with him.
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