Chapter 12 - Paulie Makes His Choice
Dominic did not confront Paulie immediately.
That surprised Riley.
A week earlier, Dominic would have.
Now he waited for evidence.
Arthur’s rule had become his own.
They met Lena early the next morning.
Santucci’s claim had details.
Paulie passed information to Tony.
He passed different information to Salvatore.
Later, he contacted Bellini twice.
On paper, it looked terrible.
Paulie arrived at the shop at eight.
Dominic placed the report in front of him.
Paulie read it.
His face did not change.
Riley stood nearby.
Vincent watched from the doorway.
Dominic spoke.
“Explain.”
Paulie sat.
“No.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Riley looked at Paulie.
“Why?”
“Because if I explain, somebody else gets hurt.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“People are already hurt.”
Paulie looked exhausted.
“I promised your mother.”
Silence.
Dominic stared.
“What?”
Paulie reached into his jacket slowly.
Vincent’s hand moved.
Paulie placed an old photograph on the table.
Elena Castelli.
Arthur Hayes.
A younger Paulie.
He looked nineteen.
Dominic picked it up.
“You knew her.”
“She saved my brother.”
“How?”
“Sean got caught stealing from your father.”
Dominic understood what that usually meant.
“Elena convinced Salvatore to spare him.”
Paulie continued.
“After that, Sean worked for Arthur sometimes. I did too.”
“You were Arthur’s source.”
“One of them.”
Riley’s eyes widened.
Paulie nodded.
“When Tony started stealing, Arthur asked me to watch.”
Dominic stared.
“You reported to my father?”
“Yes.”
“And Bellini?”
“I fed him false information when Arthur needed pressure moved somewhere else.”
Vincent laughed softly.
“You’ve been lying professionally for twenty years.”
Paulie looked at him.
“Pretty much.”
Dominic was not amused.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Paulie’s eyes hardened.
“Because Elena asked me not to.”
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
“She wrote instructions.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Of course she did.”
Paulie removed an envelope.
Dominic recognized his mother’s handwriting.
He did not reach for it.
Riley did.
She placed it closer.
Dominic finally opened it.
Elena asked Paulie to protect Dominic from two things.
Salvatore’s enemies.
And Salvatore’s expectations.
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“He failed.”
Paulie looked at him.
“Yes.”
Dominic looked up.
Paulie continued.
“I was nineteen. Your father terrified me. After Elena died, Arthur told me the best I could do was stay close.”
“So you stayed.”
“Yes.”
“And watched me become my father.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Every time I told you Tony was pushing too hard.”
“That isn’t trying.”
“No.”
Paulie looked ashamed.
“I should have done more.”
Dominic stood.
Riley watched carefully.
Paulie did not.
“If I were my father,” Dominic said, “what would happen now?”
Paulie looked at him.
“You’d kill me.”
Vincent went still.
Riley’s breath caught.
Dominic walked around the table.
Paulie stood.
Dominic extended his hand.
“You’re fired.”
Paulie stared.
“What?”
“As underboss.”
Paulie looked confused.
Dominic continued.
“You lied to me for years. I can’t have that.”
Paulie nodded slowly.
“Fair.”
“But.”
Paulie waited.
“I need somebody to run security for the legitimate companies.”
Paulie blinked.
Riley smiled.
Dominic added:
“Employment comes with health insurance.”
Vincent laughed.
Paulie looked like he might cry.
Instead he cleared his throat.
“Can I keep the car?”
“No.”
“That’s harsh.”
“You lied for twenty years.”
“Five.”
“Your face says twenty.”
Riley laughed.
The tension broke.
Paulie shook Dominic’s hand.
It was not forgiveness.
Not fully.
But it was something.
Then Paulie looked at Riley.
“Arthur would have liked this.”
She smiled sadly.
“He would have complained first.”
“Absolutely.”
At ten, Dominic went to Noah’s baseball game.
He wore a suit.
Riley stared.
“You’re wearing that?”
“What’s wrong?”
“You look like you’re attending a hostile merger.”
“I didn’t know baseball had a dress code.”
“It doesn’t. That’s the problem.”
Noah ran over wearing his uniform.
“Dominic!”
Dominic crouched.
Noah handed him a team cap.
“You have to wear this.”
Dominic looked at Riley.
She smiled.
He put it on.
Paulie took a photograph.
Dominic pointed.
“Delete that.”
“No.”
“Paulie.”
“Health insurance.”
Riley laughed so hard she had to turn away.
For two hours, Dominic Castelli sat on metal bleachers and learned that eight-year-old baseball involved more dirt, confusion, and snacks than athletic precision.
He loved it.
He hated that he loved it.
Noah got one hit.
Dominic stood and clapped harder than anybody.
Riley looked at him.
That expression did something to her.
After the game, Noah ran toward them.
He hugged Riley.
Then, without warning, hugged Dominic.
Dominic froze.
Paulie saw it.
So did Vincent.
Nobody laughed.
Dominic slowly placed one hand on Noah’s back.
Something old and locked inside him opened.
Not completely.
Enough.
Then Lena arrived.
Her expression destroyed the moment.
“Hale gave investigators one final statement.”
Dominic removed the baseball cap.
“What?”
“He says Tony was never the top of the redevelopment plan.”
Riley frowned.
“Bellini?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Lena looked at Dominic.
“Your father.”
Dominic stared.
“My father is dead.”
“Yes.”
“But the structure he created isn’t.”
She handed him documents.
Salvatore Castelli had built a hidden network of trusts and shell corporations years before his death.
Tony had discovered them.
Bellini tried to seize them.
Hale managed them.
And one final corporation still controlled several blocks of the neighborhood.
Including Hayes Prime Cuts.
Riley’s face went pale.
“What?”
Lena showed her.
The building had been quietly transferred years earlier after Arthur used it as collateral.
The current owner was an anonymous Castelli trust.
Dominic looked at the signature authorizing the trust.
His own.
He had signed it seven years earlier among hundreds of corporate documents.
Without knowing what it contained.
Riley stared at him.
“You own my building?”
Dominic felt sick.
“Apparently.”
Noah looked between them.
“Are we moving?”
Riley crouched.
“No.”
Dominic looked at the papers.
Then at the shop across the street.
An empire he no longer wanted had reached into Riley’s life long before he met her.
He folded the documents.
“Noah is right about one thing.”
Riley looked up.
“What?”
“This needs fixing.”
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And before the day ended, Dominic would discover that giving Riley back her building required dismantling the last structure his father ever created.
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