Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT DOMINIC DIDN’T COME HOME
The warehouse in Glen Cove was dark when Dominic arrived.
Too dark.
Victor stayed in the second vehicle.
Six Moretti men spread through the surrounding property.
Dominic entered through a side door with two guards.
Inside, rows of abandoned machinery stretched beneath broken skylights.
He checked his watch.
11:58.
Midnight came.
Nothing.
Then a phone began ringing somewhere in the building.
Dominic followed the sound.
A folding chair stood beneath a single hanging light.
Anthony Greco sat tied to it.
Blood covered his shirt.
Dominic approached carefully.
Anthony lifted his head.
“Trap.”
The lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Dominic dropped behind a steel column.
Bullets struck machinery.
His men returned fire.
“East entrance!” someone shouted.
Dominic moved through darkness.
A man rushed him.
Dominic struck first.
Another shot.
A scream.
Then pain exploded through his side.
He stumbled.
His hand came away bloody.
“Boss!”
Victor’s voice.
Dominic tried to answer.
The building tilted.
He remembered Lily saying, You forgot this.
He remembered Sophia saying, Come back.
Then darkness took him.
At the mansion, Sophia sat in the kitchen with a book open in front of her.
She had not read a word in forty minutes.
Lily slept upstairs.
At 1:17 a.m., headlights swept across the windows.
Sophia stood.
Vehicles entered quickly.
Too quickly.
The front doors opened.
Two men carried Dominic inside.
Blood covered his shirt.
Sophia stopped breathing.
“No.”
She ran.
Victor turned toward her.
“Doctor’s on the way.”
“What happened?”
“Gunshot. Side. We think it passed through.”
Dominic’s eyes were closed.
His skin looked gray.
Sophia grabbed his hand.
“Dominic.”
No response.
“Dominic, open your eyes.”
Victor said quietly, “Sophia.”
She ignored him.
“You told me you were coming back.”
Dominic’s eyelids moved.
Barely.
His mouth opened.
“You’re loud.”
Sophia laughed and cried at the same time.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Probably.”
Then he lost consciousness again.
The doctor worked for forty minutes in Dominic’s private medical suite.
The bullet had passed through without striking major organs, but blood loss had been substantial.
“He needs a hospital,” Sophia insisted.
“The hospital creates exposure,” Victor said.
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
Sophia turned.
Victor’s face was exhausted.
“He’s been attacked twice in twenty-four hours. Whoever is helping Mercer may have people in hospitals too.”
Sophia pressed both hands over her face.
A small voice came from the doorway.
“Mommy?”
Lily stood there.
Sophia quickly wiped her eyes.
“Baby, you should be sleeping.”
Lily looked past her.
Dominic lay unconscious beneath white sheets.
“What happened?”
“He got hurt.”
Lily approached slowly.
“Bad?”
Sophia crouched.
“The doctor says he’s going to be okay.”
Lily studied her face.
“You crying.”
“I was scared.”
The child walked toward Dominic’s bed.
Victor reached out.
Sophia shook her head.
Let her.
Lily climbed onto the chair.
She placed both hands on the mattress.
“Mr. Dominic?”
Nothing.
Lily looked around.
Then froze.
“The blanket.”
Sophia’s heart cracked.
Lily hurried from the room.
A minute later came the familiar sound.
Scrape.
Pause.
Scrape.
Pause.
The velvet blanket appeared in the doorway.
Lily dragged it toward the bed.
This time Sophia helped.
Together they spread it over Dominic.
Lily patted his arm.
“You come back now.”
Sophia turned away, crying silently.
At dawn Dominic opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Lily asleep in a chair with her head against Sophia.
The second was the velvet blanket covering him.
He smiled weakly.
Sophia woke.
“You’re awake.”
“Unfortunately.”
She stood immediately.
“Do you know how terrified I was?”
“Yes.”
“You promised.”
“I came back.”
“You were unconscious.”
“Technicality.”
Sophia stared at him.
Then slapped his shoulder.
Dominic winced.
“I’ve been shot.”
“I know.”
“You just hit a wounded man.”
“I considered something heavier.”
He laughed.
The sound surprised both of them.
Sophia covered her face.
“I thought you were dead.”
Dominic’s humor disappeared.
He reached for her.
She took his hand.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him through tears.
“For what?”
“For making you afraid.”
Sophia shook her head.
“You don’t apologize for getting shot.”
“I don’t have much experience with apologies.”
“I noticed.”
His thumb brushed her fingers.
“Anthony?”
“Alive.”
“Victor?”
“Fine.”
“Mercer?”
“Gone.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Failure.
Sophia squeezed his hand.
“You survived.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“For Lily, it is.”
Dominic opened his eyes.
The toddler remained asleep.
“For me too,” Sophia whispered.
The room changed.
Dominic looked at her.
Sophia seemed to realize what she had admitted.
Neither moved.
Finally Dominic said, “Sophia.”
She stepped closer.
His hand lifted toward her face.
Before he could touch her, Victor entered.
“Sorry.”
He clearly was not.
Dominic glared.
“What?”
Victor held a phone.
“We recovered Anthony.”
“And?”
“He says Evan set everything up.”
Sophia went still.
Victor continued.
“Evan was never running from Theodore.”
Dominic’s jaw hardened.
“He was working for him.”
“Yes.”
Sophia whispered, “No.”
Victor looked at her.
“Evan gave Theodore the warehouse location. He used Dominic to eliminate Anthony.”
“Why?”
“Because Anthony wanted out.”
Dominic pushed himself upright despite the pain.
Victor stepped closer.
“There’s more.”
He showed them a security image.
Evan entering the mansion grounds two days earlier.
Beside him stood a Moretti employee.
Sophia recognized the uniform.
“Mara?”
The woman was one of the kitchen staff.
Victor nodded.
“She disabled the nursery window alarm.”
Dominic’s expression became lethal.
“Find her.”
“We did.”
“Where?”
Victor hesitated.
“In her room.”
“Alive?”
“No.”
Sophia’s hand flew to her mouth.
Victor looked at Dominic.
“She had a phone.”
He placed it on the bed.
“One unsent text.”
Dominic read it.
THE CHILD ISN’T THE TARGET. SOPHIA IS.
Sophia whispered, “Why me?”
Victor’s face darkened.
“Because Theodore believes you still have one thing more dangerous than the ledger.”
“What?”
“Your grandmother’s testimony.”
Sophia went pale.
“My grandmother is dead.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
Sophia stared.
“She died six years ago.”
“No,” Victor said. “She disappeared six years ago.”
Dominic looked at Sophia.
May you like
Victor continued.
“And according to what Anthony told us before losing consciousness, Theodore has been searching for her ever since.”
