Chapter 4 - The Man Who Set Me Up
Dominic didn't open the door.
Maya watched his face.
For the first time since meeting him, she saw something stronger than control.
Fear.
“Who is she?”
“My sister.”
Maya looked toward the monitor.
“Then why aren't you opening the door?”
“Because Claire died six years ago.”
The room became silent.
Luca drew his weapon.
Maya stared at the woman outside.
She appeared to be in her mid-thirties.
Dark hair.
Black coat.
She looked exhausted.
Then she lifted both hands toward the camera.
Empty.
“Dominic,” she said through the intercom. “If Salvatore finds me first, Maya dies.”
Dominic opened the door.
Claire stepped inside.
Brother and sister stared at each other.
Then Claire slapped him.
Hard.
“You took long enough.”
Dominic pulled her into his arms.
Maya looked away.
Minutes later, Claire sat at the kitchen island.
She had not died six years ago.
She had disappeared.
Their father had helped fake her death after she discovered that Salvatore was using Romano companies to move criminal money.
Dominic had been told she was killed in a car accident.
“Why didn't your father tell you?” Maya asked.
Claire looked at Dominic.
“Because Dad didn't trust him.”
Dominic flinched.
Claire softened.
“He was protecting you.”
“By letting me bury an empty coffin?”
“By making Salvatore believe you knew nothing.”
Claire opened a flash drive.
The original laundering operation appeared on Maya's laptop.
It had started years earlier.
Salvatore built hidden financial channels inside legitimate Romano businesses.
After Dominic took control and began cleaning the company, Salvatore needed outside partners.
Charles Mercer became one.
Then they needed someone disposable.
Maya.
Claire looked at her.
“Charles selected you.”
“Why me?”
“Because you were competent enough to authorize complicated transactions and isolated enough that nobody powerful would ask questions when you went down.”
Maya absorbed that.
Then she noticed something.
“Charles didn't know I would audit Halcyon.”
“No.”
“So someone assigned it to me.”
Claire nodded.
“I did.”
Dominic stared at his sister.
“You put her in danger?”
“I gave her a chance to find the truth.”
Maya stood.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
Dominic slammed his palm against the counter.
“Claire.”
“No,” Maya said. “Let her answer.”
Claire met Maya's eyes.
“I needed someone Salvatore underestimated.”
Maya laughed bitterly.
“Apparently that's everyone's favorite thing about me.”
Claire shook her head.
“No. That's why you're still alive.”
She explained.
Maya's reports created an evidence trail Salvatore couldn't erase without exposing himself.
Claire had been feeding tiny clues into Maya's assignments for months.
The hidden ledger Maya discovered existed because Claire put it there.
“And the Romano Family Trust?” Maya asked.
“Salvatore controls one legacy account. Dominic controls the rest.”
Maya looked at Dominic.
“So the D.R. authorizations?”
“Forged,” Claire said.
Dominic had been framed too.
Two convenient villains.
The supposedly corrupt billionaire.
The supposedly greedy accountant.
If Salvatore succeeded, Dominic would lose his legitimate empire and Maya would go to prison.
“What happens now?” Maya asked.
Claire smiled without humor.
“We make Salvatore believe he won.”
The plan was dangerous.
Maya would publicly confess.
She would claim she had manipulated the transfers and had evidence proving Dominic ordered her to do it.
Salvatore would come for that evidence.
Then federal investigators would arrest him.
Dominic rejected the plan instantly.
“No.”
Maya looked at him.
“You don't decide.”
“He'll kill you.”
“He's already trying.”
“I said no.”
Maya stepped closer.
“And I said you don't own me.”
Claire quietly left the room.
Luca followed.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“This isn't a boardroom argument.”
“I know.”
“You could die.”
“So could you.”
“That isn't the same.”
Maya stared at him.
“Why?”
Dominic had no immediate answer.
That was answer enough.
Maya's heartbeat changed.
“Dominic.”
He looked away.
She touched his hand.
“Last night was supposed to be meaningless.”
“I know.”
“It isn't anymore.”
“No.”
The admission hung between them.
Dominic looked at her.
“When you walked toward me, you were the first person in years who didn't know enough to fear me.”
Maya smiled faintly.
“Give me time.”
He almost laughed.
Then his expression became serious.
“I don't want you doing this.”
“I don't want someone deciding I'm disposable.”
That he understood.
The trap was arranged for the following evening.
Maya recorded a fake confession.
News leaked that she possessed files implicating Dominic.
Salvatore responded exactly as Claire predicted.
He requested a meeting.
Abandoned freight terminal.
South Chicago.
Midnight.
Dominic's security team prepared hidden surveillance.
Federal agents waited nearby.
At 11:52 p.m., Maya entered the warehouse alone.
Salvatore Romano emerged from the darkness.
He was silver-haired, elegantly dressed, and almost disappointingly ordinary.
“So,” he said, “the accountant finally understands.”
Maya held up the flash drive.
“You want this?”
“I want everything.”
“You framed me.”
“I selected you.”
“Why?”
Salvatore smiled.
“Because nobody goes to war for women like you.”
Maya felt the insult.
Then she smiled.
“That was your mistake.”
Salvatore's expression changed.
Dominic stepped from behind a shipping container.
“You should have learned something about me, Uncle.”
Salvatore's men raised their weapons.
Dominic's security appeared above the catwalk.
Sirens approached.
For one second Maya believed it was over.
Then Salvatore laughed.
“You still think I'm the one running this?”
Dominic went still.
Salvatore looked at Maya.
“Charles wasn't working for me.”
Maya's stomach dropped.
“Who was he working for?”
A gunshot shattered the warehouse light.
Darkness swallowed them.
Someone grabbed Maya from behind.
She screamed Dominic's name.
A cloth covered her mouth.
May you like
The last thing she heard before everything went black was Salvatore shouting:
“Dominic, she knows who C is!”
