Chapter 7 - The Price of an Empire
Dominic woke 14 hours later.
Norah was asleep beside his hospital bed.
His first movement woke her.
His first word was her name.
“Norah.”
She looked up.
“You idiot.”
Dominic blinked.
“That’s disappointing.”
“What?”
“I expected something romantic.”
“You ran into an exploding building.”
“You were inside it.”
“That doesn't make it intelligent.”
His hand moved toward hers.
He stopped before touching her.
Norah noticed.
“You can.”
Dominic’s fingers closed around hers.
For once, the powerful Dominic Rossy looked almost uncertain.
“The baby?”
“Fine.”
His eyes closed.
Relief changed his entire face.
Norah realized then that the pregnancy was no longer an abstract heir to him.
It was their child.
And that frightened her in a completely different way.
Because she was beginning to care whether Dominic survived.
The FBI arrived that afternoon.
So did prosecutors.
Vittorio’s warehouse attack had cracked open decades of evidence.
But the government wanted more.
They wanted Rossy records.
Dominic could protect the empire or destroy Vittorio.
Not both.
His attorneys begged him not to cooperate.
Board members warned that billions could evaporate.
Dominic listened.
Then looked through the hospital glass at Norah.
“Give them everything.”
His lawyer stared.
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
“You could lose control of the company.”
“I know.”
“You could expose associates.”
“I know.”
“You could destroy the Rossy name.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Maybe it needs destroying.”
That night, Norah finally understood the magnitude of his decision.
He was burning down the world he had inherited so their child would not inherit its sins.
But Vittorio still had one weapon.
The corrupted portion of Eileen’s recording.
His men had recovered the missing segment.
And he released a carefully edited version publicly.
By morning, headlines accused Dominic of arranging Julian’s supposed death.
Rossy Holdings shares collapsed.
Federal investigators froze accounts.
Dominic became the most hated man in New York before breakfast.
Then Norah received an email.
The complete recording.
From Julian.
The missing segment showed Eileen explaining that Dominic had known nothing about Julian’s disappearance.
More importantly, she identified the official who falsified Julian’s death certificate.
Vittorio.
Norah looked at Dominic.
“We can clear you.”
Dominic studied the file.
Then another message arrived from Julian.
One condition.
Norah read it aloud.
Dominic meets me where Father died. Midnight. Alone.
Dominic knew the location immediately.
The old Rossy family estate on Long Island.
Norah grabbed his wrist.
“You're not going.”
“I have to.”
“No.”
His eyebrow lifted.
She almost laughed despite herself.
“Yes, I learned the word.”
Dominic touched her cheek.
A small gesture.
Tender enough to hurt.
“There are things between brothers nobody else can settle.”
“That's exactly the kind of sentence men say before doing something catastrophically stupid.”
This time Dominic did smile.
Then the smile faded.
“If I don’t come back—”
“Don’t.”
“Norah.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You don't get to turn me into your grieving widow without even asking me to marry you.”
Silence.
Dominic stared at her.
Norah realized what she had said.
“Oh, God.”
A faint smile returned.
“Interesting.”
“Forget it.”
“Impossible.”
She pushed him.
He caught her hand.
Then became serious.
“I will come back.”
“How can you promise that?”
Dominic placed her palm over his heartbeat.
“Because for the first time in my life, I have somewhere I want to return to.”
At 11:30 p.m., Dominic left.
At 11:47, Norah discovered the truth.
Julian had never sent the message.
May you like
Vittorio had.
And Dominic was walking directly into a trap.
