Chapter 5 - The Price of Protecting Her
At 7:58 the next morning, Dominic Russo entered the Russo Holdings boardroom.
Chloe walked beside him.
He had told her to remain at the penthouse.
She had ignored him.
Again.
“You’re developing an unfortunate habit,” Dominic murmured.
“What?”
“Disobeying me.”
“I prefer independent decision-making.”
Despite the crisis, he almost smiled.
Twelve board members waited.
Vincent Russo sat near the head of the table.
Sixty-two years old.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
The man looked exactly as Dominic remembered from childhood.
Safe.
Familiar.
Family.
“Dominic,” Vincent said. “Sit.”
Dominic remained standing.
“I prefer this.”
Vincent sighed.
“We have a serious problem.”
Documents were distributed.
Evidence supposedly showed Dominic diverting company money through shell accounts.
Chloe recognized the transactions immediately.
Fabricated.
But sophisticated.
The board members were nervous.
Vincent played his role perfectly.
“I don’t want to believe this,” he said.
Dominic almost admired the performance.
“You shouldn’t.”
“Your signature is on every authorization.”
“Forged.”
Vincent looked pained.
“Dominic—”
“Stop.”
The room became silent.
Dominic placed both palms on the table.
“You were always terrible at pretending to care.”
Vincent’s eyes changed.
Only slightly.
But Chloe saw it.
So did Dominic.
“What are you suggesting?”
“I’m not suggesting anything.”
Dominic nodded toward Chloe.
She connected her laptop.
Documents appeared on the wall screen.
The real accounts.
The consulting payments.
Vincent’s authorizations.
Board members began whispering.
Vincent remained calm.
“Interesting.”
“Is it?”
“Fabricated evidence can point both directions.”
Then he looked at Chloe.
“And we should discuss your assistant.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
Vincent displayed photographs.
Chloe at the nightclub.
Dominic arriving.
Chloe entering his private residence.
“These photographs prove nothing,” Dominic said.
“They prove an undisclosed personal relationship with an employee involved in sensitive financial records.”
“There is no relationship.”
The words landed harder than Dominic intended.
Chloe looked down.
Vincent noticed.
Dominic noticed that Vincent noticed.
A mistake.
Vincent smiled.
“Then perhaps Ms. Bennett should explain why her brother has illegally accessed Russo financial systems for three years.”
The board erupted.
Chloe froze.
Dominic turned.
Vincent knew David was alive.
That changed everything.
Dominic reached for his phone.
No signal.
Vincent smiled.
“Security protocol.”
Dominic looked toward the doors.
Locked.
Vincent stood.
“I loved your father.”
“No,” Dominic said. “You envied him.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
“You know nothing about your father.”
“I know he trusted you.”
“And that was his weakness.”
There it was.
The mask finally cracked.
Vincent looked around the room.
“I built half of what bears the Russo name. Your father received the credit. Then he died and handed everything to a twenty-six-year-old boy.”
Dominic remained calm.
“So you betrayed the family.”
“I corrected an injustice.”
“You tried to destroy Adrian.”
“Adrian destroyed himself.”
Chloe’s phone suddenly buzzed.
Everyone looked at her.
She had signal.
David had secretly installed an encrypted communication application years earlier.
A message appeared.
NOW.
Chloe pressed one button.
Every boardroom screen changed.
Audio began playing.
Vincent’s own voice.
Recorded conversations.
Payments.
Threats.
Instructions.
Dates.
Names.
The room became silent.
Vincent’s face drained of color.
Dominic looked toward Chloe.
“How?”
“David.”
Outside, sirens approached.
Vincent turned toward the windows.
For the first time, fear appeared on his face.
“You stupid girl.”
Dominic stepped between them.
“Careful.”
Vincent looked at his nephew.
“You would destroy your own family for her?”
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“You destroyed this family long before she arrived.”
Police and federal investigators entered minutes later.
Vincent was taken away.
The crisis should have ended there.
It did not.
Because when Dominic returned to his office, Chloe was packing her desk.
He stopped in the doorway.
“What are you doing?”
She did not look up.
“Leaving.”
“No.”
Chloe laughed softly.
“You really need to learn that word doesn’t solve everything.”
“Why?”
She finally looked at him.
“Because Vincent was right about one thing.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Choose your next sentence carefully.”
“People are talking.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I worked for this job.”
Her voice shook.
“I worked harder than everyone else because I knew who you were. Because I knew Adrian. Because I knew if anyone discovered that connection, they would assume I got here through somebody else.”
“You didn’t.”
“I know.”
“Then stay.”
She closed the box.
“I can’t.”
Something unfamiliar tightened inside Dominic’s chest.
Fear.
He could face enemies.
Police.
Betrayal.
But Chloe carrying a cardboard box toward an elevator somehow felt worse.
“Is this because I said there was no relationship?”
She stopped.
Dominic immediately regretted asking.
Chloe looked back.
“There isn’t.”
He said nothing.
“That’s what you told them.”
“I was protecting you.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you leaving?”
“Because I need to know who I am when I’m not twelve feet from your office door.”
The elevator opened.
Chloe stepped inside.
Dominic remained motionless.
She looked at him.
“Thank you for coming that night.”
The doors began closing.
Dominic finally spoke.
“I’d come again.”
Chloe’s eyes filled with something he could not name.
Then the doors closed.
For the first time in six months, the desk outside Dominic’s office was empty.
He hated it.
Three weeks passed.
Vincent’s network collapsed.
Adrian began slowly returning to the family.
David reunited with his mother.
Russo Holdings survived.
Dominic should have been satisfied.
Instead, every morning he looked toward the empty desk.
Leo noticed.
“You could call her.”
“No.”
“You drove through Chicago at ninety miles an hour, but making a phone call frightens you?”
Dominic glared.
Leo smiled.
“Interesting.”
“Get out.”
Leo left laughing.
At 6:20 that evening, Dominic’s phone vibrated.
He grabbed it immediately.
Not Chloe.
A message from an unknown number.
There was a photograph attached.
Chloe walking out of a small office building.
Underneath were five words.
Vincent wasn’t working alone.
Dominic stood.
May you like
Another message arrived.
And Chloe just found out who was.
