Chapter 8 - VICTOR MORETTI WAS ARRESTED FOR ANTHONY’S DEATH, AND DOMINIC REFUSED TO BECOME THE MAN HIS UNCLE HAD TRAINED HIM TO BE
Victor asked Dominic to visit.
Dominic said no.
Then changed his mind.
The meeting happened in a secure attorney room before Victor’s bail hearing.
No glass.
Two lawyers present.
A camera.
Dominic insisted.
Victor entered wearing jail clothing.
For the first time in Dominic’s life, his uncle looked old.
Not weak.
Old.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
Victor smiled.
“I knew.”
“No.”
Dominic sat.
“I came because I need one answer.”
Victor leaned back.
“You think prosecutors have answers?”
“I asked you.”
Silence.
“Did you mean to kill my father?”
Victor’s expression did not change.
“No.”
Dominic believed the speed.
Then:
“Did you know he could die?”
Victor looked away.
There.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was destroying everything.”
“What?”
“The family.”
“His company.”
“Your future.”
“My future?”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Anthony wanted accountants running you.”
“Lawyers.”
“Independent boards.”
“He wanted you soft.”
Dominic stared.
“He wanted me free of you.”
Victor’s face tightened.
“You were a child.”
“I was twenty-two.”
“A child.”
“And you needed me.”
“So you made sure.”
Victor’s eyes sharpened.
“I kept every wolf away.”
“You became the wolf.”
Silence.
Victor leaned forward.
“You have no idea what your father was.”
“Tell me.”
“He wanted legitimacy after decades of blood.”
“He thought he could wash a name clean because he was tired.”
“He was going to expose accounts.”
“Cut people off.”
“Men would have revolted.”
“You would have died inside a year.”
“Maybe.”
“No.”
Victor slapped table.
“Not maybe.”
“I knew.”
“I did what family required.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“By restarting medication?”
Victor looked down.
“I wanted him incapacitated.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough.”
“To do what?”
“Secure votes.”
“Destroy audit.”
“Get you under protection.”
“You mean under you.”
Victor said nothing.
Dominic continued.
“When Elliot told you he could bleed?”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“I thought doctors would fix it.”
“They tried.”
“Yes.”
“He died.”
“Yes.”
Victor’s voice cracked slightly.
For the first time.
“I loved him.”
Dominic felt nothing.
Maybe later.
“You loved him and still risked his life because he disagreed.”
Victor looked.
“You’ll understand when someone threatens everything you built.”
“No.”
“I hope I don’t.”
Victor laughed.
“You already do.”
“Anna Bell.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“There it is.”
“You think you’re different because you ask her permission now?”
“Careful.”
Victor smiled.
“See?”
“You still have it.”
“The instinct.”
“Control.”
“Threat.”
“You cannot erase blood.”
Dominic leaned back.
“No.”
“But I can decide what I do next.”
Victor’s smile faded.
“You’re dismantling family.”
“I’m dismantling crimes.”
“Same thing.”
“That is why Anthony wanted you gone.”
The words landed.
Victor looked away.
Then:
“You think that woman loves you?”
Dominic became still.
“We are not discussing Anna.”
“She works for you.”
“She is on leave.”
“She needs money.”
“She has a disabled child.”
“Enough.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Everyone has a price.”
Dominic stood.
“That is what you never understood.”
Victor looked up.
“What?”
“Sometimes people want something and still refuse yours.”
He remembered Anna returning money she had never been offered? Different story. Here she had refused favors already.
Dominic left.
No threat.
No final blow.
Victor remained alive.
Facing court.
That felt more difficult than violence.
Outside, Rebecca asked:
“Get answer?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He didn’t mean to kill Anthony.”
“Does that help?”
“No.”
It didn’t.
Intent mattered legally.
Loss did not care.
Victor was denied bail based on witness intimidation history and ongoing risk.
The criminal case took months.
Moretti Holdings began changing in parallel.
Dominic ordered independent review of every family-controlled trust, payroll system, staff complaint route, vendor conflict, and security account.
The audit uncovered things he did not like.
Not all Victor.
Some Dominic.
A freight subsidiary had paid cash “expediting fees.”
A nightclub partnership had hidden payroll.
A construction company used a vendor partly owned by Gabriel’s cousin without proper disclosure.
Gabriel looked ashamed.
Dominic asked:
“Did you steal?”
“No.”
“Benefit?”
“My cousin did.”
“Did you disclose?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I thought relationship was obvious.”
“Not enough.”
Gabriel accepted disciplinary review.
Good.
Dominic’s own past created larger problems.
Tax counsel found years of undeclared income structures.
Not because Victor alone.
Dominic knew.
He had approved.
He could not rebuild a house while pretending only his uncle’s rooms were dirty.
He authorized disclosures through counsel.
Paid taxes, penalties, and entered negotiations with federal authorities on financial offenses.
His advisers warned:
“You could expose yourself.”
“I am exposed.”
“Better to control scope.”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
He looked.
“My father died because every man in this family believed controlling scope mattered more than truth.”
That became line.
Not moral purity.
Consequences.
Some businesses would be sold.
Others fined.
One security company lost licenses.
Several old associates left angrily.
One called Dominic traitor.
Another called him coward.
Victor had predicted.
Dominic kept going.
At the estate, Anna made her own decision.
She resigned.
Not because scandal.
Because she no longer wanted to work inside the house where every interaction with Dominic would carry employer power.
Her resignation letter was four lines.
Dominic read.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Because of me?”
“Partly.”
His face tightened.
“Explain.”
“You keep trying to change.”
“Yes.”
“And I keep wondering if saying no to you is safe because I’m your employee.”
He stared.
“I would never fire you for—”
“I know.”
“Do I?”
That stopped him.
Anna continued.
“I need job where you are not the person signing check.”
“Good.”
The word hurt him.
Still.
“Where?”
She had interviewed at a pediatric rehabilitation center in White Plains for patient-services coordinator.
Her years navigating Lily’s therapy and insurance helped.
They liked her.
She would start in six weeks.
Pay slightly more than housekeeping.
Benefits better.
No live-in cottage.
She found apartment through ordinary rental market.
Dominic wanted to help.
Did not offer until she asked:
“Do you know a licensed accessibility contractor who isn’t related to anyone named Crane?”
He smiled.
“Yes.”
“Give me three names.”
“Three?”
“I’m comparing.”
He laughed.
“Fine.”
Lily was excited about apartment.
“Can wall purple?”
Anna sighed.
“One.”
“All.”
“One.”
Negotiation.
The day they moved, Lily stood at the cottage ramp.
“Do we take purple rail?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It stays for next person.”
Lily frowned.
“Maybe they like green.”
“Then they can repaint.”
Dominic watched from distance.
He did not send movers until Anna agreed to one truck from a legitimate company she paid herself.
He carried one box personally.
She looked.
“You’re not charging?”
“Funny.”
Then Lily handed him Bunny.
“Carry.”
He obeyed.
At new apartment, the entrance had no threshold.
Lily walked through without lifting her leg.
No scrape.
No apology.
Dominic noticed.
Anna noticed him noticing.
Neither said.
That evening he left before dinner.
No assumption.
No invitation.
At the door, Anna said:
“Dominic.”
He turned.
First time she used his name without Mr.
His heartbeat changed.
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“For asking.”
May you like
He understood.
Then went home alone.
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