Chapter 5 - THE MAN DOMINIC TRUSTED MOSTDominic had trusted Victor Hale with his son.
That fact hurt more than the gun.
Victor stood outside the library door calmly explaining that Gabriel Moretti would die unless Dominic opened it.
Inside, Ethan clutched Lily’s hand.
Sophia crouched beside them.
Dominic whispered, “There’s a concealed passage behind the third bookshelf.”
Sophia stared.
“Of course there is.”
“Old houses.”
“Mafia houses.”
“Not the time.”
“Agreed.”
He pressed a hidden latch.
A narrow panel moved.
Cold darkness waited behind it.
Ethan looked worried.
“Where does it go?”
“Wine cellar.”
“You told me there weren’t secret tunnels.”
“I lied.”
Ethan frowned.
“Maybe we should discuss that later.”
Sophia almost laughed despite everything.
Victor knocked again.
“Thirty seconds.”
Dominic handed Sophia a flashlight.
“Take them.”
“What about you?”
“I’m staying.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“You’ve spent twenty years teaching people to obey you. Congratulations. I missed the course.”
Dominic stared.
She pushed Ethan toward the passage.
“You’re coming.”
Victor called, “Twenty seconds.”
Dominic made a decision.
They entered the passage.
He closed the panel behind them just as the library door began splintering.
The tunnel was narrow and dusty.
Ethan stayed remarkably calm.
Lily whispered, “Spooky.”
Sophia said, “Very spooky.”
“Ghost?”
“No ghost.”
Dominic murmured, “There might be rats.”
Sophia glared.
“Helpful.”
They reached the cellar.
Dominic used an emergency phone disconnected from the estate network.
He called one person.
Nathan Cole.
His attorney.
Nathan answered sleepily.
“If this is about paperwork—”
“Victor betrayed me.”
Silence.
Nathan became instantly awake.
“Where are you?”
“Cellar.”
“With Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“Sophia and Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Dominic frowned.
“You don’t sound surprised.”
Nathan exhaled.
“I’m not.”
“What?”
“I’ve suspected someone in security was leaking information for months.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was trying to confirm.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Sophia whispered, “It really is a school.”
Nathan heard her.
“Hello, Sophia.”
“Hi. Apparently everybody protects everybody by telling nobody anything.”
Nathan paused.
“That is fair.”
Dominic interrupted.
“Fix it later. Who can I trust?”
Nathan gave four names.
Dominic contacted them.
Within fifteen minutes, loyal outside security units surrounded the estate.
Victor had lost his advantage.
But he still had Gabriel.
At least he claimed he did.
Victor called Dominic directly.
“Running through tunnels?”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“My father had those passages built before you were born.”
“And I mapped them five years ago.”
Dominic looked around.
Victor knew exactly where they were.
“Then why aren’t you here?”
“Because I don’t want Ethan.”
Sophia stiffened.
“You tried to poison him.”
“No.”
Dominic stared.
Victor continued.
“That was Matthew.”
“You helped him.”
“I helped him enter.”
“Same result.”
“No.”
Victor sounded almost irritated.
“The cake was supposed to contain enough allergen to trigger an emergency, not kill the boy.”
Sophia snatched the phone.
“Dr. Harris said the amount could have killed him.”
Victor went silent.
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“Your plan involved poisoning a child.”
“Yes.”
Sophia’s voice turned cold.
“Then spare us the distinction.”
Victor asked, “Where’s Lily?”
Dominic took the phone back.
“Why?”
“Matthew wants her.”
“You’re never touching her.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You opened her door.”
“To scare you into moving her.”
“Why?”
“Because Matthew had another team coming.”
Dominic stopped.
Victor continued.
“I’m not asking you to trust me.”
“Good.”
“I’m telling you Anthony and Matthew are no longer working together.”
Sophia frowned.
“What?”
Victor explained.
Anthony Mercer had spent decades collecting leverage.
Matthew grew tired of waiting.
He wanted the Moretti organization itself.
Not through inheritance.
Through collapse.
His plan was to turn Gabriel against Dominic, expose enough crimes to destabilize the companies, eliminate Ethan as successor, then use Anthony’s shell-company ownership claims to seize legitimate assets during the chaos.
Victor had worked for Anthony.
For years.
But when Matthew began targeting children, Victor wanted out.
Dominic laughed once.
“You expect gratitude?”
“No.”
“Forgiveness?”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“To keep Gabriel alive.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Then Victor said, “Because I helped kill Daniel.”
Sophia went perfectly still.
Dominic saw her face change.
Victor continued.
“I didn’t drive the car.”
“You were there,” Sophia whispered.
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel suffer?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Victor’s voice broke for the first time.
“No.”
Sophia’s eyes filled.
“You don’t get to comfort me.”
“I know.”
“Did he ask for me?”
Silence.
Victor answered.
“Yes.”
Sophia covered her mouth.
Lily looked up.
“Mommy sad?”
Sophia pulled her daughter close.
Victor continued.
“He kept saying your name.”
“Stop.”
“I’m sorry.”
“STOP.”
Dominic took the phone.
“Where is Gabriel?”
“Old river warehouse.”
Dominic knew it.
A Moretti property near Yonkers, unused for years.
“Matthew has him?”
“Yes.”
“Anthony?”
“Unknown.”
“What does Matthew want?”
“Daniel’s drive.”
Dominic looked at Sophia.
She shook her head immediately.
“No.”
Victor continued.
“He believes Daniel copied information about Salvatore’s death.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Hidden partition.”
They searched the drive.
No obvious file.
Victor said, “Daniel used steganography.”
Nathan, still connected through another phone, explained.
Data hidden inside images.
Sophia remembered the wedding photograph.
“Compass.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?”
“The watch picture.”
They opened Daniel’s photograph on the drive.
Nathan guided them.
Embedded data appeared.
Medical records.
Salvatore Moretti.
The official report said heart attack.
The hidden file showed bloodwork performed shortly before death.
A cardiac medication present at a level far beyond his prescription.
Dominic stared.
“Overdose.”
Nathan said carefully, “Potentially.”
Another document showed the prescribing physician received $900,000 through Anthony Mercer’s offshore structure three months later.
Dominic’s jaw clenched.
“My father was murdered.”
Sophia looked at him.
“We don’t know that yet.”
“I know enough.”
“No.”
Dominic turned.
She stepped closer.
“This is exactly where you become the man everyone is afraid of instead of the father Ethan needs.”
He stared.
“You want to kill Anthony.”
Dominic said nothing.
“That means yes.”
“He murdered my father.”
“And Matthew murdered my husband.”
Her eyes filled.
“You think I don’t understand?”
Dominic’s anger paused.
“I spent four years wanting the driver who killed Daniel to suffer. Now I finally know who helped do it.”
She looked toward Lily.
“But my daughter is watching.”
Dominic followed her gaze.
Lily held a wooden giraffe she had apparently brought from the library.
Sophia whispered, “Daniel deserves justice. Lily deserves a mother who comes home.”
Dominic understood.
His father deserved justice.
Ethan deserved a father who did too.
Nathan interrupted.
“Police are approaching the river warehouse.”
Victor immediately said, “No.”
Dominic frowned.
“Why?”
“Matthew wired the building alarms. If police enter through the main gate, he’ll know.”
“Then how do we get Gabriel?”
Victor hesitated.
“There’s a loading tunnel from the river.”
Dominic looked at Sophia.
“No.”
She stared.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Daniel’s evidence is the reason this is happening.”
“You have Lily.”
“She stays with Nathan.”
“No.”
Sophia stepped close enough that Dominic had to look down at her.
“Four years ago, men decided what I was allowed to know.”
Her voice remained steady.
“You are not doing it again.”
Dominic held her gaze.
Finally he exhaled.
“You stay behind me.”
She almost smiled.
“I’ll consider it.”
Thirty minutes later, Nathan took Ethan and Lily to a secure secondary property under federal protection.
Dominic and Sophia entered an armored SUV.
Victor’s location signal guided them toward the river.
Rain had started again.
Sophia watched dark highway lights slide across the window.
Dominic glanced at her.
“Scared?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She looked at him.
“That sounds encouraging.”
“Fear keeps intelligent people alive.”
“What keeps you alive?”
Dominic looked ahead.
“Historically? Stubbornness.”
Sophia smiled despite herself.
Then her expression softened.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For telling me the truth today.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I should have done it four years ago.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sophia nodded.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But something changed.
The warehouse appeared beside the black river.
Victor’s signal stopped moving.
Dominic’s phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived.
Gabriel tied to a chair.
Behind him stood Matthew Mercer.
And on Matthew’s wrist gleamed Daniel’s tiny gold watch.
Below the photograph were six words.
BRING SOPHIA. SHE HAS WHAT I NEED.
Dominic turned toward her.
Sophia stared at the screen.
“What does he think I have?”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Then Sophia suddenly remembered something Daniel had done the morning he died.
Something she had forgotten for four years.
He had knelt beside her while she was pregnant and sewn something into the lining of her old winter coat.
She had laughed and asked what he was doing.
Daniel had answered:
“Making sure I don’t lose something important.”
Sophia’s face drained.
“The coat.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What coat?”
“My old blue winter coat.”
“Where is it?”
She swallowed.
“In my closet.”
May you like
Back at the Moretti estate.
The same bedroom someone had broken into less than three hours earlier.
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