Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO LEARNED TO ASK
They did not go alone.
That was Clara’s plan.
Dominic hated it.
Which made her enjoy it more.
Victor assembled a small team. Federal investigators were anonymously sent copies of Thomas’s files. Rosa moved Clara’s mother’s medical records and belongings to a secure location.
Meanwhile Clara sat opposite Dominic in the penthouse.
He looked pale.
“You need sleep.”
“So do you.”
“I wasn’t shot.”
“You’ve mentioned that.”
“Because you keep behaving like you weren’t.”
Dominic leaned back.
“Can I ask you something?”
Clara blinked.
“You’re asking permission?”
“I’m experimenting.”
“Dangerous.”
He almost smiled.
“Why did you tolerate me for those two weeks?”
“Money.”
His smile disappeared.
“My mother’s therapy costs almost four thousand dollars a month. Insurance covers part. I cover the rest.”
“And the restaurant?”
“Tips.”
Dominic looked ashamed.
“The gym brochures.”
“Yes.”
“I cost you money.”
“Yes.”
“I thought—”
“That because I joked back, it didn’t hurt?”
He said nothing.
Clara leaned forward.
“People like you think confidence means invulnerability. It doesn’t.”
Dominic looked at his hands.
“My mother was heavy.”
Clara paused.
He had never mentioned her.
“She died when I was twelve. My father adored her privately but criticized her publicly. Told her she embarrassed him.”
Clara’s expression softened despite herself.
“I hated him for it.”
“And then you became him.”
Dominic flinched.
“Yes.”
No defense.
Again.
That was becoming dangerous.
Clara said quietly, “You don’t get to erase what you did because you understand it now.”
“I know.”
“But you can stop doing it.”
“I already have.”
“No. You’ve stopped doing it to me.”
Dominic met her eyes.
“Fair.”
Clara stood.
“Then start there.”
That afternoon Dominic called Giovanni’s.
Paulie nearly fainted when he heard his voice.
Dominic ordered him to calculate every tip Clara should reasonably have received during the days Dominic had harassed her.
Then Dominic doubled it.
Clara made him reduce it.
“Reimbursement, not bribery.”
They argued for fifteen minutes.
Clara won.
Again.
At 11:30 p.m., they reached the abandoned Russo packing house.
Dominic wore body armor beneath his coat.
Clara carried no weapon.
Victor had offered one.
She refused.
“I’m more likely to shoot my foot.”
Instead she carried her father’s watch.
Leo waited inside.
Clara barely recognized him.
Gone was the twitchy younger man who laughed at Dominic’s jokes.
This Leo was calm.
Calculated.
Behind him stood Arthur Pendleton.
And Declan Gallagher.
Clara stared.
“All three of you?”
Gallagher smiled.
“Temporary partnerships.”
Dominic’s gaze remained on Leo.
“You betrayed my father.”
“My father betrayed yours first.”
Leo stepped forward.
“Salvatore planned to dismantle everything. Gallagher wanted him dead. My father wanted his companies. Arthur wanted his properties.”
“And Thomas Jenkins?”
Arthur shrugged.
“Collateral damage.”
Clara lunged.
Dominic caught her.
Arthur smiled.
“Still emotional, Clara.”
“You murdered my father.”
“No. Gallagher’s man did.”
Gallagher’s smile vanished.
“Careful.”
Arthur continued.
“Everyone wants someone else to carry the sin.”
Dominic looked around.
“Where’s Mrs. Jenkins?”
Leo pointed toward an office.
Clara saw her mother through the glass.
Alive.
Hands bound.
“Watch first.”
Clara removed it from her pocket.
Leo extended his hand.
Dominic whispered, “Not yet.”
Clara ignored him.
She walked forward.
Leo smiled.
“Good girl.”
Clara stopped.
“My father died because men like you thought everyone could be bought or frightened.”
“Your father died because he was stupid.”
“No.”
She looked at Dominic.
“He died because he believed somebody could still do the right thing.”
Then she threw the watch.
Leo caught it.
And Victor’s voice thundered through the building.
“NOW!”
Lights went out.
Chaos erupted.
Clara dropped.
Dominic covered her.
Men shouted.
Glass shattered.
Then federal agents stormed through both entrances.
Gallagher tried to flee.
Arthur reached for a weapon.
Victor tackled him.
Leo ran toward the office holding Clara’s mother.
Clara saw him.
“Mom!”
She ran.
Dominic shouted her name.
Leo dragged Mrs. Jenkins through a rear door.
Clara followed into the loading yard.
Rain hammered the pavement.
Leo reached a car.
Clara grabbed the rear door before he could close it.
He struck her across the face.
She fell.
Dominic appeared.
He had a gun aimed directly at Leo.
“Let her go.”
Leo pressed his own weapon against Mrs. Jenkins.
“You won’t shoot.”
Dominic’s hand remained steady.
“You’re right.”
Leo smiled.
Then Mrs. Jenkins stomped on his foot.
Hard.
Leo cursed.
Clara surged upward and slammed the car door into him.
His weapon fell.
Dominic crossed the distance in seconds.
He pinned Leo against the car.
Clara expected violence.
Instead Dominic stopped.
Police and federal agents surrounded them.
Leo laughed breathlessly.
“What happened to you?”
Dominic looked at Clara.
Then back at Leo.
“I got tired of being exactly what everyone expected.”
He released him.
Agents handcuffed Leo.
Clara embraced her mother.
For several minutes nothing else existed.
When she finally turned around, Dominic stood beneath the rain.
Alone.
Watching.
Clara walked to him.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t kill him.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Dominic looked toward the agents.
“Because you once asked whether I was just a bully with a gun.”
Clara remembered.
“And?”
“I didn’t like the answer.”
She studied him.
Rain ran down his face.
Then she stepped forward and kissed his cheek.
Dominic froze.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
She walked away.
After three steps she glanced back.
He was still standing there.
Touching the place she had kissed.
May you like
And smiling like an idiot.
---
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