Chapter 12 - When Nora Became the Target
The mansion transformed in seconds.
Doors locked.
Security shutters descended.
Guards moved through corridors.
Daniel called for backup.
Dominic pulled me toward a reinforced interior room.
“I’m not hiding.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Dominic—”
“Nora.”
Something in his face stopped me.
Fear.
Again, not for himself.
For me.
“You asked me for justice,” he said. “Let me keep you alive long enough to get it.”
I followed.
Leo entered with us.
Daniel remained outside coordinating officers.
The safe room had monitors displaying every exterior camera.
A black SUV sat abandoned near the west gate.
No driver.
“It’s a distraction,” Leo said.
Dominic nodded.
Then another camera went dark.
East side.
Then another.
Vincent was already on the property.
“How?” I asked.
Leo stared at the screen.
“Underground service tunnel.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What tunnel?”
“Your father built it decades ago.”
“And you never told me?”
“I thought it had been sealed.”
Dominic swore quietly.
Another camera vanished.
Closer.
Someone knew every blind spot.
Then my phone rang.
My personal phone.
Unknown number.
Dominic grabbed it before I could answer.
“No.”
The call stopped.
A message appeared.
Ask Dominic what his father did after Rebecca found the trucks.
I stared.
Another message.
He knows.
I looked at Dominic.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
The phone rang again.
This time Dominic answered on speaker.
Vincent’s voice filled the room.
Smooth.
Calm.
“You always were impatient, Dominic.”
“Come inside.”
Vincent laughed.
“So your police friends can arrest me?”
“You wanted me.”
“I wanted your father.”
Dominic became still.
“But Carlo died before I finished.”
“What did he do to you?”
“You never asked.”
“You murdered my mother.”
“Your mother made a choice.”
I flinched.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“You touched her car.”
“She was going to destroy everything.”
“You killed Rebecca too,” I said.
Silence.
Then Vincent chuckled.
“Nurse Hayes.”
Dominic's hands curled into fists.
“You sound like your mother.”
“Did you kill her?”
“She should have stopped looking.”
My breath caught.
Not a direct confession.
Close enough.
Vincent continued.
“Rebecca found the medical routes. Elena found the accounts. Both women believed truth protected them.”
“You're sick,” I said.
“No. I'm practical.”
Dominic moved closer to the speaker.
“You're finished.”
“Am I?”
A sound came through the phone.
Someone groaning.
Marco.
Dominic recognized him too.
“Let him go.”
“Why?”
“He did what you wanted.”
“And then regretted it.”
Vincent sighed.
“Regret makes men unreliable.”
The line disconnected.
Leo checked the monitors.
Movement.
Lower level.
Then Daniel’s voice came through the radio.
“We have him.”
Gunfire sounded faintly through the walls.
My heart stopped.
Then silence.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Daniel’s voice returned.
“Suspect in custody.”
Dominic exhaled.
“And Marco?”
“Alive.”
I closed my eyes.
It was over.
Or I thought it was.
Then Leo looked toward the safe-room door.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He stepped closer.
“The lock.”
A red indicator blinked.
Someone was overriding it.
From inside the security network.
“But Vincent is in custody,” I said.
Leo stared.
“He wasn't alone.”
The door unlocked.
A man entered.
Samuel Pierce.
Dominic’s lawyer.
The man police had supposedly arrested.
He held no weapon.
But his face was desperate.
“How are you here?” I asked.
Pierce ignored me.
“Dominic, listen.”
“You escaped custody?”
“I was released.”
Daniel had never told us.
“Why?”
“They couldn't hold me.”
Pierce’s eyes moved toward me.
“Vincent is not the only problem.”
Dominic stepped in front of me.
“Talk.”
“Your father created a second network.”
“What?”
“People who continued operations after he died.”
“Names.”
“I don't know all of them.”
“Convenient.”
“I'm telling you the truth.”
Pierce looked terrified.
“Vincent wanted control. Carlo’s old partners wanted you dead for shutting down their businesses.”
“So they worked together?”
“Temporarily.”
“Who ordered the warehouse shooting?”
“Vincent.”
“And who helped?”
Pierce swallowed.
“Someone you trust more than anyone.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Say the name.”
Pierce looked toward Leo.
Silence.
My stomach dropped.
Leo didn't move.
Dominic turned slowly.
“Leo?”
The older man's face became devastated.
“Dominic…”
“No.”
“Listen to me.”
“No.”
Leo's eyes filled.
“I didn't know they planned to shoot you.”
Dominic stepped back as though physically struck.
“You knew something.”
“I knew they were meeting.”
“And said nothing.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“Your father’s past.”
Dominic laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“You've been saying that since I was a child.”
Leo looked toward Elena’s room across the hall.
“Your mother asked me to.”
Dominic froze.
“What?”
“She knew you would inherit Carlo’s enemies. She made me promise to protect you even from the truth if necessary.”
Dominic stared.
“And did that promise include letting Vincent into my house?”
“No.”
“Letting my mother die?”
Leo's face collapsed.
“I failed her.”
“Did you know Vincent killed her?”
“Not until years later.”
“And you stayed silent?”
“If I accused him without proof, he would have killed you too.”
Dominic turned away.
Every person he trusted carried another secret.
I stepped closer.
“Dominic.”
He didn't look at me.
“Don't.”
His voice cracked.
“Just… don't.”
For the first time since I had met him, Dominic Rossi looked completely defeated.
Not by a gunshot.
Not by infection.
By the realization that the people who loved him had lied almost as much as the people who hated him.
May you like
And I knew the next choice he made would decide what kind of man he became.
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