Chapter 5 - WHAT THE LEDGER REVEALED
The flash drive contained enough evidence to destroy Theodore Mercer twice.
Victor spent three hours reviewing it with Dominic’s attorney.
Bribes.
Illegal shipments.
Blackmail payments.
Property transfers.
Names of officials.
Dates.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
But buried within the records was something Dominic had not expected.
A Moretti name.
Salvatore Moretti.
His father.
Dominic stared at the screen.
There were six transfers made eighteen years ago.
Every payment had gone from a Mercer-controlled company to one owned secretly by Salvatore.
Victor stood behind him.
“I didn’t know.”
Dominic said nothing.
The final document was an audio recording.
He clicked it.
His father’s voice filled the room.
Older.
Cold.
Unmistakable.
“If the Mercer woman changes her mind, remove her.”
Another man asked, “And the boy?”
Salvatore answered, “The boy is mine. He stays.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Victor went pale.
“What woman?”
They searched the associated files.
A photograph appeared.
Dominic’s mother.
Elena Moretti.
Standing beside Theodore Mercer.
Dominic rose so quickly the chair fell backward.
“No.”
Victor’s voice softened.
“Dominic…”
“No.”
His mother had died when Dominic was five.
Car accident.
That was what he had always been told.
A drunk driver crossed the center line.
Immediate death.
His father had arrived at the hospital and taken Dominic home before sunrise.
For thirty-three years, that story had been fact.
Until now.
Sophia entered the office carrying coffee.
She saw Dominic’s face.
“What happened?”
He did not answer.
Victor quietly turned the laptop toward her.
Sophia read.
Her hand covered her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Apparently our fathers had more history than either of us knew.”
Sophia stepped closer.
“You don’t have to read this tonight.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Dominic.”
He looked at her.
She did not flinch.
“That little boy who lost his mother doesn’t owe anyone the strength to learn everything in one night.”
His chest tightened.
Nobody spoke to him that way.
Not anymore.
“I’m not a little boy.”
“No.”
Sophia’s eyes softened.
“But he’s still in there.”
Dominic turned away.
His father’s voice replayed in his memory.
The boy is mine.
He stays.
Dominic had spent his life believing Salvatore’s cruelty had begun after Elena died.
What if it hadn’t?
What if his father had helped cause it?
Victor discovered the truth at dawn.
Elena Moretti had approached Theodore Mercer after discovering financial crimes involving Salvatore.
She intended to take Dominic and leave New York.
Theodore initially agreed to help.
Then Salvatore paid him.
Three days later Elena’s car went off a bridge.
The supposedly drunk driver disappeared before trial.
Dominic stood at the window listening.
When Victor finished, he said nothing for a long time.
Sophia had remained downstairs all night.
Near sunrise, she found Dominic sitting alone in the kitchen.
No jacket.
No tie.
Just a man staring at a coffee he had forgotten to drink.
She did not ask whether she could sit.
She simply sat.
“My grandmother used to tell me that learning the truth about cruel people feels like losing them twice,” she said.
Dominic looked at her.
“You still lose the person you thought they were.”
“My father was never someone worth mourning.”
“Maybe not.”
She folded her hands.
“But a child always wants to believe there was something good.”
Dominic swallowed.
“Lily makes that sound easy.”
Sophia smiled faintly.
“Lily believes everybody has something good.”
“She’s wrong.”
“Probably.”
He looked at her.
Sophia laughed softly.
“Three-year-olds aren’t famous for sophisticated moral philosophy.”
The sound did something unexpected.
It eased the pressure in his chest.
Then the security alarm sounded.
Sophia jumped.
Dominic rose.
Victor appeared almost immediately.
“Vehicle at north gate.”
“Who?”
Victor’s face was grim.
“Evan Sloane.”
Dominic went outside.
Evan stood beyond the gates with both hands visible.
“I want protection.”
Dominic stared through the iron bars.
“You came to the wrong house.”
“Theodore is going to kill me.”
“That sounds like a problem between you and Theodore.”
“I can give you Greco.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“I want immunity.”
“You think I’m the district attorney?”
“I want your word I walk away.”
Dominic remained silent.
Evan looked toward the mansion.
“Ask Sophie what Theodore does to people who disappoint him.”
Dominic’s hand tightened.
“If you say her name again—”
“Greco is meeting Theodore tonight.”
“Where?”
“Protection first.”
Dominic stepped closer to the gate.
“You put bruises on Sophia.”
Evan’s expression changed.
“You terrified Lily.”
Silence.
“You blackmailed a woman who escaped you.”
Evan swallowed.
“So no, I am not giving you my word.”
“Then forget it.”
Evan turned.
Dominic said, “But I can promise you this.”
Evan stopped.
“If you help me end Theodore Mercer, law enforcement will hear exactly what you did to help.”
Evan considered.
Then gave him an address in Glen Cove.
“Midnight.”
Dominic sent men to verify it.
At eleven thirty, he prepared to leave.
Sophia stood in the foyer.
“You’re going.”
“Yes.”
“This could be a trap.”
“It probably is.”
“Then don’t.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“You have an unusual understanding of my profession.”
“I understand getting killed is usually considered bad.”
He adjusted his coat.
Sophia stepped closer.
For one second she seemed unsure what she wanted to say.
Then she whispered, “Come back.”
Dominic went still.
Nobody waited for him.
Nobody asked him to come back.
Not in years.
He touched her face before he could stop himself.
Sophia’s breath caught.
His thumb rested briefly beside her cheek.
“I will.”
Behind them, Lily’s sleepy voice floated from the staircase.
“Mr. Dominic?”
They separated.
Lily stood in pajamas holding a stuffed lion.
“You going outside?”
“Yes.”
She frowned.
“It’s cold.”
Dominic looked at Sophia.
Then at Lily.
“I know.”
The child disappeared upstairs.
Thirty seconds later she returned dragging the same velvet blanket.
Dominic stared.
“You forgot this.”
His throat tightened.
He crouched.
“I think I’ll leave it here.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody important might need it while I’m gone.”
Lily considered that.
Then hugged him.
“Okay.”
Dominic looked over her head at Sophia.
And for the first time in his life, he understood exactly what his father had been wrong about.
Having someone important enough to destroy you was terrifying.
May you like
But having no one important enough to lose was not strength.
It was emptiness.
