Chapter 6 - VICTOR ROMANO EXPECTED DOMINIC TO CHOOSE REVENGE, SO DOMINIC CHOSE TO TELL THE TRUTH INSTEAD
Margaret’s funeral took place four days later.
Dominic sat in the back.
He had offered not to attend.
Sophia asked him to come.
Not as boyfriend.
Not as employer.
As Dominic.
Lily sat between Sophia and Emily.
At one point she turned around, found him, and waved.
Half the church followed her gaze.
Dominic survived.
Margaret would have enjoyed it.
Afterward, at the cemetery, Lily placed her gray rabbit briefly on the casket.
Then changed her mind.
“Grandma can borrow him but not keep him.”
Sophia laughed while crying.
Grief and humor had apparently become family traditions.
Only after Margaret was buried did Dominic return to Chicago.
Sophia stayed in Pennsylvania two additional days.
Dominic did not pressure.
He assigned no secret detail.
The three security officers with Sophia were independent contractors approved by both of them.
When she returned to the estate, Dominic asked to meet in his study.
Marco was there.
So was an attorney Sophia had never seen.
“Who is she?”
Dominic answered:
“Federal criminal defense counsel.”
Sophia stopped.
“That sounds encouraging.”
The attorney introduced herself.
Rachel Bennett.
Former prosecutor.
Now private counsel.
She looked at Dominic.
“Tell her.”
He did.
Victor Romano had been paying Anthony Rizzo and Peter Vale for information.
But the security leaks were only part of something larger.
For years, Moretti companies had operated in both legitimate and illegal spaces.
Shipping.
Construction.
Property.
Also illegal gambling.
Cash businesses.
Protection agreements.
Political payments.
Dominic had reduced some after taking over.
Kept others.
Excused them as inherited infrastructure.
Sophia listened without interrupting.
Dominic continued.
“Victor has records.”
“Of you?”
“Yes.”
“He thinks if I lose legitimate contracts and face federal exposure, he can absorb the waterfront business.”
“Then why not expose you already?”
“Because he’s involved too.”
Mutual destruction.
Sophia understood.
Rachel continued.
“Anthony stole documentation linking Victor to the security breaches because that evidence could strengthen a broader racketeering case.”
Sophia looked at Dominic.
“What are your options?”
His face remained calm.
“Continue the old arrangement.”
“Meaning?”
“Silence.”
“Trade leverage.”
“Recover enough evidence privately to keep Victor contained.”
“And the other option?”
Dominic looked directly at her.
“Tell prosecutors everything.”
The room went still.
“Everything?”
Sophia asked.
“My operations too.”
“Anything criminal?”
“Yes.”
“Could you go to prison?”
“Yes.”
No softening.
Sophia sat.
Lily’s crayon drawing was still inside Dominic’s desk drawer.
She had seen him keep it.
Now the man in that picture was asking whether to dismantle the world that made him feared.
“What does Marco think?”
Marco crossed his arms.
“I think prison food is terrible.”
Sophia stared.
He sighed.
“I think Victor keeps winning because everyone with evidence fears what telling the truth costs them.”
Good answer.
“What do you think?”
Sophia asked Dominic.
He looked exhausted.
“I think I have spent fifteen years telling myself I’m different from men like Victor because I have rules.”
“No drugs.”
“No trafficking.”
“No violence around children.”
“Certain businesses off limits.”
Sophia said nothing.
“Rules can make a bad system less bad.”
“They don’t make it clean.”
Rachel watched him carefully.
Dominic continued.
“If I expose Victor while hiding my own conduct, I become another man deciding truth applies only when convenient.”
Sophia thought of Margaret.
People are what they keep choosing after.
“What are you asking me?”
“Nothing.”
Dominic answered.
“This decision cannot be yours.”
Relief moved through her.
Good.
“I wanted you to know before I make it.”
“Why?”
“Because if I cooperate, your name may appear in reports.”
“Your employment here.”
“The threats.”
“The wedding.”
“Your mother.”
Sophia’s face hardened.
“My mother’s death had nothing to do with Victor.”
“I know.”
“I will not let newspapers turn her last weekend into mafia mythology.”
“Neither will I.”
“You cannot control newspapers.”
“No.”
“Then don’t promise.”
Dominic nodded.
“Fair.”
Sophia looked at him.
“Do what lets you look at Lily ten years from now without lying about who you were.”
That hit harder than anything else.
Dominic glanced toward his desk drawer.
Then back.
“Rachel.”
His lawyer looked up.
“Call them.”
Two days later, Dominic Moretti entered the U.S. Attorney’s Office voluntarily.
He carried records.
Names.
Accounts.
Illegal operations.
Evidence against Victor.
Evidence against himself.
Chicago exploded.
Headlines screamed.
MORETTI BOSS COOPERATING WITH FEDERAL INVESTIGATION
WATERFRONT EMPIRE FACES COLLAPSE
MOB KINGPIN TURNS OVER INTERNAL RECORDS
Sophia hated every headline.
Dominic hated none.
He stopped reading them.
Victor reacted exactly as expected.
Through intermediaries, he called Dominic a traitor.
A coward.
A man hiding behind prosecutors.
Then Victor sent Sophia flowers.
White lilies.
No card.
She knew anyway.
Dominic wanted them destroyed.
Sophia said:
“No.”
He stared.
“What?”
“I want police to collect them.”
“Evidence.”
He nodded.
Growth.
A fingerprint from one delivery box matched a Romano associate already under investigation.
Small mistake.
Useful.
Then Anthony Rizzo contacted Marco.
He wanted immunity.
Not available to promise.
He wanted protection.
Possible.
He was scared.
Victor had turned on him.
Anthony agreed to meet federal agents.
Before he arrived, he disappeared.
For thirty-six hours, nobody knew where he was.
Then his son in Miami called Dominic.
Anthony had left a voicemail.
One sentence:
VICTOR KNOWS ABOUT THE GIRL.
Lily.
Sophia went cold.
Dominic did too.
Every instinct in him demanded a fortress.
Instead, he looked at Sophia.
“We need to move Lily somewhere secure.”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
He almost looked surprised.
“What?”
“I am not going to disagree just to prove independence.”
“Threat changed.”
“So does the plan.”
Together.
They relocated temporarily to a federal-protected residence tied to the investigation.
Not Dominic’s mansion.
Not Moretti property.
Sophia insisted.
Dominic stayed elsewhere because the protection team did not want his presence increasing risk.
That first night, Lily asked:
“Where’s Mr. Dominic?”
“Working.”
“Is he still my friend?”
Sophia smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
“Is he your boyfriend now?”
“No.”
Lily sighed dramatically.
“Mommy.”
“Go to sleep.”
Three days later, Anthony Rizzo appeared at an FBI field office.
Alive.
Terrified.
He surrendered the stolen documents.
Then told the story.
Victor had recruited him through guilt.
Fifteen years earlier, Anthony had been the driver who took Dominic to the business meeting that delayed him from Isabella’s bedside.
Victor repeatedly reminded him:
“You helped him choose wrong.”
Anthony blamed himself.
Victor used that shame.
Money came later.
Then threats.
Anthony had accessed schedules.
Peter handled digital credentials.
The goal was not initially Sophia.
Then Lily walked into Dominic’s foyer.
A guard mentioned the strange conversation.
Anthony heard.
Dominic moved the waterfront meeting.
Victor understood instantly.
Dominic cared.
Sophia became leverage.
The wedding address came from her personnel file.
The blackout theft was designed to recover evidence and reinforce Dominic’s old guilt.
Choose family?
Lose business.
Choose business?
Lose family.
Victor wanted to prove power always wins.
Anthony began crying during the interview.
“He said Moretti would eventually choose the waterfront.”
“He said men like Dominic always do.”
Sophia heard later.
She looked at Dominic.
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
He thought.
May you like
Then:
“Because I already know what eight minutes costs.”
