Chapter 7 - SOPHIA FINALLY TOLD DOMINIC WHY LILY’S FATHER LEFT, AND DOMINIC REALIZED LOVE COULD BECOME A THREAT WITHOUT EVER RAISING A HAND
Victor Romano was arrested six weeks later.
No gunfight.
No dramatic warehouse execution.
No blood across a restaurant floor.
Federal agents took him outside a private club at seven in the morning while he held coffee.
Dominic privately found that insulting.
Marco found it hilarious.
The charges were extensive.
Racketeering conspiracy.
Bribery.
Witness intimidation.
Illegal gambling.
Financial crimes.
Security breaches tied to the Moretti investigation.
Threats connected to Sophia’s family.
Anthony and Peter cooperated.
Victor’s empire began collapsing under the weight of records from both sides.
Dominic’s consequences came too.
He did not receive a magical exemption because he cooperated.
Several Moretti companies paid massive penalties.
Illegal operations closed.
Assets forfeited.
Dominic stepped away from leadership while independent executives took over legitimate businesses.
He entered a negotiated plea on financial offenses and conspiracy conduct he admitted maintaining after inheriting the organization.
Prison remained possible.
That reality sat between him and Sophia.
They had never even gone on one date.
Yet somehow the possibility of losing him frightened her.
She hated that.
One evening Dominic came to her small apartment.
Not unannounced.
He texted first.
CAN I COME BY?
Sophia answered:
LILY IS ASLEEP. ONE HOUR.
He arrived carrying nothing.
No flowers.
No gifts.
Good.
Sophia made tea.
Dominic sat at the kitchen table where Lily had covered one corner with dinosaur stickers.
“This is your home?”
“Yes.”
“It’s small.”
She stared.
“Leave.”
He almost smiled.
“I meant…”
“Careful.”
“It feels like you.”
Better.
Second-floor apartment.
Two bedrooms.
Secondhand couch.
Pictures of Margaret.
One framed crayon family Lily had recreated after Pennsylvania.
This time Dominic still wore black.
Sophia wore blue.
Above him:
FRIEND?
Question mark.
Dominic had pretended not to notice.
Now Sophia sat.
“What did your lawyer say?”
“Likely several months in federal custody.”
Her chest tightened.
“Not years?”
“Probably not.”
“Because of cooperation?”
“And because the charges I’m pleading to are financial.”
“People online will say you bought your way out.”
“Yes.”
“That bothers you?”
“It should.”
He looked at her.
“Wealth buys better lawyers.”
“Influence changes how systems treat people.”
“I’m not going to pretend otherwise because the result benefits me.”
Sophia nodded.
Good.
Then Dominic asked:
“Why did Lily’s father leave?”
She became still.
“You waited seven weeks to ask again.”
“You told me no the first time.”
That mattered.
Sophia looked toward Lily’s closed bedroom door.
“Daniel Reeves.”
Dominic said nothing.
“He wasn’t violent.”
“I want that clear.”
“He never hit me.”
“Never hit Lily.”
“He was…”
She searched.
“Helpful.”
Dominic frowned.
“That sounds good.”
“It started good.”
“When I got pregnant, he handled everything.”
“Doctor schedules.”
“Insurance.”
“Apartment.”
“Money.”
“He said I looked tired, so he took over paying bills.”
“He said breastfeeding was exhausting, so he decided when visitors could come.”
“He said my mother stressed me, so he stopped answering some of her calls.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Sophia continued.
“He would do things for me.”
“Then remind me.”
“Remember who paid your car repair?”
“Remember who stayed home when Lily was sick?”
“Remember how much easier your life is because of me?”
Dominic looked down.
“Debt.”
“Yes.”
“Kindness turned into debt.”
“Exactly.”
She wrapped both hands around the mug.
“When Lily was eleven months old, Daniel got offered a job in Denver.”
“He accepted before telling me.”
“He said we were moving.”
“I said no.”
“He laughed.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Sophia continued.
“I realized every generous thing he had done had convinced him he was entitled to decide.”
“When I refused, he said I was ungrateful.”
“He stopped paying shared bills for a month.”
“Took the car because it was in his name.”
“Then told me if I wanted independence so badly, I should prove I could survive without him.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
She smiled without humor.
“I took two buses to work.”
“Mom helped with Lily.”
“I left.”
“Daniel moved to Denver alone.”
“He sent money occasionally.”
“Then complained I treated him like an ATM.”
“So I told him to stop.”
Dominic looked toward Lily’s room.
“Does he contact her?”
“Birthday card sometimes.”
“Video calls twice a year if he remembers.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
Sophia immediately said:
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You are not doing anything.”
“I didn’t say—”
“You have a face.”
“Apparently everyone tells me that.”
Sophia continued.
“This is why Mom told you not to rescue me.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
“You see help as a possible invoice.”
“Yes.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
“Then I need to ask something.”
Sophia waited.
“Have I made you feel indebted?”
She thought.
“Sometimes.”
Pain crossed his face.
“When?”
“When you arranged security.”
“Even though I agreed.”
“When you fixed the heating problem at my apartment through one of your property companies without asking.”
Dominic looked guilty.
“That was winter.”
“Yes.”
“The landlord was incompetent.”
“Yes.”
“And you still should have asked.”
He nodded.
“What else?”
“When you moved your meeting for Pennsylvania.”
His face changed.
“You asked me to come eventually.”
“Yes.”
“But you made the first decision before I did.”
“That part scared me.”
Dominic sat quietly.
Then:
“I’m sorry.”
Sophia nodded.
Not immediately absolving.
Accepting.
He continued.
“I have spent my life proving care through action.”
“Doing something.”
“Fixing something.”
“Removing threats.”
Sophia looked at him.
“Sometimes care is asking.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“I’m learning.”
Fair.
Then Dominic reached into his coat.
Sophia stiffened reflexively.
He pulled out Lily’s original drawing.
Folded carefully.
Edges worn.
She stared.
“You still have that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dominic looked embarrassed.
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
He looked at the stick figures.
“That I was apparently kind when nobody was watching.”
Sophia’s chest tightened.
“Lily has questionable judgment.”
“She likes me.”
“She also eats crayons.”
“Red ones.”
Sophia stared.
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
They laughed.
The tension changed.
Dominic put the drawing on the table.
“I’m going away soon.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know exactly when.”
Sophia nodded.
“I want to ask you something before that.”
Her pulse changed.
“Do you want me to wait for you?”
“No.”
Immediate.
Good.
He continued.
“I don’t want promises.”
“I don’t want you arranging your life around a man you haven’t even dated.”
Sophia almost smiled.
“Very progressive.”
“I hate it.”
“I can tell.”
Then:
“When I get back…”
He paused.
“Would you consider dinner?”
Sophia looked at him.
Not mafia boss.
Not employer.
A man about to lose months of his freedom because he finally chose truth over control.
“What kind?”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Dinner.”
“Expensive restaurant where everyone fears you?”
“No.”
“Private room?”
“No.”
“Your estate?”
“No.”
She waited.
Dominic sighed.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Immensely.”
“Small Italian place.”
“Public.”
“No security at table.”
“Lily with Beatrice if she wants.”
Sophia raised an eyebrow.
“Beatrice does not automatically become childcare.”
“Right.”
“I ask.”
“Excellent.”
Dominic smiled.
“So?”
Sophia looked at the drawing.
Then him.
“One dinner.”
He exhaled.
“After?”
“After.”
“Not before?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to know the man asking survives losing power.”
Dominic became still.
Sophia continued.
“I’ve already known a man who was kind when he had control.”
“I want to see who you are when you don’t.”
That sentence followed Dominic into federal custody two weeks later.
He served nine months.
Not glamorous.
Not secretly luxurious.
Nine months away from his estate.
From business.
From the ability to solve everything himself.
Sophia did not visit every week.
She visited once a month.
Sometimes with Lily when approved.
Sometimes alone.
Dominic never complained.
Lily drew pictures.
One showed Dominic behind a square labeled:
BORING HOUSE
Sophia almost died.
Dominic framed it in his cell.
He attended financial-crime programming.
Therapy.
Not court-ordered at first.
Voluntary later.
He wrote Sophia letters.
Never:
I need you.
Always:
I hope you’re well.
He wrote Lily too.
Short.
Funny.
No promises he could not control.
On the day Dominic was released, Marco offered to send six cars.
Dominic said no.
Sophia did not pick him up.
That surprised everyone.
Especially Dominic.
Beatrice did.
When he returned to the Moretti estate, Sophia and Lily were waiting in the garden.
Lily ran first.
“Mr. Dominic!”
He crouched.
She stopped one foot away.
“Can I hug you?”
Dominic smiled.
“Yes.”
She threw herself at him.
He closed his eyes.
Sophia watched.
Then Lily whispered something into his ear.
Dominic looked toward Sophia.
“What?”
She asked.
Lily announced:
“I told him Saturday is available for boyfriend dinner.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
Dominic laughed.
May you like
For the first time in years, he did not look like a man returning to power.
He looked like a man returning to people.
