Chapter 5 - The Price of Protection
The failed abduction changed Dominic.
The warmth Emma had brought into the estate did not disappear.
But fear wrapped around it.
He ordered more guards. More cameras. More restrictions. He canceled Sophia’s legal aid appointment, Emma’s pediatric checkup, and Vivian’s weekly trip into town for supplies.
Nobody left the estate without his approval.
Nobody entered without being searched.
At first, Sophia understood.
Then she began to suffocate.
“I can’t live in a prison,” she told Vivian one afternoon.
“You are not in prison.”
“Then why do I need permission to take my daughter outside?”
“Because someone tried to kidnap her.”
“I know that!” Sophia snapped.
Vivian flinched.
Sophia immediately looked guilty.
“I’m sorry. I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
But Vivian was scared for different reasons.
She had seen Dominic become distant again. He spent nights in the study, surrounded by security reports and phone calls. He barely ate. His old instincts were returning—control everything, trust no one, love no one enough to lose them.
Emma noticed too.
One evening, she sat beside Dominic at the dining table, her feet swinging beneath the chair.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked.
Dominic looked up from his phone.
“Never.”
“Then why do you look stormy?”
He set the phone down.
“Because I’m thinking.”
“Thinking makes people sad?”
“Sometimes.”
Emma picked up a bread roll and placed it beside his plate.
“This is your happy bread.”
Dominic stared at it.
Then he smiled faintly.
Across the room, Vivian watched him.
She loved this version of him.
But she feared it would not survive the war coming toward them.
The next morning, Luca found the traitor.
It was not one of Dominic’s guards.
It was a junior accountant at Moretti Freight, a man named Harold Weiss who had been selling shipment schedules and security information to Russo for months. He had helped arrange the compromised delivery truck. In exchange, Russo promised to clear gambling debts Harold had hidden from his wife.
Dominic’s men brought Harold to the estate.
Vivian heard raised voices from the study.
Then silence.
She should have walked away.
Instead, she stood near the door and heard Dominic say, “You endangered a child.”
Harold began to cry. “I didn’t know they would try to take her.”
“You knew enough.”
“I have a family.”
Dominic’s voice became ice. “So does she.”
Vivian pushed open the door.
Luca turned sharply. “Miss Harper—”
“Dominic.”
He looked at her.
The expression on his face frightened her.
Not because she thought he would hurt her.
Because she saw the man he had become after Grace and Lily died—the man who believed pain could only be answered with greater pain.
“Leave us,” Dominic told Luca.
Luca hesitated, then motioned the guards out.
Harold remained seated, shaking.
Vivian stepped closer to Dominic.
“You cannot do this.”
“He betrayed my family.”
“He committed a crime. Let the police handle it.”
Dominic gave a cold laugh. “The police?”
“Yes.”
“You think they can protect Emma?”
“No,” Vivian said. “But becoming what Russo expects you to be will not protect her either.”
His eyes darkened.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you think.” Vivian’s voice cracked. “I understand that you are terrified. I understand you lost your wife and daughter, and you believe fear gives you the right to control every person you love.”
Dominic went still.
Harold stared at the floor.
Vivian took another breath.
“But Emma is not Lily. Sophia is not Grace. And you cannot punish them for surviving.”
The words hung in the room.
For the first time, Dominic looked wounded.
Not angry.
Wounded.
He turned toward Luca. “Call the police.”
Harold began sobbing with relief.
Vivian watched Dominic walk to the window.
His shoulders looked heavy.
That night, Sophia came to Vivian’s room.
“I need to leave,” she said.
Vivian stared at her. “What?”
“I can’t raise Emma surrounded by armed men and threats.”
“This is the safest place in Chicago.”
“Maybe physically.” Sophia’s eyes filled. “But Emma is starting to wake up crying. She asks if bad men are coming. She asks why Mr. Caruso looks sad all the time.”
Vivian’s heart broke.
“Where would you go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Joseph and Russo are still out there.”
“I know.”
Sophia looked toward the hallway where Emma slept.
“But I cannot teach her that safety means being afraid all the time.”
Before Vivian could answer, a scream echoed from downstairs.
Then gunshots.
The estate lights went out.
Again.
But this time, the security system did not fail.
It was overridden.
Luca’s voice thundered through the intercom.
“Lockdown! Everyone to the safe rooms!”
Vivian grabbed Sophia’s hand.
They ran toward Emma’s bedroom.
But Dominic reached them first, carrying Emma in his arms.
“Move,” he ordered.
They rushed down a hidden corridor behind the library shelves. Dominic had built the safe room years ago for enemies who might come for his family.
He never imagined he would use it again.
The steel door shut behind them.
Then Dominic’s phone rang.
Vincent Russo.
Dominic answered.
Russo’s voice came through the speaker, smooth and amused.
“Your security is impressive, Caruso.”
“What do you want?”
“Come to the old Lakeshore warehouse alone. Bring the files your father kept on my family.”
“I don’t have them.”
Russo laughed. “You do. And if you refuse, your accountant’s betrayal will be the least of your problems.”
A video message appeared on Dominic’s phone.
It showed Grace and Lily’s car on the fog-covered road six years earlier.
Then another vehicle forced it toward the embankment.
Sophia covered her mouth.
Vivian stared in horror.
It had never been an accident.
Russo’s voice returned.
May you like
“Midnight,” he said. “Bring the files. Or Chicago learns exactly how little Dominic Caruso can protect the people he loves.”
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