Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO TAUGHT DOMINIC HOW TO BECOME FEARED
Dominic did not go alone.
For approximately forty-five seconds, he intended to.
Claire knew because she watched him lie to every police officer in the room.
“I’m staying here.”
Detective Morris stared.
“Good.”
“I’ll let your people handle it.”
“Better.”
Dominic nodded.
Then he turned toward the hallway.
Claire followed.
The moment they were out of sight, he reached inside a cabinet and removed a second phone.
Claire folded her arms.
“You are terrible at this.”
Dominic looked at her.
“At what?”
“Pretending to cooperate.”
“I am cooperating.”
“You just pulled out a secret phone.”
“That proves nothing.”
“Dominic.”
He sighed.
“You have become very comfortable saying my name like that.”
“You told me to stop calling you sir.”
“I may reconsider.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
Despite everything, his mouth almost curved.
Then the expression disappeared.
“Salvatore raised me after my father died.”
Claire waited.
“He taught me the business.”
“What business?”
Dominic’s eyes held hers.
“All of it.”
She understood enough not to ask for details.
“He taught me that fear solves problems before they become expensive.”
“And did it?”
“For a while.”
“What changed?”
“Lily.”
Claire was quiet.
“And Rebecca?”
A shadow crossed his face.
“Rebecca made me want a different life.”
“But Salvatore didn’t.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at the message again.
“He told me legitimate business would make us weak.”
“And you disagreed?”
“I started moving everything I could away from him.”
Claire understood.
“This is about control.”
“It always is.”
“Then Vanessa?”
“A tool.”
“You believe she is innocent?”
“No.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“I believe she chose her role. I just don’t know how much she understood.”
The police established a controlled operation around Pier Nine.
Dominic hated every rule.
Claire watched him fight the urge to override people.
Eventually Detective Morris said, “If you interfere, I will personally handcuff you to a radiator.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Choose a good radiator.”
Claire laughed.
Both men stared at her.
“Sorry.”
She was not.
Lily remained at the mansion with two officers and Margaret Hayes, Dominic’s elderly housekeeper, who had arrived from her sister’s home after hearing what happened.
Margaret had worked for Dominic’s family since he was a teenager.
Before Claire left, Lily grabbed her hand.
“Come back.”
Claire crouched.
“I will.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Dominic watched.
In the car, he said nothing for ten minutes.
Then, “You shouldn’t promise children things you cannot control.”
Claire looked at him.
“You do.”
“I stopped.”
“When?”
“About four years ago.”
Rebecca.
Claire understood.
“Lily needs promises.”
“She needs truth.”
“She needs both.”
Dominic stared through the window.
“Rebecca believed that too.”
Pier Nine was an enormous warehouse near the river.
Police kept their distance while Dominic approached wearing a wire.
Claire remained in the command vehicle.
She hated that arrangement.
Dominic insisted.
“This is not your fight.”
Claire had nearly laughed.
A man had tried to poison a child she loved.
A woman was missing.
A dead mother had hidden evidence in a nursery wall.
Somewhere along the way, the fight had become hers whether Dominic approved or not.
The warehouse door opened.
Salvatore stood inside.
He was sixty-six.
Silver hair.
Impeccable suit.
The warm smile of the favorite uncle who once brought Lily a miniature piano for Christmas.
Vanessa sat behind him.
Alive.
Bruised.
Angry.
Dominic stopped twenty feet away.
“Let her go.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You came.”
“You asked.”
“I expected more men.”
“They’re nearby.”
Salvatore’s smile faded slightly.
“You always were honest at the wrong times.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“Rebecca knew.”
Salvatore’s face changed.
Only a fraction.
Enough.
“You found her box.”
“Yes.”
“Smart woman.”
“You killed her.”
“No.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Calder did.”
Salvatore’s silence answered.
Vanessa started crying.
“I didn’t know about Rebecca.”
Dominic glanced toward her.
Salvatore laughed.
“She says that frequently.”
“Shut up!” Vanessa screamed.
Dominic looked back at his uncle.
“Why Lily?”
Salvatore’s expression became almost offended.
“I never wanted the girl dead.”
Claire listened through the audio feed.
Detective Morris frowned.
Dominic said, “Then explain the cake.”
“That was Henry improvising.”
“Why?”
“Because he panicked.”
“About what?”
“Rebecca’s records.”
Dominic went still.
Salvatore continued.
“Celeste learned the blue bracelet contained a hidden storage chip.”
Claire’s heart jumped.
Nobody had discovered that.
Not yet.
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What chip?”
Salvatore smiled.
“Rebecca was cleverer than all of us.”
The original bracelet had contained more evidence.
Data.
Names.
Payments.
Medical files.
Calder switched it because he feared police would eventually examine it.
The cake had not originally been part of the plan.
Calder added almond to create a medical emergency.
If Lily reacted, he would take control of her treatment.
During the confusion, the bracelet could disappear permanently.
Claire felt sick.
Dominic’s voice became low.
“So Henry was willing to kill my child to hide evidence.”
Salvatore shrugged.
“Henry was frightened.”
“You defended him.”
“I explained him.”
“That is not different enough.”
Vanessa cried, “Dominic, I swear I didn’t know about the almond.”
He looked at her.
“But you switched the bracelet.”
“Yes.”
“You gave Lily sedatives.”
“I thought they were sleep medicine!”
“You hid Rebecca’s photograph.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled.
“That was me.”
“Why?”
“Because I spent years feeling like a ghost in her house!”
Salvatore smiled faintly.
“That part was useful.”
Dominic turned toward him.
“You used her jealousy.”
“I used what existed.”
“And my medication?”
Salvatore’s smile disappeared.
“You were becoming a problem.”
“For refusing to keep laundering your money through my companies?”
Morris looked toward another detective.
That statement mattered.
Dominic continued.
“You thought if I died after marrying Vanessa, you could control her through the estate.”
Vanessa stared at Salvatore.
“What?”
For the first time, she seemed genuinely shocked.
Salvatore sighed.
“Vanessa, please.”
“You told me Dominic would retire.”
“I told you many things.”
“You said we would leave New Jersey.”
Dominic looked at her.
Vanessa began to understand.
“You were going to kill him.”
Salvatore did not answer.
“You were going to kill Dominic and make me look responsible.”
A smile touched the older man’s face.
“Now you understand why I chose someone ambitious.”
Vanessa lunged at him despite being tied.
Salvatore struck her.
Dominic moved instantly.
A gun appeared in Salvatore’s hand.
Everything stopped.
Claire’s breath caught inside the command vehicle.
“Don’t,” Salvatore said.
Dominic froze.
“This is the part where your police friends become inconvenient.”
Dominic’s eyes never left the gun.
“You know they’re listening.”
“Yes.”
“Then this ends badly.”
“It always ends badly.”
Salvatore looked almost sad.
“Your father knew that.”
“My father died because men like you convinced him violence was the only language anyone understood.”
“Your father died respected.”
“My daughter almost died frightened.”
Salvatore’s jaw tightened.
“That maid has made you soft.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Claire felt the impact even from a distance.
“Do not mention her.”
There it was.
Something Claire had been refusing to name.
Salvatore heard it too.
He smiled.
“Oh.”
Dominic’s voice became deadly.
“Do not.”
“You love her.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Detective Morris glanced at her.
She pretended not to notice.
Salvatore laughed.
“The help.”
Dominic took one step forward.
“The woman who noticed what every powerful person in my house ignored.”
Claire felt tears burn her eyes.
Salvatore raised the gun.
“And that makes her dangerous.”
Dominic’s face changed.
He looked toward the warehouse windows.
Toward the command vehicle somewhere beyond.
“Claire, if you can hear me, do not come inside.”
She almost swore.
Morris said, “He knows you.”
“Yes.”
“You’re staying here.”
Claire opened the door.
“No.”
Morris caught her arm.
“Absolutely not.”
Inside the warehouse, Salvatore heard the movement through Dominic’s microphone.
He smiled.
“Too late.”
A second man appeared from behind the office partition.
He held a phone.
On its screen was live video from the Romano mansion.
Lily.
Claire’s blood froze.
Salvatore looked at Dominic.
“I still have one piece left.”
Dominic went white.
“Who is inside my house?”
“Someone you trust.”
“Who?”
Salvatore smiled.
“That is the lesson, nephew.”
May you like
He raised the gun toward Dominic.
“You never learned to stop trusting the people you love.”
