Chapter 8 - Sophia’s Condition
The fire did not destroy the entire building.
That was the first piece of good news.
Mrs. Landry had not been inside.
That was the second.
There was no third.
By seven thirty, the fire marshal had declared the back room severely damaged.
Dominic watched firefighters carry soaked boxes onto the sidewalk.
Matteo Romano was gone.
Sophia stood beside him.
“You let him leave.”
“I wasn't going to start something in front of firefighters.”
“Because I asked?”
“Partly.”
“What was the other part?”
“I want to know where he goes.”
Sophia looked at him.
“You're having him followed.”
“Yes.”
“I thought you had no men here.”
“I lied.”
She closed her eyes.
“Dominic.”
“I kept them away from the wedding.”
“That is not what we agreed.”
“No.”
“Why are you saying it so calmly?”
“Because you're right.”
Sophia stared at him.
It was infuriating.
She had prepared herself to argue with excuses.
Dominic simply absorbed the accusation.
“You think admitting it makes the lie better?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because explaining why I did it would sound like justification.”
She didn't know what to say to that.
Dominic looked back at the burned shop.
“I was afraid.”
Sophia nearly laughed.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Of what?”
He looked at her.
“That something would happen to you.”
The words changed the air.
Sophia's anger stumbled.
Not disappeared.
But stumbled.
“You don't get to use caring about me as permission to control me.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“I'm learning.”
Her expression softened reluctantly.
“Slow learner.”
“Historically.”
She almost smiled.
Then Daniel approached.
“Fire marshal found the workbench.”
Sophia turned.
“And?”
“Mrs. Landry kept repair tags in metal drawers.”
They entered after receiving permission.
Water dripped from the ceiling.
Smoke darkened the walls.
Mrs. Landry arrived wrapped in a coat.
She was seventy-two and furious that anyone had burned her business before breakfast.
“I remember Margaret's bag,” she said.
Sophia's heart jumped.
“You do?”
“Blue canvas. Ugly thing.”
Margaret would have been offended.
“The lining?”
Mrs. Landry frowned.
“I replaced it.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What did you do with the old lining?”
“I save fabric.”
“Why?”
“Because fabric costs money.”
Dominic liked her immediately.
She led them toward a damaged cabinet.
One drawer survived.
Inside were envelopes containing scraps of cloth.
Mrs. Landry searched.
“Carter… Carter…”
Then stopped.
“Huh.”
“What?” Sophia asked.
“The envelope is gone.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Dominic asked, “Who has access?”
“Me.”
“Anyone else?”
“My granddaughter helps Sundays.”
“Did anyone ask about the bag?”
Mrs. Landry thought.
“A man came last week.”
Everyone became still.
“What man?”
“Said he was Daniel.”
Daniel stared.
“He used my name?”
“He said he was Margaret's son-in-law.”
“What did he look like?”
“Dark hair. Expensive coat. Smiled too much.”
Matteo.
Sophia pressed her fingers against her forehead.
“So he has it.”
“Maybe,” Dominic said.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“I didn't hide the ledger loose.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wrapped it.”
“In what?”
Daniel hesitated.
“A baby blanket.”
Sophia stared.
“What baby blanket?”
“The yellow one.”
Her expression changed.
She knew exactly which one.
Lily had been wrapped in it when they left St. Vincent's.
Sophia had kept it.
Not because of Daniel.
Because of Lily.
“It wasn't in the hospital bag when I gave it to Mom.”
Daniel looked confused.
“Then where?”
Sophia thought.
“I took it out.”
“Why?”
“Lily spit up on it.”
Marco muttered, “Children saving organized crime investigations one bodily fluid at a time.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Not now.”
Sophia's eyes widened.
“I washed it.”
Then another memory.
“The dryer broke.”
She had lived in a small apartment in Queens.
The landlord had ignored repair requests.
She had carried laundry downstairs to a laundromat two blocks away.
“The blanket went into my closet.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Do you still have it?”
Sophia looked at Dominic.
“At the estate.”
Dominic called immediately.
“Mrs. Alvarez.”
He waited.
“Go to Sophia's apartment.”
Sophia gave him directions.
“Bedroom closet,” she said. “Top shelf. There is a white storage box.”
They waited.
Each second stretched.
Finally Mrs. Alvarez returned to the phone.
Sophia listened.
Her face fell.
“What?”
Dominic asked.
Sophia whispered:
“The box is empty.”
Dominic's expression turned lethal.
“Who entered the staff wing?”
Mrs. Alvarez said something.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“When?”
He ended the call.
Sophia asked, “What?”
“One of the temporary kitchen workers left yesterday.”
“So?”
“He never returned his access card.”
Marco took out his phone.
“I'll get his name.”
Sophia stepped in front of Dominic.
“No.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“No more.”
“What are you talking about?”
“This.”
She gestured around them.
“Running. Threats. Guards. Secrets. People following us.”
“We don't have the ledger.”
“I don't care about the ledger.”
“Matteo does.”
“Then let him have it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
Sophia turned.
“I understand perfectly. You stole something. He wants it. Four years later my daughter is being photographed because of both of you.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
Sophia looked at Dominic.
“And you.”
Dominic said nothing.
“I agreed to one fake date because my mother was dying.”
Her eyes filled.
“Forty-eight hours later, I'm standing inside a burned shop discussing evidence against gangsters.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Sophia.”
“No.”
She raised one hand.
“I need something from you.”
“Name it.”
“Get Lily and me out.”
“I can.”
“Not into another guarded mansion.”
He went still.
“I want normal.”
“Sophia—”
“Can you give me that?”
Dominic looked at her.
For once, power gave him no advantage.
He could buy apartments.
He could move guards.
He could make men disappear from street corners.
But Sophia was asking whether he could remove his own world from hers.
And the truthful answer was harder.
“I don't know.”
She nodded slowly.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For finally saying you don't know.”
Dominic's chest tightened.
Sophia continued.
“I have one condition.”
“What?”
“If we get through this, Lily and I leave the estate.”
Dominic felt the sentence like a blow.
“You're quitting?”
“Yes.”
He looked away.
“Because of me.”
“Because I can't teach my daughter that safety means depending on a dangerous man.”
Dominic looked back.
“And what do you want me to teach her?”
Sophia's voice softened.
“That dangerous men can choose to become different.”
Dominic said nothing.
Sophia touched his sleeve.
“You asked what you get from helping us.”
He remembered.
“Nothing.”
“Maybe not.”
Her eyes held his.
“Maybe you get a choice.”
Before he could answer, Marco approached quickly.
“I found the temporary worker.”
“Name?”
“Evan Price. Fake identity.”
“Camera?”
Marco nodded.
“We have him entering Sophia's staff corridor.”
Sophia felt sick.
“Did he take the blanket?”
“Probably.”
“Where is he?”
Marco hesitated.
“Dead.”
Sophia went white.
Dominic's expression hardened.
“How?”
“Car accident this morning.”
“You believe that?”
“No.”
Marco held up his phone.
“But police recovered his belongings.”
“Blanket?”
“No.”
“What did they find?”
“A receipt.”
“For what?”
“Bus ticket.”
“Where?”
Marco looked at Sophia.
“Philadelphia.”
Daniel swore.
Sophia frowned.
“Why Philadelphia?”
Daniel's face had changed.
Dominic noticed.
“What?”
Daniel said nothing.
Dominic stepped closer.
“What is in Philadelphia?”
Daniel whispered:
“The person I was supposed to give the ledger to four years ago.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked at Sophia.
Then Dominic.
“A federal prosecutor named Rebecca Shaw.”
Marco went completely still.
Dominic recognized the name too.
Rebecca Shaw had built half her career trying to dismantle the Moretti organization.
And if the ledger was on its way to her—
Matteo Romano was no longer the only person who had reason to fear what it contained.
May you like
So did Dominic.
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