Chapter 6 - DOMINIC VALE MADE VIVIAN AN OFFER SHE COULDN’T BUY
Vivian tried to hire Dominic.
Three weeks after leaving the mansion, she called his office.
Not Claire.
Not lawyers.
Dominic.
He told Claire before responding.
That mattered.
“What does she want?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Will you meet?”
“If you want me to.”
Claire stared.
“You don’t need my permission.”
“No.”
“Then why ask?”
“Because the meeting concerns your case.”
She thought.
“Meet.”
“Do you want to attend?”
“No.”
“Recording?”
“Yes.”
“Counsel?”
“Yes.”
Dominic nodded.
Vivian chose a private suite in the Langham.
Even under indictment, she preferred expensive neutral ground.
Dominic arrived with attorney Kara Bell, a severe woman in her forties who had represented Vale businesses long enough to fear nothing except sloppy contracts.
Vivian’s new criminal lawyer attended.
The meeting lasted forty-one minutes.
Claire listened to recording later.
Vivian began:
“I assume you understand Claire is not equipped to manage the Mercer portfolio.”
Dominic replied:
“That sounds like her concern.”
“You’ve seen her.”
“Yes.”
“She dropped out of college.”
“Her father died.”
“She has no financial experience.”
“She hired people who do.”
“You could manage it.”
Silence.
Then Dominic:
“Why would I?”
Vivian laughed lightly.
“Robert trusted your family.”
“He trusted me to protect Claire.”
“Exactly.”
Claire heard the trap.
Vivian continued.
“She needs a husband.”
Dominic said nothing.
“Someone who understands wealth.”
Another.
“Someone who can keep her from making emotional decisions.”
Another.
“And your reputation would discourage challenges.”
Dominic finally:
“Are you proposing I marry your stepdaughter?”
Claire’s skin crawled.
Vivian replied:
“I’m suggesting there are elegant ways to stabilize this.”
Then:
“In exchange, I can make current litigation disappear.”
Dominic’s voice changed.
“How?”
“My claims to residence. Certain trust disputes. We settle.”
“Criminal investigation?”
“Separate.”
“Robert’s death?”
Silence.
Vivian said:
“You know there is no murder case.”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
Dominic let her fill.
“You could encourage Claire not to pursue sensational theories.”
There.
The offer.
Control Claire.
Receive settlement.
Dominic asked:
“And what do you want?”
“Protection.”
“From?”
“Public destruction.”
“Meaning?”
“My daughter.”
Madison.
Vivian continued.
“Madison did not understand financial structures.”
Claire’s expression softened slightly listening.
Vivian was protecting Madison.
At least partly.
“I want assurance she is not prosecuted.”
Dominic replied:
“That isn’t mine to give.”
“You have influence.”
“I have lawyers.”
“Don’t insult me.”
“I’m not.”
Then Vivian said:
“You think you’re better than me.”
Dominic’s voice remained low.
“No.”
“Men like you own people openly.”
Silence.
Claire’s heartbeat changed.
Vivian continued:
“I did what every family does. I made decisions for someone too weak to make them.”
Dominic said:
“That sentence is why Claire will never trust you again.”
Vivian laughed.
“And she’ll trust you?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
Claire felt something in chest.
“No?”
Dominic continued:
“She shouldn’t.”
Vivian became quiet.
“She should verify everything I say.”
Another.
“She should keep independent counsel.”
Another.
“She should retain accounts I cannot touch.”
Another.
“And if she ever decides I am bad for her life, she should leave without asking my permission.”
Claire stared at recorder waveform.
Vivian said softly:
“You’ve fallen in love.”
Dominic did not answer.
He did not need.
Then Vivian offered the real bribe.
“Mercer Biotech owns twelve percent of Portwell Logistics.”
Dominic’s business rival.
“If Claire consolidates the portfolio, those shares could transfer.”
Kara interrupted.
“This conversation is over.”
But Dominic said:
“No.”
He wanted her finish.
Vivian continued.
“I can support sale to Vale Maritime at favorable valuation.”
Claire sat upright.
Vivian was offering Claire’s assets to Dominic.
Without control anymore.
Still thinking like administrator.
Dominic’s voice became frighteningly calm.
“You no longer own those shares.”
“I know how Claire thinks.”
“No.”
“You could persuade her.”
“No.”
“Dominic—”
“No.”
One word.
Then:
“You spent three years convincing her she was dependent. You are trying to use that dependency after it’s gone.”
Another.
“I will not purchase what belongs to her.”
Vivian laughed bitterly.
“Such nobility from a man who has buried—”
Kara stopped recording? No, we need not mention violence specifics. Dominic says:
“My history is not defense for yours.”
Good.
Meeting ended.
Claire listened twice.
Then called Dominic.
He answered.
“You heard?”
“Yes.”
“Angry?”
“At her.”
“And?”
“You.”
He paused.
“Why?”
“You said I shouldn’t trust you.”
“Yes.”
“That was irritating.”
“It was true.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
Then:
“She tried to sell you my shares.”
“Yes.”
“What would Portwell stake be worth to you?”
“About sixty million strategically.”
Claire whistled.
“And you said no.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s yours.”
Simple.
She looked around Robert’s study.
For three years, everyone had explained why things that belonged to Claire needed someone else’s control.
Dominic kept returning ownership to sentence.
Yours.
Claire asked:
“If I decided to sell voluntarily?”
“I would bid.”
“Market?”
“Market.”
“Discount?”
“No.”
“Romance?”
“No.”
She laughed.
“Good.”
Then:
“I want to see your house.”
Silence.
“What?”
“You’ve been in mine.”
“Yes.”
“I want to know what a feared Chicago crime boss keeps on bookshelves.”
Dominic almost sounded amused.
“That is how you evaluate men?”
“Partly.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Tonight.”
He paused.
Then:
“Okay.”
Dominic lived in a stone townhouse in Gold Coast, not a fortress.
Security discreet.
Interior surprisingly quiet.
Books.
Actual books.
History.
Architecture.
Several crime novels he denied owning.
Claire found one with folded pages.
“Liar.”
“It was research.”
“For what?”
“How badly writers understand money laundering.”
She laughed.
Then saw a framed photograph.
Dominic at maybe twelve.
A younger Anthony Vale beside him.
And Robert Mercer.
Claire stopped.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
The three stood outside a courthouse.
Robert looked thirty.
Hair longer.
Smiling.
Anthony looked exhausted.
Dominic looked furious at camera.
“You hated photos.”
“Yes.”
“What happened that day?”
“My father was cleared.”
Claire touched frame edge.
“Dad kept one?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic continued:
“Robert took us to diner afterward.”
“What did you eat?”
“Pancakes.”
“At noon?”
“I was twelve.”
Fair.
Then Claire noticed another frame.
Her own work.
A print of the Mercer Labs packaging redesign she did at nineteen.
She stared.
“Why is this here?”
Dominic looked uncomfortable.
“Robert gave me copy.”
“When?”
“Hospital.”
Her throat tightened.
“He had it there?”
“In folder.”
“What did he say?”
Dominic’s voice softened.
“‘She thinks this was a class project. It’s the first time I realized she sees the world differently than I do.’”
Claire’s eyes filled.
Dominic stayed where he was.
Claire crossed.
Kissed him.
Not planned.
Not strategic.
One kiss.
Dominic went completely still.
Then responded carefully.
When she pulled back, his eyes were dark.
“Claire.”
“That was me.”
“I know.”
“Not Dad.”
“I know.”
“Not debt.”
“I know.”
“Don’t make it bigger.”
His mouth twitched.
“Impossible.”
She laughed.
Then he stepped backward.
Claire frowned.
“What?”
“You’re in middle of grief, criminal investigation, trust litigation.”
“So?”
“So I want you.”
Another.
“And I don’t trust myself to distinguish what you want tonight from what you may want after all this stops burning.”
Claire stared.
“That is surprisingly decent.”
“I resent tone.”
“Good.”
He walked her home.
No security inside.
At the mansion door, Claire looked back.
“Dominic.”
“Yes?”
“If I kiss you again?”
“I’ll ask whether you’re sure.”
“Annoying.”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
Then inside.
Three days later, prosecutors offered Langford a cooperation agreement.
Not immunity.
Reduced sentencing recommendation in exchange for full testimony.
He accepted.
And the first person he implicated was not Vivian.
It was Dr. Stephen Rowe.
According to Langford, the doctor had not merely forged a capacity certificate.
He had changed something in Robert Mercer’s medical record the day before Robert entered intensive care.
May you like
Something Claire had never been told.
---
Related Stories
