Chapter 5 - Everyone Around Him Had a Price
Leo wasn't part of Valerie's conspiracy.
Not willingly.
They discovered that twenty minutes later.
Security footage showed Lily leaving through the kitchen after receiving the message.
Leo followed.
Then another camera showed Gabriel waiting outside.
Leo tried to pull Lily back.
Gabriel's driver pushed him aside.
No dramatic attack.
No chaos.
Just confusion.
Then the car left.
Dominic watched the footage twice.
“He used Leo's phone.”
Norah nodded.
“Where would he take her?”
Dominic thought.
“The freight yard.”
They found Leo nearby, shaken but conscious.
“I tried to stop them.”
Norah crouched beside him.
“Why did you fire me?”
His face collapsed.
“Valerie threatened the restaurant.”
“That doesn't answer me.”
“She knew about my daughter.”
Leo looked ashamed.
“She said she'd make sure my daughter lost her scholarship.”
Norah closed her eyes.
Everyone had something they needed.
A job.
A daughter.
A business.
A reputation.
Valerie understood that better than anyone.
She didn't buy loyalty.
She purchased fear.
Dominic called the police through his attorney and gave them Daniel's evidence.
Then he and Norah drove toward the freight yard.
“You're staying in the car,” he said.
“No.”
“Norah.”
“No.”
“Why does every conversation with you contain that word?”
“Because you keep saying stupid things.”
When they arrived, Lily wasn't being held prisoner in some dark warehouse.
She was sitting inside the dispatch office.
Gabriel sat across from her.
Valerie stood by the window.
Norah entered beside Dominic.
Valerie laughed.
“The waitress.”
“Former waitress,” Norah said.
“You really don't understand when you're out of your depth.”
Norah looked at Lily.
“You okay?”
Lily nodded.
Gabriel sighed.
“This has become ridiculous.”
Dominic looked at the man he'd trusted for eighteen years.
“Why?”
Gabriel smiled sadly.
“You know why.”
“No. I want to hear you say it.”
Gabriel stood.
“I built half of this with you.”
“You were paid.”
“I was employed.”
“You were family.”
“No, Dominic. I stood behind you while everyone learned your name.”
There it was.
Not money.
Resentment.
Gabriel had spent eighteen years believing Dominic possessed a life that should have belonged to him.
Valerie walked toward Dominic.
“You were never supposed to find out.”
“You made Daniel disappear.”
“He disappeared himself.”
“You threatened Leo.”
“He was weak.”
“You humiliated a nineteen-year-old girl because she spilled wine.”
Valerie's face hardened.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
Dominic looked at Norah.
“Yes, it does.”
Valerie followed his gaze.
Understanding appeared.
“You're choosing her?”
“This isn't about choosing women.”
“It always is with men like you.”
“No.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“It's about finally seeing you.”
Valerie's composure cracked.
“You think she's better than me?”
“No.”
Norah answered instead.
“I think that's what terrifies you.”
Valerie turned.
Norah continued calmly.
“I have eighty-seven dollars when this started. I serve food for a living. I take the train home.”
“So?”
“So there is nothing about me you should find threatening.”
Norah looked at Dominic.
“Except he trusts me.”
Valerie's face changed.
Exactly.
That was the wound.
Gabriel reached for the black ledger on the desk.
Dominic stopped him.
“Leave it.”
“You're finished, Dominic.”
“No.”
Police lights appeared outside.
Gabriel looked through the window.
His confidence vanished.
Dominic had finally done the one thing nobody expected.
He had called legitimate authorities.
He had handed over his own companies for investigation.
Even if it cost him everything.
Valerie stared at him.
“You gave them the records?”
“Yes.”
“They'll investigate you too.”
“I know.”
“You could lose everything.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
Dominic looked at Norah.
“Because apparently there are things worse than losing a job.”
Norah remembered her mother.
We needed the job.
Dominic looked back at Valerie.
“And things worse than losing an empire.”
The investigation began that night.
Gabriel was arrested on fraud and conspiracy allegations.
Valerie wasn't immediately charged.
Her family's attorneys arrived before sunrise.
Dominic wasn't arrested either.
But every account connected to the disputed transactions was frozen.
Reporters gathered outside his buildings.
Partners stopped answering.
Board members resigned.
Friends disappeared.
Within forty-eight hours, Dominic Mercer learned exactly how many people loved his power rather than the man carrying it.
Almost all of them.
On Sunday evening, Norah found him sitting alone inside the restaurant.
Table six.
No suit jacket.
No bodyguards.
No reservation.
“You're closed,” she said.
“So I've been told.”
She sat opposite him.
“How bad?”
“My board removed me this morning.”
“Your accounts?”
“Frozen.”
“Penthouse?”
“Company-owned.”
Norah stared.
“You're homeless?”
“I own another apartment.”
“Of course you do.”
He laughed.
Then silence.
“I spent twenty years building something,” Dominic said.
“And?”
“I don't know what remains.”
Norah looked around the empty restaurant.
“You.”
He raised his eyes.
“What?”
“You remain.”
He didn't answer.
Norah leaned forward.
“You wanted to know why I stopped Lily.”
“Yes.”
“My mother was humiliated at work once because she needed the paycheck.”
Dominic listened.
“I spent twenty-three years believing power meant never having to kneel.”
She shook her head.
“I was wrong.”
“What does it mean?”
“Being able to stand when standing costs you something.”
Dominic looked at her.
Then the restaurant door opened.
Daniel entered.
Lily beside him.
Daniel carried an envelope.
“The investigators found something.”
Dominic stood.
“What?”
Daniel placed photographs on the table.
Gabriel.
Valerie.
And another man.
Dominic stared.
His face lost all color.
Norah had never seen the man before.
“Who is he?”
Dominic didn't answer immediately.
Then:
“My brother.”
Norah frowned.
“I thought you didn't have a brother.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
“I don't.”
He swallowed.
May you like
“Michael Mercer died twelve years ago.”
But the photograph had been taken three weeks earlier.
