Chapter 7 - DOMINIC’S CHOICEDominic walked out with his hands raised.
Lena watched through the narrow glass panel as Isabella’s men surrounded him.
Victor stood rigid beside her.
“Don’t.”
Dominic turned his head slightly.
Not enough to look back.
Enough to answer.
“Get them out.”
Then he disappeared around the corner.
Thirty seconds later, a side security door unlocked.
Isabella kept her bargain.
For now.
Victor hated it.
Lena could see that in every step he took as they escaped through an employee passage beneath the bank.
Noah remained between two guards.
Silas followed.
Victor carried Daniel’s evidence under his coat.
When they emerged three blocks away, federal vehicles were already arriving.
Victor had made the call.
Not to local police.
To Special Agent Naomi Brooks of the FBI Organized Crime Task Force.
Naomi stepped from an unmarked SUV.
Forty-something.
Gray pantsuit.
Zero patience.
She saw Victor.
“Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Neither did I.”
“You have evidence?”
Victor handed her the envelope.
“And approximately twenty years of problems.”
Naomi looked at Lena.
“Daniel Hart’s daughter?”
Lena blinked.
“You knew my father?”
“I know his file.”
“Then you know who killed him.”
“I know who we suspected.”
Lena glanced at Silas.
Naomi’s expression sharpened.
“Well.”
Silas lifted cuffed hands.
“Hello, Agent Brooks.”
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
“I hear that frequently.”
Within an hour, federal authorities secured Daniel’s records.
Silas asked for counsel and offered testimony.
Victor offered full cooperation.
Lena watched both men surrender pieces of power they had spent their lives protecting.
None of it brought Dominic back.
Isabella contacted them at dusk.
This time she sent video.
Dominic sat inside what appeared to be an old restaurant.
His face was bruised.
Isabella sat across from him.
“My son refuses to listen.”
Dominic smiled through a split lip.
“Runs in the family.”
Isabella looked into the camera.
“Victor, bring me Daniel’s original recordings and the federal agreement.”
Victor replied to the prerecorded video anyway.
“You’re not getting anything.”
Lena studied the background.
Red leather booths.
Stained-glass lamps.
A mural of Sicily.
Something felt familiar.
Then Victor whispered, “La Tavola.”
“What?”
“My father’s first restaurant.”
It had closed fifteen years earlier.
The building still belonged to a Romano holding company.
Naomi immediately deployed teams.
Victor insisted on going.
Naomi refused.
Then Lena said, “She expects him.”
“No civilians.”
“She kidnapped my brother. She murdered Victor’s father. She helped cause mine. You think I’m waiting in a van?”
Naomi stared at her.
“Yes.”
Lena stared back.
“No.”
Victor almost smiled.
They compromised.
Lena would remain in a command vehicle.
Victor wore a wire.
Federal tactical teams surrounded La Tavola.
At 9:08 p.m., Victor entered alone.
The restaurant was exactly as he remembered.
Dusty red booths.
Old photographs.
Antonio’s portrait still hung behind the bar.
Dominic sat at a center table.
Isabella stood beside him.
No guards visible.
Victor knew better.
“Let him go.”
Isabella smiled.
“You always were impatient.”
“You always were dead.”
“You’ve made your point.”
“No. I don’t think I have.”
Victor looked at Dominic.
“You okay?”
“I’ve had better dates.”
Isabella slapped him.
Victor’s jaw tightened.
Dominic laughed.
“See? Childhood memories.”
She turned on him.
“I saved you.”
“You abandoned me.”
“I was nineteen.”
“And apparently remained nineteen for forty-seven years.”
Victor said, “Dominic.”
But Dominic wasn’t stopping.
“You know what Rosa told me before she died?”
Isabella’s face changed.
“She told me my mother was alive.”
Victor stared.
Dominic had known something.
Not everything.
But something.
“I thought she meant you were some poor girl who gave me up because she couldn’t care for me.”
He leaned closer.
“I spent years imagining you kindly.”
Isabella looked wounded.
Dominic laughed.
“That might be your greatest crime.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Enough. You want me? Here.”
Isabella studied him.
“I don’t want you dead.”
“You’ve threatened both of us.”
“I want my family restored.”
Victor looked around the decaying restaurant.
“This is what you think family looks like?”
“I did everything for you.”
“No. You did everything for control.”
For the first time, Isabella’s mask slipped.
“You sound like Antonio.”
“My father was a criminal.”
“So are you.”
Victor accepted it.
“Yes.”
That answer surprised her.
He continued.
“And I’m done pretending inheritance excuses choices.”
In the command van, Lena heard every word.
Naomi waited for enough evidence and a clear tactical opening.
Silas sat nearby under guard.
Suddenly he stared at the audio monitor.
“That hum.”
Lena looked at him.
“What?”
“Listen.”
A low mechanical hum could be heard behind Isabella’s voice.
Silas stood.
“Get Victor out.”
Naomi frowned.
“Why?”
“Gas line.”
“What?”
Silas’s face changed.
“She’s going to burn the building.”
Naomi immediately radioed the tactical team.
Inside, Victor smelled it.
Gas.
Dominic did too.
Isabella backed away.
“You should have come home.”
Victor lunged.
A gunshot exploded.
Dominic threw himself sideways, knocking Victor down.
A bullet tore through his shoulder.
Federal teams breached.
Isabella ran toward the kitchen.
Victor chased.
“Mother!”
She reached the rear door.
He grabbed her.
They crashed against a counter.
For a moment, Victor stared into the face of the woman who had sung to him as a child.
She whispered, “I loved you.”
He answered, “You loved owning me.”
Then she pressed something in her hand.
A lighter.
Victor saw it.
So did Lena on the body-camera feed.
“Victor!”
Isabella smiled.
“And now you lose everything.”
She flicked the lighter.
Victor knocked it away.
Flame touched spilled liquor instead of gas.
Fire raced across the counter.
Sprinklers activated.
Agents dragged Isabella down.
Victor ran back to Dominic.
His brother was bleeding heavily.
“Stay with me.”
Dominic grimaced.
“Stop giving orders.”
“You took a bullet.”
“Technically it passed through.”
Victor pressed his hands to the wound.
“You idiot.”
“Family tradition.”
Dominic was carried outside alive.
Isabella was placed in handcuffs.
Lena climbed from the command vehicle as Victor emerged.
He looked exhausted.
Wet from sprinklers.
Blood on his hands.
For a second, neither spoke.
Then Lena hugged him.
Victor froze.
Slowly, he put his arms around her.
It wasn’t romance.
Not yet.
It was two people who had survived the same storm for one more night.
Then Silas stepped from the van.
Naomi looked at him.
“You’re still going to prison.”
“I assumed.”
Lena released Victor.
Silas turned to her.
“I want to show you where your father died.”
Her expression hardened.
“Why?”
“Because the police report lied.”
She stared.
Silas continued.
“Daniel didn’t die in the crash.”
Lena’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“He survived the impact.”
Victor frowned.
“Then how did he die?”
Silas looked at Isabella being loaded into a federal vehicle.
“He was pulled from the car.”
Lena’s voice became almost inaudible.
“By who?”
Silas swallowed.
“Me.”
She stepped back.
“You said you caused the crash.”
“I did.”
“But you said you killed him.”
“I thought I had.”
“What happened?”
Silas’s face was haunted.
“When I reached the car, Daniel was conscious.”
Lena couldn’t breathe.
“He begged me to help him.”
Silas looked toward the pavement.
“And I did.”
She stared.
“What?”
“I pulled him out.”
“Then why did he die?”
Silas finally looked at her.
“Because somebody else was waiting.”
Lena knew before he said it.
“Isabella.”
Silas shook his head.
“No.”
Victor’s expression changed.
May you like
Silas continued.
“Antonio Romano.”
