Chapter 6 - The Men at Dominic’s Table
The abandoned stockyard had once been one of the loudest places in the district.
Now it was mostly rust, broken windows, cracked concrete, and weeds.
Dominic parked two streets away.
Riley looked at him.
“Why not drive in?”
“Because I enjoy being alive.”
“That’s surprisingly reasonable.”
Paulie glanced between them.
“Are you two always going to do this?”
“Yes,” Riley said.
“No,” Dominic answered.
Vincent smiled.
They entered through a side fence.
The main building appeared empty.
Then Dominic saw fresh tire tracks.
Tony was there.
They reached an old office overlooking the loading floor.
Voices came from below.
Tony.
Two captains from Dominic’s organization.
And three men Riley did not know.
Paulie recognized them.
“Bellini crew.”
Dominic listened.
Tony was explaining that Dominic had become unstable.
That Riley Hayes had humiliated him.
That Dominic planned to sacrifice loyal men to protect a civilian woman.
Riley glanced at Dominic.
He looked more annoyed by the word civilian than the accusation.
Tony continued.
“We remove Dominic, merge the waterfront operations, and everybody gets rich.”
One captain asked, “And Bellini?”
Tony laughed.
“Bellini thinks he’s getting half.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Riley whispered, “Tony plans to betray him too.”
“Tony plans to betray gravity if he thinks there’s money in it.”
Paulie almost laughed.
A floorboard creaked beneath Vincent.
Silence below.
Tony looked up.
“Who’s there?”
Dominic sighed.
“So much for subtle.”
He walked down the metal stairs.
Riley hissed, “Dominic.”
Too late.
Tony stared.
His injured knee was braced beneath expensive trousers.
“Well,” Tony said. “The king visits.”
Dominic reached the floor.
Riley, Paulie, and Vincent followed.
The two Castelli captains looked uncomfortable.
Tony smiled at Riley.
“My knee remembers you.”
Riley looked at the brace.
“Your manners don’t.”
One Bellini man laughed before remembering whose side he was on.
Tony’s face reddened.
Dominic held up the financial records.
“You’re done.”
Tony smiled.
“Paper?”
“Bank transfers. Shell companies. Hale payments. Bellini payments.”
The captains looked at Tony.
He shrugged.
“Business.”
Dominic placed the documents on an old table.
“You stole from the family.”
Tony’s smile weakened.
“You think the family didn’t benefit?”
“You planned to kill me.”
“That part is insulting.”
Dominic removed Arthur’s photograph.
Tony’s face changed.
Riley noticed.
“You’re afraid of a dead butcher,” she said.
Tony looked at her.
“I should have burned that shop five years ago.”
Dominic moved instantly.
Paulie grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Dominic stared at Tony.
Tony smiled.
“There he is.”
Riley understood.
Tony wanted Dominic angry.
Wanted him violent.
Wanted witnesses.
She stepped between them.
Tony laughed.
“Careful, sweetheart.”
Riley walked to the table.
“You’re right about one thing.”
Tony raised an eyebrow.
“Dominic is angry.”
She placed Arthur’s ledger down.
Every man in the room stared.
Tony’s face went pale.
“But anger isn’t your problem.”
Riley opened the ledger.
“Your problem is that my father kept receipts.”
She read names.
Dates.
Amounts.
One of Dominic’s captains swore.
The other looked at Tony.
“You took from my crew?”
Tony’s jaw tightened.
“It was redistributed.”
“To yourself?”
Dominic said nothing.
That was deliberate.
Riley realized what he was doing.
He was letting Tony’s own allies discover the betrayal.
One Bellini man stepped closer.
“Bellini doesn’t know about these accounts.”
Tony looked at him.
“Sit down.”
The man did not.
Dominic finally spoke.
“Tony told all of you loyalty meant obeying him.”
He looked around the room.
“But loyalty without truth is just employment.”
Paulie released Dominic’s arm.
Vincent moved to his side.
One Castelli captain stepped away from Tony.
Then the other.
Tony’s face changed.
“You think he’s different?” Tony demanded, pointing at Dominic. “He’s Salvatore’s son.”
Dominic answered calmly.
“Yes.”
Tony blinked.
Dominic continued.
“My father made mistakes.”
Paulie looked at him.
“So have I.”
The men in the room shifted.
A mafia boss admitting mistakes was almost more shocking than a threat.
Dominic looked at Riley.
“Somebody finally made that difficult to ignore.”
Riley folded her arms.
Tony laughed.
“You’re throwing away your authority for her?”
“No.”
Dominic looked around.
“I’m throwing away your version of it.”
Gunfire suddenly shattered a window.
Everybody dropped.
Bellini.
Dominic pulled Riley behind the concrete table.
Paulie returned fire toward the window.
“Back exit!”
Tony crawled toward a side door.
Dominic saw him.
“Let him go.”
Paulie stared.
“What?”
“He’ll lead Bellini away.”
Riley looked at Dominic.
“That’s cold.”
“It’s practical.”
Another shot struck the wall.
Vincent found a rear stairwell.
They escaped through a loading tunnel.
Outside, police sirens approached again.
Riley stopped.
“Again?”
Dominic looked toward the road.
Lena Park stood beside an unmarked car.
She had called them.
Smart.
Bellini’s men disappeared.
Tony’s vehicle roared from the far side of the yard.
Dominic watched him leave.
Paulie was furious.
“We had him.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“We had the version of him that still thought he had choices.”
“What does that mean?”
Dominic looked at Riley.
“He knows the ledger exists. He knows his men saw it. He knows Bellini heard the shooting.”
Riley understood.
“He has nowhere safe.”
“Exactly.”
Vincent smiled.
“So where does a man go when everybody wants him dead?”
Riley looked at Arthur’s notes.
“To the one person he thinks he can still control.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Councilman Hale.”
Lena approached.
“I have news.”
“What?”
“Hale disappeared from his house twenty minutes ago.”
Dominic looked toward the city skyline.
Tony had gone for Hale.
But before they could move, Riley’s phone rang.
Mrs. Alvarez.
Riley answered.
Her face immediately drained.
“What happened?”
Dominic’s stomach tightened.
Riley listened.
Then whispered:
“Noah?”
She dropped the phone.
Dominic caught it.
Mrs. Alvarez was crying on the other end.
“The boy is gone.”
Riley ran toward the car.
Dominic grabbed her shoulders.
“Riley.”
“Get off me!”
“Listen.”
“He took my son!”
“We don’t know that.”
“Yes, we do!”
Dominic had never seen her afraid before.
He hated it.
Not because fear made her weak.
Because someone had finally found the thing that could break her composure.
Noah.
Dominic looked at Paulie.
“Call everyone.”
Riley stared at him.
“You said no armies.”
“That was before they touched the boy.”
Paulie reached for his phone.
Dominic stopped him.
“No guns unless absolutely necessary.”
Paulie nodded.
Riley looked at Dominic.
“Bring him back.”
Three words.
No threat.
No bargaining.
Dominic understood what she was giving him.
Trust.
It terrified him more than any enemy ever had.
He opened the passenger door for her.
“I will.”
May you like
And for the first time in his life, Dominic Castelli made a promise he knew he would rather die than break.
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