Chapter 8 - WHEN THE EMPIRE FELLBy seven the following morning, satellite trucks lined the road outside Moretti’s estate.
Dominic Moretti had become national news.
Reporters shouted questions about gambling operations, shell corporations, bribery allegations and businesses tied to his late father.
Some evidence was old.
Some misleading.
Some devastatingly real.
Dominic sat in his office with three attorneys.
Claire listened from the doorway.
“You can deny direct involvement,” one attorney said.
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
“Dominic—”
“If I participated, I won’t deny it.”
The lawyers stared.
Claire did too.
Another lawyer leaned forward.
“You understand what that could mean?”
“Yes.”
“Financially?”
“Yes.”
“Legally?”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked toward the family room.
“For my sons?”
Nobody answered.
Claire entered after the attorneys left.
“You’re going public.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m tired.”
She sat opposite him.
“Of what?”
“Building walls around lies.”
Claire thought about Elena.
About Luca.
About Gabriel.
About a family trained to survive by never admitting pain.
“What happens?”
“Some companies may collapse. Investigations will open.”
“Prison?”
“Possibly.”
Claire swallowed.
Dominic smiled without humor.
“This is where you’re supposed to reconsider kissing me.”
“Believe me, I reconsidered immediately.”
He laughed softly.
Then she reached across the desk.
“Do what allows your sons to respect you ten years from now.”
“That might require losing everything.”
“Then lose everything.”
He looked at her.
“You really are terrible at comforting people.”
“I warned you.”
That afternoon Dominic spoke to his sons.
Claire remained outside the room.
An hour passed.
Then the door opened.
Matteo ran first, crying.
Claire caught him.
“Dad might go away.”
“I know.”
“Like Mom?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because going somewhere isn’t the same as disappearing.”
Luca stood in the doorway.
He had heard her.
The same lesson.
A different day.
That evening Dominic held a press conference.
He did something none of his advisers expected.
He admitted responsibility.
Not for crimes he hadn’t committed.
Not for sensational accusations.
But for participating in businesses that had operated through intimidation and illegal gambling during his twenties and early thirties.
“I spent years believing that if I converted dirty businesses into legitimate companies, the past would disappear,” he said.
“It doesn’t.”
Claire watched on television with the children.
Dominic continued.
“My sons deserve to grow up knowing that accountability is not weakness.”
Luca looked at Claire.
“Did you tell him to say that?”
“No.”
“Sounds like you.”
She smiled.
Federal investigators followed.
Dominic surrendered documents.
Several former associates were arrested.
Gabriel, recovering from his injury, agreed to cooperate as well.
Three weeks became six.
The mansion changed.
Half the staff left.
Security vehicles disappeared.
Dominic sold several companies.
The private jet went first.
The yacht followed.
Matteo was devastated about the yacht.
Nico was more concerned about whether they could keep the telescope.
Luca secretly searched house prices online.
Claire found him.
“What are you doing?”
“Seeing where we’ll live if Dad gets poor.”
Claire sat beside him.
“You know poor doesn’t mean homeless.”
“How poor are you?”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean before.”
“Pretty poor.”
“Did Lily know?”
“Of course.”
“Was she sad?”
“Sometimes.”
“Was she happy?”
“A lot.”
He frowned.
“How?”
Claire smiled.
“Money solves money problems. It doesn’t solve every problem.”
Luca nodded slowly.
“Dad says we might sell this house.”
“How do you feel?”
He thought.
“Maybe good.”
That surprised her.
“Why?”
“Mom died here.”
Claire’s heart tightened.
“And everyone whispers here.”
He looked around the enormous room.
“I want a house where people don’t whisper.”
Two months after Claire first arrived, prosecutors announced Dominic would face charges but had reached a cooperation agreement based partly on evidence he voluntarily provided.
His attorneys believed prison was unlikely.
Probation, fines and asset forfeiture were not.
Dominic seemed relieved.
Then Claire made a decision he didn’t expect.
She went home.
Not because she was afraid.
Because the immediate danger had ended, and she needed to know whether what existed between them was real.
Dominic stood beside her Honda.
“So this is goodbye.”
“For now.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I was hired during a crisis.”
“You stopped being my employee weeks ago.”
“Yes.”
“You stayed.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
Claire looked toward Lily, already sitting inside.
“Now I need a life that doesn’t belong to your emergency.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
She almost wanted him to argue.
He didn’t.
Luca did.
He ran outside.
“You promised!”
Claire knelt.
“I promised I wouldn’t disappear.”
“You’re leaving!”
“And I’m telling you.”
His face crumpled.
She hugged him.
“I need you to learn something really important.”
“What?”
“People can leave a room and still love you.”
He cried against her shoulder.
Nico joined.
Then Matteo.
Soon all three were wrapped around Claire.
She looked past them at Dominic.
His eyes were wet.
Claire stood.
“You have my number.”
“So this isn’t goodbye?”
“It’s goodbye for today.”
Dominic nodded.
She got into the car.
As Claire drove away, Lily looked through the back window.
“They’re all crying.”
“I know.”
“You’re crying too.”
“I know.”
“Do you love him?”
Claire gripped the steering wheel.
“That is a complicated question.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Kids were annoying that way.
Claire didn’t answer.
Behind them, the mansion disappeared.
May you like
For the first time since entering Dominic Moretti’s world, Claire had no contract, no crisis and no reason to stay.
Which meant whatever happened next would finally be her choice.
