Chapter 8 - THE MAN WHO USED DOMINIC’S NAME
Gabriel chose a church.
That almost made Dominic laugh.
St. Matthew’s sat outside Baltimore, small enough to be overlooked and old enough to have side doors everywhere.
The meeting would happen at six.
Sophia was supposed to enter alone.
She did.
Technically.
Dominic hated technicalities when other people used them.
Today he loved them.
Federal agents were positioned outside.
Victor was in a maintenance room behind the sanctuary.
Dominic was behind a decorative wooden screen near the confessional corridor.
Sophia wore a microphone.
No visible protection.
She looked calm.
Dominic knew she wasn't.
He could hear her breathing through the earpiece.
At 6:04, Gabriel entered.
Dominic had known him since childhood.
Summer dinners.
Christmas.
Funerals.
Gabriel had once taught Dominic how to drive stick shift.
He had carried Salvatore’s coffin.
Now he entered a church holding the necklace of a dead man.
Sophia stood near the altar.
Gabriel stopped.
“You look like Daniel.”
Sophia’s face changed.
“People usually say Lily does.”
“He talked about you constantly.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
She stared.
“You knew him.”
“A little.”
“You lied to me after he died.”
Gabriel sighed.
“I protected you.”
Sophia laughed once.
“You sent me an email telling me my husband’s wedding ring had been destroyed.”
“I kept you from asking questions that would have put you in danger.”
“You mean questions that would have put you in danger.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“I see why Dominic likes you.”
Sophia went still.
Dominic’s hand tightened.
Gabriel continued.
“He always did prefer difficult women.”
“I'm not interested in Dominic’s dating history.”
“I imagine not.”
Gabriel walked closer.
“Although Elena was beautiful.”
Dominic felt something old cut through him.
Gabriel had known Elena.
Of course he had.
Sophia said, “I came for Daniel’s necklace.”
Gabriel removed it from his pocket.
Small silver chain.
Blue enamel bird.
Sophia’s breath changed.
“Give it to me.”
“First I want something.”
“You said trade.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Gabriel looked around the empty church.
“Tell Dominic to stop.”
Sophia stared.
“Stop what?”
“Hunting me.”
“You tried to kidnap my daughter.”
“I tried to scare you.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
“No.”
Gabriel smiled.
“But nobody was going to hurt Lily.”
Dominic almost moved.
Victor’s voice whispered through his earpiece.
Stay.
Gabriel continued.
“I needed Dominic distracted long enough to leave.”
“You sent a man into his house.”
“Yes.”
“You shut the power off.”
“Yes.”
“You told him to take a three-year-old.”
Gabriel’s expression became irritated.
“You’re focusing on the wrong thing.”
Sophia laughed.
“Men like you always say that when women focus on the exact thing you did.”
Dominic would remember that line forever.
Gabriel looked toward the ceiling.
“You don't belong in this.”
“My husband died because of it.”
“Daniel died because he panicked.”
Sophia froze.
Dominic’s heartbeat slowed.
“How?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“He confronted the wrong men.”
“What happened?”
“He followed one of the trailers.”
Dominic listened.
“He saw where it went.”
“Where?”
“A private dock.”
Gabriel shrugged.
“He threatened to go to Dominic.”
“So you killed him.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“Nobody.”
Sophia stared.
Gabriel continued.
“He ran.”
“From who?”
“My men.”
Her face twisted.
“He ran from men you sent after him.”
“They were supposed to talk.”
“He died in a warehouse.”
“He drove back to work. Tried to retrieve something. There was a struggle.”
Dominic’s blood went cold.
“What struggle?” Sophia whispered.
Gabriel said, “Daniel climbed the storage rack.”
“Why?”
“To get away.”
Sophia’s face collapsed.
“The rack broke.”
Gabriel looked almost annoyed.
“It wasn't planned.”
Silence.
Daniel’s death had been classified as an industrial accident.
Technically it had been.
Because men Gabriel sent had chased him onto unstable equipment.
“You watched him die?” Sophia asked.
Gabriel said nothing.
That was enough.
Sophia started crying.
Quietly.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic nearly laughed at the obscenity of it.
Sophia looked up.
“No, you're not.”
Gabriel sighed.
“Daniel complicated things.”
“He was a good man.”
“Yes.”
“He had a daughter.”
“Yes.”
“He had me.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“Everyone has someone.”
Sophia stared.
“That’s your excuse?”
“My excuse is that Moretti businesses fed thousands of families. Your husband found something that could have destroyed all of it.”
“That wasn't his fault.”
“No.”
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
“It was Dominic’s.”
Dominic felt the words like a blade.
Sophia frowned.
Gabriel continued.
“Dominic let Salvatore build a system where fear handled everything. Men saw his name and stopped asking questions.”
He held up the necklace.
“I simply used that.”
Sophia whispered, “You used him.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked toward the dark church.
“He never had to order anything. People already believed what Moretti meant.”
Dominic hated him because part of it was true.
His reputation had become a weapon other men could borrow.
Gabriel continued.
“Tell him to let me leave the country.”
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
“I give you this.”
“No.”
“You came here for it.”
“I came here for the truth.”
“You have it.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“I came here because Daniel stood up to you when he had no money, no guards and no famous name.”
Her voice steadied.
“I’m not selling that courage back to you for a necklace.”
Dominic closed his eyes for one second.
Sophia continued.
“You can keep it.”
Gabriel’s face changed.
That was not the answer he expected.
He grabbed Sophia’s wrist.
Dominic moved.
The screen slammed against the wall.
Gabriel turned.
For the first time all evening, real fear entered his face.
“Dominic.”
Dominic crossed the church aisle.
Slowly.
Victor emerged from the opposite side.
Federal agents entered through both doors.
Gabriel still held Sophia.
Dominic’s voice was almost gentle.
“Take your hand off her.”
Gabriel laughed nervously.
“So you were listening.”
“Yes.”
“You heard what I said.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know I’m right.”
Dominic stopped ten feet away.
“You used my name to frighten a man who tried to do the right thing.”
“You built the name.”
“Yes.”
The admission silenced Gabriel.
Dominic continued.
“And I will spend the rest of my life answering for what I built.”
Sophia looked at him.
“But you.”
Dominic's eyes returned to Gabriel.
“You answer for what you chose.”
Gabriel’s grip tightened.
Victor moved slightly.
Gabriel reached into his coat.
Agents shouted.
Dominic saw the motion.
Everything happened at once.
Sophia jerked away.
Gabriel pulled a weapon.
Victor lunged.
A gunshot exploded.
Sophia screamed.
Gabriel fell.
For one terrible second Dominic thought Sophia had been hit.
He crossed the distance and caught her.
“Where?”
“I’m fine.”
“Where are you hurt?”
“I’m not.”
He checked anyway.
Arms.
Shoulders.
Blood?
None.
Victor stood over Gabriel.
Alive.
Shot in the shoulder by an agent.
Weapon kicked away.
Dominic held Sophia.
She was shaking.
He was too.
She noticed.
“Dominic.”
“I’m fine.”
She gave him a look.
He almost laughed despite everything.
“Apparently that phrase is discouraged.”
“Yes.”
Police recovered the necklace.
Inside the blue bird was a microSD card.
Daniel had copied months of internal communications.
Shipping records.
Payments.
Messages.
Enough to prove Gabriel ran Blue Harbor without Dominic’s knowledge.
Enough to tie him directly to the men who chased Daniel.
Enough to send several people to prison.
Enough to clear Daniel’s name completely.
At 11:30 that night, Sophia sat beside Dominic in the back of an SUV returning to New York.
She held the necklace.
Neither had spoken much.
Finally she said, “Daniel was brave.”
“Yes.”
“He was scared too.”
“Yes.”
“I think people forget those can happen together.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I did.”
She turned.
“What?”
“I used to think courage meant not being afraid.”
“What do you think now?”
Dominic thought of Lily in the dark.
Sophia walking into the church.
Daniel refusing Gabriel’s money.
“It means being afraid and deciding something else matters more.”
Sophia leaned back.
After several minutes, her head rested lightly against Dominic’s shoulder.
He became absolutely still.
She did not move away.
May you like
Neither did he.
For a man who had once considered affection a liability, Dominic Moretti spent the final two hours of the drive afraid to move because he did not want to wake the woman sleeping beside him.
