Chapter 7 - The Choice Dominic Never Expected
Dominic became a different man after Isabella was taken.
He stopped sleeping.
Stopped eating.
Stopped speaking unless necessary.
For three days, New York seemed to hold its breath.
Costa demanded the ledger in exchange for Isabella.
Vale demanded something else.
Me.
He sent a message directly to Dominic.
Bring Evelyn.
Come alone.
Isabella lives.
I read the message.
“No.”
Dominic didn't answer.
“You're not trading me.”
“No.”
“You're thinking about it.”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
He looked at me.
“I would burn the city before I handed you to them.”
“You can't fight everyone.”
“I can fight anyone.”
“That isn't the point.”
He stared.
“The point is that people are getting hurt because of me.”
“No.”
“Because I saved your mother.”
“Because Costa and Vale chose violence.”
“That's not comforting.”
“I know.”
My father stepped between us.
“We need leverage.”
Clara nodded.
“I found something.”
She placed a file on the table.
A medical photograph.
Isabella in a hospital bed.
“She was injured during transport.”
Dominic's face tightened.
“Where?”
“A private clinic.”
“Which one?”
“Costa owns it.”
Dominic immediately reached for his gun.
My father stopped him.
“That's exactly what they want.”
“We don't have time.”
“We have intelligence.”
My father opened another file.
A list of properties.
One location was highlighted.
“Costa's offshore warehouse.”
Dominic looked at me.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I can't think clearly when you're in danger.”
“Then learn.”
Something in his expression changed.
I stepped closer.
“You told me I wasn't your weakness.”
“You aren't.”
“Then let me be your partner.”
He was silent.
Finally he nodded.
“Fine.”
The rescue operation took forty minutes.
It felt like forty years.
We entered through the river side.
Dominic's team disabled the security system.
Clara intercepted the cameras.
My father found Isabella.
She was tied to a chair.
She looked terrible.
But she smiled when she saw me.
“You came.”
“I wasn't going to leave you.”
Dominic cut her restraints.
She grabbed his face.
“You shouldn't have.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
Then a gunshot came from behind.
Dominic pushed her down.
The shooter was Rafael.
He stood across the warehouse.
Older now.
Scarred.
But alive.
“Hello, nephew.”
Dominic raised his weapon.
“You're dead.”
“So everyone believed.”
“You killed my father?”
Rafael smiled.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Rafael looked at me.
“Your father knows.”
My father stepped into the room.
“Rafael.”
“You took eighteen years from me.”
“I saved Evelyn.”
“You destroyed everything.”
“No.”
Rafael looked at Dominic.
“Your family destroyed everything.”
He raised his gun.
Then another shot fired.
Rafael dropped.
Clara stood behind him.
Dominic stared.
“Why did you shoot him?”
“Because he was about to shoot your father.”
Rafael laughed weakly.
“He doesn't know.”
Dominic approached.
“Know what?”
Rafael smiled.
“Your father wasn't killed.”
Dominic froze.
“He was imprisoned.”
“By whom?”
“Vale.”
“Why?”
“Because your father had the original ledger.”
Dominic looked at me.
“What about my father?”
Rafael pointed toward Daniel.
“He has it.”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
Rafael smiled.
“Check her necklace.”
Everyone looked at me.
I touched the small pendant my father had given my mother years ago.
Dominic opened it.
Inside was a microchip.
My father stared.
“How?”
“My father hid the ledger digitally,” Rafael said.
Then he died.
We returned to the estate.
The microchip contained everything.
Not only the ledger.
Videos.
Audio recordings.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
And one final recording.
Dominic's father appeared on screen.
His voice was weak.
“If this recording is being played, I am dead or missing.”
He looked directly into the camera.
“Dominic, I was wrong about the people closest to us.”
Then he said something that changed the entire story.
“Isabella knew.”
I looked at Isabella.
She lowered her eyes.
“What did you know?”
She cried.
“I knew your father was alive.”
Dominic stood.
“What?”
“I knew Daniel was alive.”
My father closed his eyes.
“You promised not to tell.”
“To keep Evelyn alive.”
“You let her believe she was alone.”
“I was protecting her.”
Dominic walked away.
I followed him.
“You're angry.”
“Yes.”
“At your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew where Daniel was hiding.”
My father interrupted.
“She wasn't wrong.”
Dominic turned.
“My father died believing he had failed me.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“He died protecting you.”
Silence.
Dominic finally looked at me.
“I don't want to live like this anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can end it.”
“The organization?”
“Yes.”
“You'd walk away?”
“I would.”
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because for the first time, I have something worth protecting that isn't an empire.”
I didn't answer.
He gently touched my hand.
The ring was still there.
He had never asked me to remove it again.
“I want to marry you properly,” he whispered.
I looked into his eyes.
“This time awake.”
A tear slipped down my cheek.
“Yes.”
He smiled.
Then every television in the mansion turned on simultaneously.
Jonathan Vale appeared on the screen.
“Congratulations.”
His expression was calm.
“You found the truth.”
Then he held up a photograph.
My mother.
Alive.
Terrified.
May you like
He smiled.
“Now come collect the rest of your family.”
