Chapter 11 - The Enemy Inside Dominic’s Empire
Elena took the phone.
“Derek.”
“Elena, don't hang up.”
“Do not call him again.”
“He deserves to know.”
“Know what?”
“That his mother is living with a criminal.”
Noah stood nearby.
Elena lowered her voice.
“Where are you?”
Derek laughed.
“You worried about me now?”
“No. I'm worried about what Marcus has you doing.”
“He isn't the bad guy you think.”
Elena almost couldn't believe it.
“He threatened your son.”
“He told me you're using Noah to manipulate Dominic Crane.”
“What?”
“He says Crane kidnapped you.”
Elena realized what Marcus was doing.
Building another version of reality.
One where Dominic was unstable.
Elena was manipulated.
Noah needed rescuing.
And Derek was a concerned father.
Marcus did not merely attack people.
He rewrote stories.
Elena hung up.
Noah stared at her.
“Mom?”
She crouched.
“Your father told you something confusing.”
“He said Mr. Dominic is dangerous.”
Elena glanced toward Dominic.
He stood several feet away.
Silent.
She could lie.
Instead she said, “Dominic has done things I don't agree with.”
Dominic's gaze shifted toward her.
“But he helped protect us.”
Noah considered.
“Is he a bad guy?”
The question hung in the room.
Dominic answered himself.
“I've been one sometimes.”
Elena looked at him.
Noah did too.
Dominic crouched.
“When people have power, they can make choices that hurt others. I've made some.”
“Did you say sorry?”
Dominic blinked.
Noah waited.
“Not enough,” Dominic admitted.
“Mom says saying sorry doesn't count if you keep doing the bad thing.”
Dominic slowly looked at Elena.
She shrugged.
“Apparently I talk a lot.”
Noah nodded seriously.
“You do.”
For the first time in days, they laughed.
But the moment didn't last.
Gabriel entered from the other room.
“We found the leak.”
Dominic stood.
“Who?”
“Thomas Vale.”
Dominic's face changed.
Elena remembered the name from the company charts.
Chief Financial Officer.
Dominic's mentor after his father's death.
“He helped Marcus?”
“For at least a year.”
Gabriel showed records from the archive.
Payments.
Offshore accounts.
Security schedules.
Thomas had provided Marcus with Dominic's movements the night of the kidnapping.
Dominic stared at the evidence.
“He was at my mother's funeral.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“He taught me how to negotiate my first acquisition.”
Still nothing.
Dominic's betrayal was quieter than anger.
“He called me his son.”
Elena understood that pain.
Not because her life resembled Dominic's.
But betrayal had the same language in every social class.
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic looked at her.
Then at the archive.
“What else?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“A file labeled Project Winter.”
They opened it.
Inside were records of illegal weapon shipments Marcus had restarted after Dominic shut the operation down.
Routes through Crane shipping companies.
Names.
Dates.
And one upcoming shipment.
Forty-eight hours away.
If completed, Marcus would make nearly sixty million dollars.
If stopped, he would lose allies and expose himself.
Dominic smiled coldly.
“We stop it.”
“How?” Elena asked.
“Federal authorities.”
Gabriel stared.
“You want to contact the FBI?”
Dominic looked at the archive.
“My father spent thirty years keeping law enforcement away.”
He paused.
“Maybe it's time someone invited them.”
This was not the answer Elena expected.
“Wouldn't they arrest you too?”
“Possibly.”
Noah had wandered away, but Elena lowered her voice anyway.
“You could lose everything.”
Dominic looked at her.
For several seconds the room disappeared.
The money.
The empire.
Marcus.
All of it.
“What would you do?” he asked.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Elena thought.
“If keeping something requires becoming the worst version of yourself, you already lost it.”
Dominic absorbed the words.
Then turned to Gabriel.
“Find someone federal we can trust.”
Gabriel nodded.
The meeting happened that evening.
Special Agent Rebecca Sloan had investigated Crane businesses for nine years.
She entered the safe apartment expecting a trap.
Instead she found Dominic Crane alive.
She almost drew her weapon.
“Sit,” Dominic said.
“You're in no position to give orders.”
“Fair.”
Elena hid a smile.
Sloan examined the archive.
Her skepticism disappeared.
“This could dismantle organizations across five states.”
Dominic nodded.
“And send you to prison.”
“Yes.”
Elena looked at him.
He hadn't mentioned how serious that possibility was.
Agent Sloan continued.
“If you cooperate completely, prosecutors may consider your role in providing evidence.”
“No promises?”
“No.”
Dominic nodded.
“Good.”
Sloan studied him.
“Why are you doing this?”
Dominic looked across the room.
At Noah asleep under a blanket.
At Elena sitting beside him.
Then back at the agent.
“Because I'm tired of inheriting dead men's mistakes.”
Sloan closed the laptop.
“Then help me stop the shipment.”
What none of them knew was that Thomas Vale had already discovered Dominic's access to the archive.
And he called Marcus.
“They're working with the government,” Thomas said.
Marcus became very quiet.
Then he asked one question.
May you like
“Where is Elena's son?”
---
