Chapter 13 - The Night the Romano House Fell Silent
The drive back felt endless.
Rafael called the house.
No answer.
Security cameras offline.
Main gate open.
When we arrived, the mansion was dark.
Dominic exited before the SUV fully stopped.
I followed despite my injured shoulder.
Inside, furniture had been overturned.
No bodies.
No Luca.
No Michael.
No Mercer.
A note sat on the dining table.
Vale’s handwriting.
BRING THE ORIGINAL LEDGER TO BLUEBIRD. MIDNIGHT.
Below that:
COME WITH THE NURSE.
Dominic crushed the paper.
“No.”
I took it from him.
“He wants me there.”
“That is why you’re not going.”
“If he has Luca and my father—”
“No.”
“You don’t get to decide.”
“I absolutely do when the decision is whether you walk into a trap.”
I stared at him.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“This stopped being your war the minute my parents got dragged into it.”
His eyes flashed.
“And you stopped being an outsider the minute you saved my brother.”
Silence.
The words hung between us.
Too personal.
Too true.
We both looked away.
Bluebird’s original warehouse had burned in 1998.
The ruins still existed near an abandoned freight yard.
At midnight, we arrived.
Not alone.
Federal agents waited two blocks away.
Rafael positioned men nearby.
Dominic carried the original ledger inside a waterproof case.
I entered beside him.
Vale stood beneath the skeletal remains of the old warehouse.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
Composed.
Not what I expected from the man behind years of bloodshed.
Luca sat nearby, hands bound.
Michael beside him.
Mercer stood under guard.
Vale smiled at me.
“Elaine’s daughter.”
I hated the familiarity.
“You knew my mother.”
“Very well.”
“She hated you.”
His smile widened.
“Eventually.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Let them go.”
“The ledger.”
“First.”
Vale laughed softly.
“You really did change.”
Dominic’s face went blank.
“I’ve heard that a lot lately.”
Vale looked at me.
“She did it.”
“No,” Dominic said. “You did.”
Vale’s expression cooled.
“You created chaos because you mistook restraint for weakness.”
Interesting.
Dominic was no longer defending himself.
He was defining himself.
Vale extended his hand.
“Ledger.”
Dominic handed me the case.
My pulse jumped.
He whispered, “Trust me.”
I carried it forward.
Vale watched.
Ten feet.
Eight.
Six.
Then he said, “Stop.”
I stopped.
“Open it.”
I did.
The blue ledger lay inside.
His eyes sharpened.
“Page 221.”
I turned to it.
A list of offshore companies.
Vale’s companies.
Evidence tying him to everything.
“Rip it out.”
I looked at Dominic.
Vale raised his gun toward Michael.
“Now.”
I ripped out the page.
“Burn it.”
A metal barrel burned nearby.
I held the sheet over the flame.
It caught.
Vale relaxed.
That was his mistake.
I smiled.
He frowned.
“What?”
“That wasn’t the original page.”
His face changed.
Dominic said, “You really think we’d bring you the only copy?”
Vale raised his gun.
Federal lights exploded outside.
Rafael’s men moved.
Vale fired.
Dominic tackled me down.
Agents stormed the warehouse.
Michael dragged Luca behind cover.
Mercer crawled toward them.
Vale ran.
Dominic chased him.
I shouted, “Dominic!”
He disappeared into the old loading area.
I followed.
Despite every intelligent instinct I possessed.
Vale reached a collapsing catwalk above the freight pit.
Dominic blocked the exit.
Vale pointed the gun.
“You think she made you better?”
Dominic stood still.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“She made me tired of becoming men like you.”
Vale fired.
The shot missed.
Dominic rushed him.
They struggled.
The catwalk railing cracked.
Vale fell halfway over the edge.
Dominic caught his wrist.
For one moment, I saw everything.
History.
Anger.
Revenge.
Vale dangling above a thirty-foot drop.
Dominic could release him.
He didn’t.
Agents reached them.
They pulled Vale up.
Handcuffed him.
Dominic stepped away.
I approached.
“You saved him.”
His gaze remained on Vale.
“No.”
“You did.”
“I saved myself.”
I understood.
Outside, Luca was alive.
Michael alive.
Mercer furious but unharmed.
Vale was arrested.
For the first time, the major people responsible were in custody.
Anthony.
Kathryn.
Vale.
Their network would take months to dismantle.
Maybe years.
But the killing had stopped.
At dawn, I stood beside Dominic where Bluebird had once burned.
“My father lost twenty-eight years because of this place.”
Dominic looked toward the sunrise.
“So did mine.”
“What happens now?”
“To the ledger?”
“To you.”
He looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
That was probably the most honest answer Dominic Romano had ever given.
Then he asked, “What happens to you?”
I looked down at my healing shoulder.
“I need a job.”
He actually laughed.
“You saved two members of my family, survived being shot, exposed a corruption network, and you’re worried about employment?”
“Rent remains surprisingly interested in being paid.”
“I could—”
“No.”
“I didn’t even finish.”
“If the sentence involved giving me money, no.”
“It involved buying you a hospital.”
I stared.
“That is somehow worse.”
For the first time in days, we both laughed.
Then my phone rang.
Lakeview Memorial.
I answered.
“Ms. Bennett?”
“Yes?”
“This is the interim chief executive officer.”
I glanced at Dominic.
“We would like to discuss your reinstatement.”
I looked at the hospital skyline in the distance.
Then at the man beside me.
“No.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
May you like
I smiled.
“But I would like to discuss something else.”
