Chapter 16 - Salvatore’s Final Order
Dominic wanted Norah gone.
Not from his life.
From New York.
Immediately.
He arranged a plane.
A hotel under another name.
Security.
Norah refused all of it.
They argued in the hospital corridor.
“You received a threat.”
“Yes.”
“From Victor.”
“I can read.”
“He has killed before.”
“That is precisely why I’m not getting onto a private plane whose destination he can probably learn from somebody.”
Dominic stared.
“That is the first intelligent argument you’ve made about personal safety.”
“Thank you.”
“It doesn’t change my answer.”
“You don’t get an answer.”
“Norah.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I cannot protect you if you refuse to cooperate.”
“Maybe stop treating protection like control.”
The words hit harder than she intended.
Dominic went still.
Norah regretted them immediately.
Because that was Salvatore’s mistake.
Protection without trust.
Love turned into decisions made for other people.
Dominic saw the parallel.
His jaw tightened.
“You’re right.”
Norah blinked.
“What?”
“You’re right.”
“That was unexpectedly mature.”
“Don’t ruin it.”
She almost smiled.
They compromised.
Norah moved temporarily into a secure apartment owned by a hospital foundation.
Two federal agents monitored Victor’s threats.
Dominic did not know the exact location.
That was Norah’s condition.
He hated it.
She liked that.
Salvatore remained hospitalized for four more days.
During that time he became the most cooperative patient Norah had ever seen him be.
He took medication.
He completed therapy.
He allowed blood draws without terrifying junior staff.
On the fifth morning Norah entered and found him practicing one word.
“Dom…”
She stopped.
Salvatore looked irritated.
“Again.”
“Dom…”
His mouth struggled.
“Dominic?”
He glared.
“Sorry. Continue.”
“Dom…nic.”
It was rough.
But recognizable.
Norah smiled.
“He’s going to pretend it doesn’t matter.”
Salvatore nodded knowingly.
“But it will.”
Another nod.
Norah sat.
“Any words for me?”
He lifted the board.
BOSSY.
She stared.
“Excuse me?”
His shoulders shook with laughter.
“Very funny.”
He pointed.
GOOD.
BOSSY.
“That is not better.”
He smiled.
A genuine smile.
It changed his entire face.
For the first time, Norah could imagine the young man Elena had once loved.
Later that day, Rachel Cohen visited.
“We found Victor’s plane.”
Dominic, Frank, Norah and Salvatore listened.
“Where?”
“Small airfield in Quebec.”
Dominic’s expression tightened.
“He crossed?”
“No.”
“The aircraft landed there automatically after the pilot filed an emergency diversion.”
“Victor wasn’t aboard?”
Cohen shook her head.
“The passenger manifest was false.”
Frank swore.
“Where is he?”
“We believe he never left New York.”
Salvatore’s hand struck the bed.
He knew.
Norah brought the board.
WHERE?
Salvatore spelled:
MANSION.
Dominic stared.
“No.”
Salvatore insisted.
OLD.
ROOM.
Dominic understood.
“The sealed west wing.”
Frank frowned.
“That hasn’t been used in twenty years.”
“Exactly.”
Victor had spent his childhood at the estate.
He knew passages newer guards did not.
The family had searched for an enemy around the world while he hid inside their own history.
Dominic called security.
No answer from the west-wing post.
His face changed.
They left the hospital without Salvatore.
Or tried to.
Salvatore blocked the doorway with his wheelchair.
Norah folded her arms.
“No.”
He pointed.
MY.
HOUSE.
“You were discharged fifteen minutes ago.”
GO.
“No.”
Dominic sighed.
“He will fight you.”
“I’m aware.”
Salvatore pointed to Norah.
BOSSY.
Dominic laughed despite himself.
Ultimately, Salvatore went.
Federal agents reached the estate first.
The west wing had been locked from inside.
When they entered, Victor was gone.
But they found a room recently used.
Food.
Clothing.
Documents.
Surveillance monitors connected illegally to cameras throughout the mansion.
For months, Victor had been watching.
Norah felt sick.
“He saw everything.”
Dominic looked at the screens.
Her arrival.
Salvatore’s therapy.
The dinner.
The word.
Basta.
One monitor displayed recordings archived by date.
Frank opened the files.
Among them was footage of Matteo entering the room.
Then Victor.
Audio played.
Matteo sounded frightened.
“We should leave.”
Victor replied, “Dominic will destroy everything.”
“He already has the ledger.”
“Then we destroy Dominic.”
Norah’s skin chilled.
Another file.
Recorded the previous evening.
Victor speaking on the phone.
“Tomorrow morning. Board meeting. Garage.”
Dominic frowned.
“What board meeting?”
Frank checked his schedule.
“Moretti Infrastructure. Nine a.m.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“I canceled.”
“Maybe Victor doesn’t know.”
Norah looked at the screen.
“Or he knows exactly what you’ll do.”
Silence.
The board meeting was bait.
Dominic called Cohen.
Federal agents prepared the building.
The next morning, despite every instinct, Dominic appeared at Moretti Infrastructure headquarters.
The garage looked empty.
Agents waited out of sight.
Norah was nowhere near it.
That was the deal.
At 9:07, Victor arrived.
Not with weapons.
With a briefcase.
He stepped from a black sedan and looked at Dominic across the concrete level.
“You came.”
Dominic stood alone.
“So did you.”
Victor smiled.
“You always needed to prove you weren’t afraid.”
“No.”
Dominic shook his head.
“I needed you to think that.”
Agents emerged.
Victor’s smile disappeared.
He turned.
Every exit closed.
Rachel Cohen approached.
“Victor Moretti, you’re under arrest.”
Victor looked at Dominic.
“You think this makes you clean?”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
“You think you’re different from Salvatore?”
“No.”
Victor frowned.
Dominic continued.
“I think being different is something I’ll have to prove every day.”
Cohen placed Victor in handcuffs.
He looked suddenly old.
Small.
Power had been the only thing holding his shape together.
As agents led him away, Victor stopped.
“Elena would have hated what this family became.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
Then he answered.
“That’s why I’m ending it.”
Victor left.
By noon, Matteo surrendered through an attorney.
By evening, the Moretti network that had survived generations had effectively collapsed.
Dominic returned to the estate.
Salvatore waited in the dining room.
Norah stood beside him.
Dominic placed Victor’s arrest paperwork on the table.
“It’s over.”
Salvatore looked at it.
Then at his son.
He slowly lifted his left hand.
Not in command.
Not in anger.
He touched Dominic’s cheek.
Then he forced out a word.
“Dom…inic.”
Dominic froze.
Norah watched tears fill his eyes.
Salvatore had given hundreds of orders in his lifetime.
Some had built fortunes.
Some had ruined lives.
But the last command he ever gave as patriarch came through his communication board minutes later.
END.
IT.
Dominic looked at him.
Then nodded.
“I will.”
May you like
And for the first time in half a century, Salvatore Moretti gave an order that might actually save his family.
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