Chapter 6 - The Last Name in the Ledger
Dominic took the phone.
“Where is she?”
Catherine whispered an address.
Then the call ended.
A farmhouse stood two hours north of the city.
Dominic drove.
Nobody could persuade him otherwise.
Sofia sat beside him.
For almost an hour, he said nothing.
Finally she asked, “What do you remember about your mother?”
“Everything.”
“Her funeral?”
“No body.”
Sofia looked at him.
He continued.
“My father said she died overseas.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I was sixteen.”
“That isn't an answer.”
Dominic's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“No.”
They reached the farmhouse near noon.
The front door stood open.
Dominic entered first.
“Mother?”
Nothing.
They found Catherine in the kitchen.
Alive.
Sofia stopped.
Her mother turned.
Twelve years vanished.
Sofia crossed the room and collapsed into her arms.
Neither could speak.
Dominic looked away.
Then an elderly woman appeared at the hallway.
Dominic froze.
Her hair was white now.
Her face lined.
But her eyes were his.
“Dominic.”
His entire body seemed to forget how to move.
“Mom?”
Maria Romano covered her mouth.
Dominic crossed the room.
He did not hug her immediately.
He stood inches away.
Twenty-three stolen years between them.
Then Maria touched his face.
“My boy.”
Dominic broke.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
He simply bent and held his mother.
Sofia watched the most feared man she knew become sixteen years old again.
Later, the truth emerged.
Salvatore Romano had hidden Maria after she discovered Raven Seventeen.
Victor helped arrange her disappearance.
He later planned to kill her.
Catherine had intervened.
The two women spent years gathering evidence against Victor.
Page 217 was not literally Maria.
It was the testimony only she could provide.
Proof that Victor Hale had manipulated Salvatore, ordered murders, bribed officials, and later redirected blame toward Dominic.
Maria had recordings.
Bank records.
Original contracts.
Enough to separate Dominic's crimes from Victor's.
Enough to expose the whole network.
Dominic sat at the table.
“There are still things I have done.”
Maria touched his hand.
“Then answer for those.”
Sofia looked at him.
He nodded.
No excuses.
That evening Dominic contacted federal prosecutors through an independent attorney.
He offered cooperation.
The complete archive.
Witness testimony.
Financial records.
Everything.
In exchange, he demanded protection for Sofia, Benjamin, Catherine, Maria, Anthony, and employees who had no involvement.
He did not ask for immunity for himself.
Sofia discovered that afterward.
She confronted him.
“You're willing to go to prison.”
“If that's the price.”
“For crimes Victor committed?”
“For mine.”
“What crimes?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Things you don't want to know.”
“Let me decide what I want to know.”
He exhaled.
“I ran illegal gambling operations. Laundered money before I moved the companies legitimate. Paid bribes. Threatened people.”
“Killed anyone?”
His eyes held hers.
“No.”
She believed him.
“Ordered anyone killed?”
“No.”
“Then stop acting like you have to die for your father's sins.”
“This isn't a movie, Sofia.”
“No. It's worse. Movies end faster.”
He almost smiled.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from Victor.
YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME.
A photograph followed.
Luca.
Bound to a chair.
Dominic stood immediately.
Anthony swore.
“They took him.”
Another message.
MIDNIGHT. ROMANO HOLDINGS. COME ALONE.
Sofia shook her head.
“No.”
Dominic grabbed his coat.
“Absolutely not.”
“He has Luca.”
“He wants you.”
“Yes.”
“And you'll simply walk in?”
“If necessary.”
Anthony blocked the doorway.
“For eleven years I stayed away because I thought it kept you alive. I'm not watching you volunteer to die now.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Move.”
“No.”
The brothers faced each other.
Then Maria spoke.
“Enough.”
Both turned.
She looked at Dominic.
“Your father spent his life believing fear made him strong. Don't prove him right by doing the same thing.”
Dominic paused.
Sofia stepped closer.
“We don't do this alone.”
“We?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
“No.”
She folded her arms.
“You really haven't learned anything about giving me orders.”
He looked exhausted.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you still here?”
Sofia stared at him.
Because she had wondered the same thing.
Because six years ago she had taken a job working for a cold, intimidating executive everyone feared.
Because she had slowly discovered the man who secretly paid employees' medical bills.
The man who remembered the names of their children.
The man who pretended his kindness was administrative efficiency.
The man who had walked into her hospital room at two in the morning and looked more frightened by her bruises than she had ever seen him look for himself.
She stepped closer.
“Because when I called you, you came.”
Dominic's expression softened.
“That simple?”
“Yes.”
She took his hand.
“And because you matter to me too.”
No one spoke.
Anthony turned away with a faint grin.
Maria smiled.
Dominic stared at Sofia.
Then kissed her forehead.
Nothing more.
But the gesture said what six years had not.
At 11:50 p.m., they approached Romano Holdings with federal agents positioned several blocks away.
Dominic entered first.
Sofia was supposed to remain outside.
Naturally, she did not.
She entered through the service stairwell with Anthony.
Victor waited inside Dominic's conference room.
Luca sat tied near the window.
Victor smiled.
“I always knew the secretary would be your weakness.”
Dominic replied calmly.
“No.”
He glanced toward the security camera.
“She was the reason I finally stopped having one.”
Victor frowned.
Dominic placed a flash drive on the table.
“Raven Seventeen.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Password.”
“Release Luca.”
Victor nodded.
One man cut Luca free.
Luca stumbled toward Dominic.
Then Sofia emerged from the side doorway.
Victor's face changed.
“You.”
Sofia held up her phone.
“Me.”
Police lights suddenly illuminated the windows below.
Victor turned.
Dominic smiled faintly.
“The password is already with federal prosecutors.”
Victor's calm finally broke.
“You fool.”
“You lost.”
“No.”
Victor pulled a pistol.
Everyone froze.
He aimed it at Sofia.
Dominic stepped in front of her.
Victor laughed.
“There it is.”
Dominic did not move.
“The great Dominic Romano.”
Victor's finger tightened.
“Ruined by a secretary.”
A gunshot exploded.
Sofia screamed.
Dominic staggered.
Then another shot came from the hallway.
Victor collapsed.
Federal agents poured into the room.
Sofia caught Dominic.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Sofia.”
“No, no, no.”
His knees gave way.
She lowered him to the floor.
“Stay with me.”
He tried to breathe.
She pressed both hands over the wound.
“Dominic, look at me.”
His eyes found hers.
She was crying now.
Just like at 2:03 a.m.
Except this time he was the one bleeding.
Sirens filled the street below.
Paramedics rushed through the door.
They pulled Sofia away.
Dominic's hand slipped from hers.
May you like
The elevator doors closed around his stretcher.
And the heart monitor suddenly began screaming.
