Chapter 16 - The Last Enemy
Dominic saw the surveillance photograph within an hour.
He did not tell Eliza immediately.
That was his first mistake.
His second was thinking he could solve it without her.
When Eliza discovered the hidden security detail three days later, she stormed into his office.
“You’re doing it again.”
Dominic looked up.
“What?”
“Protecting me with lies.”
His face changed.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“When I knew more.”
“That is exactly what Catherine said.”
He closed his eyes.
“Fair.”
“Show me.”
The message was short.
Wait until the child is born.
Mark read it over her shoulder.
“Who sent it?”
“We don’t know.”
Eliza glared at Dominic.
He corrected himself.
“We are working to determine it.”
“Better.”
The threat did not belong to Crown.
Crown was shattered.
The remaining accounts were frozen.
Halston awaited trial.
Victoria was dead.
James was cooperating.
This was someone new.
Or someone old who had escaped notice.
Anthony Tancredi recognized the encryption signature.
“It belongs to NERO.”
Dominic frowned.
“Who?”
“A contractor Crown used for retrieval.”
“What does retrieval mean?” Jenna asked.
Anthony looked uncomfortable.
“Getting people or things back.”
“Kidnapping,” Eliza said.
“Yes.”
NERO had been run by a former intelligence officer named Peter Vale.
And Peter Vale had one final connection.
He was Mark’s former handler.
Mark went pale.
“I thought he died.”
Eliza stared.
“Stop saying that about people.”
Vale wanted money.
Crown owed him millions.
He believed Eliza’s child represented leverage against the Castellano holdings.
Not because of legal inheritance.
Because he assumed Eliza would pay anything to protect her son.
He was right.
But Eliza no longer negotiated from fear.
She worked with investigators to set a trap.
Dominic hated it.
Mark hated it more.
“You’re eight months pregnant.”
“I am aware.”
“You can barely tie your shoes.”
“That is emotionally insensitive.”
“Eliza.”
She softened.
“I’m tired of running.”
Mark touched her face.
“So am I.”
The trap was simple.
Release false information that Eliza would transfer ten million dollars through a private bank.
Vale contacted them within hours.
He demanded a meeting.
At an empty marina in Jersey City.
Eliza did not attend physically.
Instead, she appeared through live video from a secure FBI location.
Vale arrived expecting her.
Dominic waited in the marina warehouse instead.
“You’re not Eliza,” Vale said.
“I get that a lot.”
Vale laughed.
“You think this is funny?”
“No.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“I think you made the same mistake everyone else did.”
“What?”
“You thought Eliza needed men like us to save her.”
Vale smiled.
“And she doesn’t?”
“No.”
Federal agents surrounded the warehouse.
Vale’s smile vanished.
Dominic continued:
“She saved herself.”
Vale was arrested.
The final direct threat disappeared.
For real this time.
Three weeks later, Eliza went into labor.
At 2:03 a.m.
Mark panicked.
Eliza remained surprisingly calm until the contractions intensified.
Then she threatened to kill him.
The nurses laughed.
At 8:41 a.m., their son was born.
Seven pounds, two ounces.
Healthy.
Loud.
Furious at existence.
Mark sobbed openly.
Eliza held the baby against her chest.
For months strangers had called him an heir.
A weapon.
A bargaining chip.
A donor.
Evidence.
None of those words mattered now.
He was simply her son.
Mark leaned closer.
“Are we still sure about the name?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Eliza looked down.
“Welcome, Noah.”
Noah Tanner Reynolds.
No Castellano in the name.
Dominic pretended to be offended.
“You rejected centuries of proud tradition.”
Eliza looked at him.
“Your proud tradition involved three fake deaths and a criminal conspiracy.”
“Fair.”
Sofia and Gabriel visited with Matteo.
Catherine cried before entering the room.
Jenna brought balloons.
Luca brought a stuffed bear so large it barely fit through the door.
Family arrived in every form.
Blood.
Chosen.
Forgiven.
Rebuilt.
Later, when everyone left, Mark sat beside Eliza.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
He smiled.
“I don’t want to ask you anything big today.”
“Good.”
“But someday…”
He stopped.
Eliza looked at him.
“Someday?”
“If we get there.”
She understood.
Marriage.
Not now.
Not as a reward for surviving.
Someday.
“If we get there,” she repeated.
Mark kissed her forehead.
Outside the window, morning light covered Manhattan.
And for once, no helicopter came.
No black car.
No threatening message.
Only sunrise.
But their story was not quite finished.
Because the following morning, Dominic received an envelope.
Inside was a photograph of himself.
And Claire.
The woman who had left him years earlier.
On the back:
She never married the dentist.
Dominic stared at it.
Then his phone rang.
A woman’s voice said:
“Hello, Dominic.”
Claire.
May you like
And Eliza realized some endings were really beginnings.
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