Chapter 11 - The Man Inside Dominic’s House
Penelope saw the gun first.
Not because she had training.
Because she had spent the entire night watching hands.
The guard’s fingers tightened.
She dropped.
The shot passed over her.
Dominic fired once.
The guard fell.
Chaos erupted.
Gabriel pulled Eleanor behind the bed.
Vincent tackled another gunman through the broken wall.
Catherine shouted through the watch.
“Stairs! More men coming!”
Dominic grabbed Penelope.
“Move.”
She crawled through the gap into Room 317.
Samuel was gone.
Again.
Michael remained near the window, clutching his wounded shoulder.
He raised a pistol.
Penelope pointed hers first.
“Don’t.”
Michael laughed.
“You won’t shoot.”
“You have no idea what kind of evening I’ve had.”
His gun lowered slightly.
Dominic entered behind her.
Michael immediately dropped his weapon.
“Coward,” Vincent said.
Michael looked at him.
“Alive.”
Vincent punched him.
Michael fell unconscious.
Penelope looked at Vincent.
“Was that necessary?”
“Yes.”
“Fair.”
Gabriel searched the room.
“The drive.”
Gone.
Eleanor opened a drawer.
Empty.
Dominic crouched beside the dead guard.
He removed the man’s earpiece.
“Marco.”
Penelope remembered the name.
Security room.
One of Dominic’s men missing after the attack.
“The inside man.”
Dominic nodded.
“He worked for me eleven years.”
Penelope heard pain beneath the anger.
Trust seemed expensive in Dominic’s world.
And temporary.
Gabriel checked Michael’s pockets.
Phone.
Keys.
No drive.
Vincent picked up the blood-pact document Samuel had referenced.
Dominic took it.
Old parchment.
His father’s signature.
Samuel Vale’s signature.
The language was almost medieval.
Family alliance.
Mutual protection.
Future union.
Penelope read one clause.
“First eligible Moretti son and first eligible Vale granddaughter.”
She looked at Dominic.
“That’s us.”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“Yes.”
Vincent smirked.
“Congratulations.”
Penelope raised her hand.
He stepped back.
“Understood.”
Dominic tore the document in half.
Gabriel stared.
“Your father—”
“Is dead.”
He tore it again.
“And I do not sell people to honor dead men’s promises.”
Penelope looked at him.
Something in her chest shifted.
She ignored it.
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“You’ve improved.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Marginally.”
Michael groaned.
Penelope crouched beside him.
“Where is Samuel?”
He smiled through blood.
“Too late.”
Vincent grabbed his collar.
“Where?”
Michael laughed.
“He’s going home.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Vale estate?”
“No.”
“Where?”
Michael looked at Penelope.
“Her home.”
Cold spread through her body.
“My apartment?”
His smile widened.
Then Penelope understood.
Her mother’s metal box.
The one object she had left there.
The photograph.
The matchbook.
But there had been something else.
A false bottom she had never opened.
Gabriel saw realization on her face.
“What?”
“The box.”
Eleanor went pale.
“You still have it?”
Penelope nodded.
“What’s inside?”
Her mother whispered, “The master key.”
“To what?”
“The ledger.”
Gabriel stood.
“You said that was destroyed.”
“I thought it was.”
“What master key?”
Eleanor grabbed Penelope’s hands.
“The digital ledger is encrypted. Gabriel and I divided the access.”
Gabriel stared.
“You kept your half?”
“I hid it.”
“In my apartment?”
“In the metal box.”
Penelope groaned.
“Of course.”
They left Michael restrained with two guards.
Dominic’s convoy raced toward Queens.
Dawn approached.
New York streets were nearly empty.
Penelope sat in the front beside Dominic this time.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Then:
“You tore it up.”
He glanced at her.
“The contract.”
“It was meaningless.”
“To Samuel?”
“Yes.”
“To your father?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“My father made many decisions for the family.”
“Did you respect him?”
“Yes.”
“Love him?”
“Yes.”
“And you still tore it.”
Dominic looked at the road.
“No dead man decides who you marry.”
Penelope looked out the window.
“Good.”
A pause.
Then Dominic said, “For the record.”
She turned.
“What?”
“If I ever asked you, it would not be because of a trust.”
Penelope’s heartbeat changed.
“That sounded suspiciously hypothetical.”
“It was.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
Neither looked at the other.
Behind them, Vincent made an exaggerated coughing sound.
Penelope turned.
“Would you like to walk?”
He looked innocent.
“No.”
Gabriel hid a smile.
They reached Penelope’s building.
Front door broken.
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Stay behind me.”
Penelope sighed.
“You really love that sentence.”
“Tonight, yes.”
They climbed to the third floor.
Her apartment door stood open.
Inside, drawers had been emptied.
Furniture overturned.
Kitchen cabinets open.
Penelope rushed toward the bedroom.
The metal box was gone.
Eleanor swore.
Penelope stared.
“Mom?”
“What?”
“You never swear.”
“I’ve been kidnapped for nine months.”
“Fair.”
Gabriel examined the window.
“Fire escape.”
Dominic checked the hallway.
“Recent.”
Penelope looked around.
Something felt wrong.
Then she noticed.
Her mother’s old sewing machine remained on the shelf.
The machine had always been heavy.
Useless.
Eleanor refused to throw it away.
Penelope walked toward it.
“Mom.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Why did you keep this?”
Her mother’s eyes widened.
“Penny.”
Penelope lifted the machine.
A key was taped beneath it.
Not digital.
Physical.
Tiny.
Brass.
Gabriel laughed.
“You lied to Samuel.”
Eleanor smiled.
“I lied to everyone.”
Penelope looked at her.
“Yes, we will also be discussing that.”
A buzzing sound came from inside the machine.
They froze.
Dominic opened the base.
A phone.
Not Penelope’s.
Not Eleanor’s.
It began ringing.
Penelope answered on speaker.
Samuel.
“You found it.”
Eleanor’s smile disappeared.
Samuel continued.
“Bring the key to Pier 19.”
Dominic looked toward Gabriel.
Gabriel nodded.
Old shipping terminal.
Samuel’s territory.
Penelope said, “You no longer have my mother.”
Samuel laughed.
“No.”
Then a child cried in the background.
Penelope’s blood ran cold.
A little boy’s voice.
“Mom?”
Vincent went white.
Samuel said:
“But I have Vincent’s son.”
Everyone turned toward Vincent.
He stared at the phone.
Penelope whispered, “You have a son?”
Vincent’s face collapsed.
Samuel chuckled.
“Pier 19. Thirty minutes.”
May you like
The line went dead.
Vincent had already reached for his gun.
