Chapter 5 - Someone Inside the House
Elena stared at the video.
“No.”
Roderick watched Thomas stand behind Dominic.
The elderly man who had spent an hour telling them about Samuel.
The man Elena had trusted.
“Maybe he’s being forced,” she said.
Roderick replayed the video.
Thomas did not look frightened.
He looked comfortable.
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“I’ve known him for three years.”
“So did Samuel.”
That hurt her.
Roderick regretted saying it.
But they could no longer afford comforting lies.
Benjamin examined the video.
“The ledger is real.”
“You’re certain?”
“I recognize Samuel’s markings.”
If they obtained it, they might have enough evidence to destroy Dominic without firing a shot.
Financial records.
Payments.
Dates.
Connections to legitimate businesses.
Judges.
Police officers.
Politicians.
Dominic’s power depended on secrecy.
The ledger could end him.
“What does he want?” Elena asked.
Roderick already knew.
Her.
Samuel’s surviving heir.
Dominic feared she knew something her father had never written down.
The phone rang.
Dominic.
Roderick answered.
“Send Elena.”
“No.”
“Then the ledger burns.”
“Burn it.”
Elena looked at him.
Dominic laughed.
“You’ve changed.”
“People keep telling me that.”
“Samuel’s daughter has made you sentimental.”
“Samuel’s daughter has made me patient.”
“That’s worse.”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“Midnight. Your penthouse. Elena comes alone.”
The call ended.
Elena immediately said, “I’m going.”
“No.”
“You need that ledger.”
“I need you alive.”
“My father died for you.”
“That does not mean you owe me your life.”
“He died protecting your family.”
“And your family has paid enough.”
Elena stared at him.
Something passed between them.
Something neither named.
Leo entered carrying his stuffed dinosaur.
“Why is everybody sad?”
Elena crouched.
“We’re not sad.”
“You are.”
Children were merciless observers.
Leo looked at Roderick.
“Are bad guys coming?”
Roderick hesitated.
Elena answered.
“No.”
Leo frowned.
“You lie bad.”
Benjamin coughed to hide a laugh.
Elena gave him a look.
That night, Roderick prepared a plan.
Elena would go.
But not alone.
Dominic believed he controlled the penthouse security system.
He did not know Roderick’s father had installed emergency passages during renovations twenty years earlier.
Victor, recovering but conscious, provided the access codes.
At 11:58, Elena entered the penthouse.
Dominic waited beneath the chandelier.
Thomas stood beside him.
Seven armed men surrounded the room.
The same room where Leo had innocently revealed his mother’s nightly meetings.
“Welcome home,” Dominic said.
“This was never my home.”
“You worked here.”
“That doesn’t make it home.”
Dominic smiled.
“You have Samuel’s final letter?”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
“You disappoint me.”
“My father probably said the same thing.”
Thomas shifted.
Dominic glanced at him.
That was enough.
Roderick watched from behind a hidden panel.
Something was wrong between them.
Elena noticed too.
“You’re afraid of him,” she said to Thomas.
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
Dominic laughed.
“Thomas has been afraid his entire life.”
Elena looked at Thomas.
“You helped kill my father?”
“No.”
Dominic turned.
“Careful.”
Thomas’s hand trembled.
Elena stepped closer.
“You told me Samuel trusted you.”
“He did.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Dominic reached for his gun.
Roderick moved.
The panel opened.
His men entered from three directions.
Weapons raised.
Nobody fired.
Roderick walked into the room.
“Put it down, Dominic.”
His uncle smiled.
“I wondered when you’d appear.”
Thomas suddenly aimed his weapon.
Not at Roderick.
At Dominic.
“Enough.”
Dominic froze.
Thomas’s hand shook violently.
“I spent twenty-two years being afraid of you.”
“You should remain afraid.”
“No.”
Thomas looked at Elena.
“I’m sorry.”
He explained.
Samuel had discovered Dominic’s betrayal.
Thomas had been present the night Samuel died.
Dominic had threatened Thomas’s wife and daughter.
Thomas had remained silent.
For twenty-two years.
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“You could have told me.”
“I was a coward.”
“Yes.”
He lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Dominic moved suddenly.
Roderick saw it.
A gun.
Elena stood directly in the line of fire.
Roderick lunged.
The shot exploded.
Elena fell.
For one terrible second, everything stopped.
Then Roderick realized she was not bleeding.
He had knocked her down before the bullet reached her.
His men disarmed Dominic.
Roderick stood over his uncle.
Every instinct he had learned told him to end it.
Dominic smiled.
“Do it.”
Roderick raised his weapon.
Elena whispered his name.
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
Not because Dominic deserved mercy.
Because Roderick deserved freedom from becoming him.
Roderick lowered the gun.
“Take him.”
Dominic’s smile vanished.
“What?”
“You wanted a war.”
Roderick handed the ledger to Benjamin.
“You’re getting a courtroom.”
For the first time, Dominic looked frightened.
The ledger was copied.
Documents went to federal investigators.
Accounts were frozen.
Men who had protected Dominic began talking.
The empire he had built in shadows collapsed under daylight.
Three days later, Roderick returned to the penthouse.
Elena was packing.
“What are you doing?”
“My job here is finished.”
“You’re leaving?”
“I came to find out what happened to my father.”
“And now you know.”
“Yes.”
She folded her maid uniform.
Roderick hated seeing it.
“Where will you go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stay.”
Elena stopped.
“As what?”
Roderick had no answer ready.
Employee sounded insulting.
Guest sounded temporary.
Something else frightened him.
Elena waited.
He opened his mouth.
Before he could speak, Leo ran into the room.
“Mom!”
Elena turned.
Leo held an envelope.
“I found this under your door.”
Roderick took it.
No return address.
Inside was a single photograph.
Elena walking outside the safe house.
Taken that morning.
On the back were four words.
DOMINIC WASN’T THE LAST.
Roderick looked toward the penthouse windows.
May you like
Across the street, on a rooftop, a figure lowered a camera.
Then disappeared.
