Chapter 5 - The Man Behind the Throne
Vincent Valente had been officially dead for eight years.
His funeral had been attended by senators, businessmen, union leaders, and men who did not exist on paper.
Dominic had taken over the organization afterward.
He had spent eight years believing his father was buried beneath six feet of concrete.
Now he knew the funeral had been theater.
They traced the phone call to an abandoned church outside Baltimore.
Inside, Dominic found an envelope.
Naomi stood beside him.
Roman covered the entrance.
Dominic opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Vincent.
And a handwritten letter.
You were always good at numbers, Dominic.
But your mistake was believing numbers were power.
People are power.
Underneath the message was a list of names.
Judges.
Police commanders.
Bank executives.
Politicians.
One name made Naomi freeze.
Her former boss at the accounting firm.
Daniel Harper.
“No.”
Dominic took the paper.
“Daniel?”
He looked at Naomi.
“He worked with you.”
“He helped me.”
“That's what makes him dangerous.”
Daniel vanished that night.
Then Leo disappeared from Seattle.
Naomi broke down.
Dominic held her while she cried.
“I should have protected him.”
“You couldn't have known.”
“He’s my brother.”
“And you're my woman.”
She looked up.
“Your woman?”
His mouth tightened.
“You know what I mean.”
She smiled weakly.
“You can do better.”
He looked at her.
“My future wife.”
Her eyes widened.
“Did you just propose?”
“Not yet.”
“Not yet?”
“I intend to do it properly.”
She laughed through tears.
“You're unbelievable.”
“I've been told.”
But the moment was short-lived.
A message arrived.
Come alone to the harbor.
Bring the ledger.
Daniel.
Dominic wanted to refuse.
Naomi insisted.
“He knows where Leo is.”
They went.
Daniel stood on the pier.
Leo was beside him.
Alive.
Terrified.
“Naomi.”
She ran toward her brother.
Dominic stopped her.
“Wait.”
Daniel smiled.
“Always the suspicious one.”
“You've been working with my father.”
Daniel’s smile faded.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Seven years.”
Naomi stared at him.
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“You destroyed me.”
Daniel looked at Dominic.
“Your father financed the original operation.”
Dominic said nothing.
“Your father didn't just order Naomi’s father killed,” Daniel continued. “He needed his records destroyed. Those records exposed the real financier.”
“Who?”
Daniel shook his head.
“He's closer than you think.”
A gunshot cracked.
Daniel staggered.
Naomi screamed.
Dominic grabbed Leo and pulled him behind cover.
Roman searched the skyline.
“No shooter.”
Daniel fell against the pier railing.
He whispered one final word.
“Mother.”
Then he died.
Naomi looked at Dominic.
“My mother?”
“My mother?”
Both spoke simultaneously.
Dominic's face changed.
Naomi's mother had died when Naomi was six.
But Dominic's mother had disappeared when he was fourteen.
Two women.
One name.
One secret.
They returned to the Valente estate.
There, Dominic opened a safe he had never touched since childhood.
Inside was a letter from his mother.
He read it aloud.
“Dominic, if you are reading this, Vincent has convinced the world I am dead. I am not. I had to disappear because I learned who truly controlled your father.”
The letter continued.
“He is not a man.
He is an institution.”
Dominic frowned.
Naomi saw the next line.
A banking foundation.
The Armitage Foundation.
One of the most respected philanthropic organizations in New York.
And its chairman was a man whose photograph appeared beside every mayor in the city.
Senator Elias Armitage.
Dominic looked at Naomi.
“He built everything.”
She stared at the letter.
“And he knows our families.”
“Yes.”
“Then we need to find your mother.”
Dominic nodded.
But another page had fallen from the envelope.
Naomi picked it up.
It contained a single sentence.
Your mother trusted the wrong woman.
Below it was a name.
Margaret Callahan.
Naomi's mother.
May you like
Naomi dropped the paper.
“My mother is alive.”
