Chapter 4 - Pier Seventeen
Sofia felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“My father is an accountant.”
Anthony gave her a painful look.
“He was.”
“What does that mean?”
“Before that, he worked for our father.”
Dominic stepped between them.
“What was his name in the organization?”
Anthony answered quietly.
“Benjamin Bennett handled Salvatore's offshore accounts.”
Sofia shook her head.
“No.”
“Your father left before you came to New York.”
“He told me he worked for an insurance company.”
“He did afterward.”
“For twenty-five years he lied to me?”
“He was protecting you.”
She laughed bitterly.
“That phrase is becoming very popular tonight.”
Dominic touched her arm.
She pulled away.
“Don't.”
His hand dropped.
Sofia looked at the blood on the floor.
“I'm going to Pier Seventeen.”
“So am I,” Dominic said.
Anthony shook his head.
“It is a trap.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Obviously.”
“You don't know who is behind it.”
“Then tell me.”
Anthony hesitated.
“Victor Hale.”
Luca swore under his breath.
Sofia looked between them.
“Who?”
Dominic answered.
“My father's attorney.”
“Wasn't he at Romano Holdings last month?”
“Yes.”
She remembered him.
Seventy perhaps.
Silver hair.
Perfect manners.
He had brought her flowers on Administrative Professionals Day.
Her stomach turned.
“He knows me.”
“He knows everyone,” Anthony said. “That's the problem.”
Victor Hale had managed Salvatore Romano's legal affairs for thirty years.
After Salvatore died, he remained close to the family.
He advised Dominic.
Drafted contracts.
Negotiated disputes.
Knew which companies were legitimate and which existed only on paper.
Dominic had trusted him since he was a teenager.
“Why would he want Raven Seventeen?” Sofia asked.
“Because his name is in it,” Anthony replied. “And not as an attorney.”
They drove toward the waterfront.
Dominic insisted Sofia wear a protective vest beneath her coat.
She complained.
He ignored her.
At 4:51 a.m., they reached Pier Seventeen.
The city was still dark.
A warehouse stood near the river.
R-17 had once been painted above its loading doors.
The letters were now barely visible.
Sofia saw them.
“This is Raven Seventeen.”
Anthony nodded.
“This is where it started.”
Dominic's men spread out.
No one entered until Luca cleared the perimeter.
Sofia's phone buzzed.
A message.
COME INSIDE WITH DOMINIC. NO OTHERS.
Dominic read it.
“No.”
“My father is in there.”
“Exactly.”
She looked at him.
“You can't stop me.”
“I can.”
“How?”
He stared at her.
Apparently he had no acceptable answer.
Anthony stepped forward.
“I'll go.”
The phone buzzed again.
NOT ANTHONY.
Dominic's expression hardened.
“They're watching.”
Luca scanned surrounding buildings.
“Camera somewhere.”
Dominic looked at Sofia.
“You stay behind me.”
“You keep saying that.”
“And you keep ignoring it.”
They entered together.
The warehouse smelled of rust and river water.
A single light illuminated the center.
Benjamin Bennett sat tied to a chair.
Sofia ran toward him.
“Dad!”
Dominic caught her.
“Wait.”
A red laser appeared briefly across the concrete.
Sniper.
Sofia froze.
Benjamin lifted his head.
His lip was bleeding.
“Sofia, don't.”
A voice came from speakers.
“Dominic.”
Victor Hale.
Dominic looked upward.
“Show yourself.”
“Soon.”
“Release Bennett.”
“I will.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“I don't have it.”
“No. She does.”
Sofia felt Dominic move closer.
Victor continued.
“Elena was clever. Cleverer than Salvatore ever understood. She knew a physical book could be destroyed, so she converted every page.”
“To what?” Sofia asked.
“A digital archive.”
“My old phone?”
“Partly.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What does partly mean?”
Victor laughed.
“Elena split it.”
Sofia remembered her father's note.
I TOOK THE OTHER ONE.
“What did my father take?”
Benjamin shouted.
“Don't tell them anything!”
A man struck him from behind.
Sofia surged forward.
Dominic held her.
“Touch him again,” Dominic said quietly, “and nobody in this warehouse leaves with Victor.”
Silence.
Victor knew the threat was real.
“The first half is on Sofia's old phone,” he said. “The second was hidden somewhere only Bennett knew.”
Dominic looked at Benjamin.
“So why kidnap Sofia?”
“Because Bennett refused to cooperate.”
Sofia stared at her father.
“You knew this whole time?”
Benjamin closed his eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
She felt tears burn.
“You let me work for Dominic.”
“I believed you would be safer close to him.”
Dominic looked at Benjamin.
Something passed between them.
History.
Regret.
“Did you choose her for the job?” Dominic asked.
Benjamin nodded.
Sofia stared.
“My interview?”
“Arranged.”
“My entire career?”
“No,” Benjamin said desperately. “You earned everything after that.”
“But you put me there.”
“To watch Dominic.”
The words cut through the warehouse.
Dominic's expression did not change.
Sofia's did.
“You used me to spy on him?”
“No. To make sure he wasn't becoming his father.”
Dominic looked almost offended.
“Through my secretary?”
“You trust her.”
“Apparently everybody noticed.”
Even Sofia almost laughed.
Victor's voice returned.
“Enough.”
A metal door opened at the back.
Victor Hale emerged with two armed men.
Silver-haired.
Perfect suit.
Calm.
Exactly as Sofia remembered.
He looked at her bruised face.
“I told them not to injure you so badly.”
Dominic took one step forward.
Victor's men raised weapons.
Dominic stopped.
“You gave the order.”
“I gave an instruction. Men interpret.”
“Bad answer.”
Victor smiled.
“You always did inherit Salvatore's temper.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at Sofia.
Then back to Victor.
“I inherited his enemies.”
Victor's smile faded.
“Phone.”
Dominic held up Sofia's old device.
“Father first.”
“Ledger first.”
“We do this simultaneously.”
Victor considered.
Then nodded.
One of his men cut Benjamin's restraints.
Sofia moved toward her father.
Dominic extended the phone.
Victor reached.
Anthony's voice suddenly came through Dominic's earpiece.
“Don't give it to him.”
Dominic paused.
Victor noticed.
“What?”
Anthony shouted through the earpiece.
“The phone isn't the archive. It's the key.”
Victor lunged.
A gunshot exploded.
Lights went out.
Sofia screamed.
Dominic dragged her down.
More shots.
Men shouted.
Glass shattered.
Then emergency lighting flickered on.
Victor was gone.
Benjamin lay beside Sofia.
Alive.
Dominic stood near the loading door.
His sleeve was torn.
Blood covered his upper arm.
“You've been shot.”
“Grazed.”
“Dominic—”
“I'm fine.”
Anthony and Luca rushed inside.
Anthony took the old phone.
“If this is the key, where is the archive?”
Benjamin looked at Sofia.
“Your mother.”
Sofia froze.
“My mother died twelve years ago.”
Benjamin shook his head.
“No, sweetheart.”
His voice broke.
“She disappeared.”
Sofia stared.
Dominic stepped closer.
Benjamin reached into his coat and produced a small silver key.
“Your mother hid the archive somewhere Victor never found.”
“Where?”
Benjamin placed the key in Sofia's palm.
“She said if this day ever came, you would know.”
“I don't.”
“You will.”
Her old phone suddenly powered on by itself.
The screen flickered.
A video file appeared.
Date recorded:
TWELVE YEARS EARLIER.
Sofia pressed play.
A woman's face appeared.
Her mother's face.
Older than Sofia remembered.
Alive after the date Sofia had been told she died.
The woman looked directly into the camera.
“Sofia, if you're watching this, your father has finally told you the truth.”
She paused.
May you like
Then whispered:
“And Dominic Romano is the only man you can trust.”
