Chapter 11 - Dominic Sets a Trap
James never reached the outer gate.
Security stopped his vehicle before he cleared the driveway.
Dominic did not allow Norah near the interrogation.
She did not argue.
Some conversations belonged to the world she wanted no part of.
Instead she sat with Lily in the playroom building a tower from wooden blocks.
“Why is everybody running?” Lily asked.
“Grown-up problems.”
“Is Daddy mad?”
Norah placed another block.
“A little.”
“At me?”
“Never.”
Lily considered that.
“At you?”
Norah hesitated.
“I don’t think so.”
“Daddy looks at you funny.”
Norah nearly dropped a block.
“What does that mean?”
“Like this.”
Lily attempted an intense stare.
Norah laughed.
“That is terrifying.”
“I know.”
Two hours later, Dominic entered.
He looked exhausted.
Norah stood.
“James?”
“Working for Vittorio.”
She closed her eyes.
“How long?”
“Three years.”
“What did he tell him?”
“Schedules. Security rotations. Business meetings.”
“And me?”
Dominic looked away.
“Everything.”
Norah felt cold.
“The clinic?”
“Yes.”
“My pregnancy?”
“He suspected before you went.”
“How?”
Dominic hesitated.
“Laundry.”
She frowned.
“Laundry?”
“He noticed changes in your uniform measurements. Saw vitamins delivered to the house.”
Norah stared.
“I bought prenatal vitamins online once.”
“That was enough.”
She felt violated in a way she could not describe.
“What happens now?”
“Now we use him.”
Norah narrowed her eyes.
“You mean?”
“We make Vittorio believe James escaped.”
“You’re setting a trap.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Dominic smiled without humor.
“That’s the part Vittorio gets to choose.”
James was given a phone.
He called Vittorio.
Dominic listened.
James sounded terrified because he genuinely was.
“They know,” he said. “Russo knows everything.”
Vittorio’s answer came after a pause.
“Then come to me.”
“Where?”
A location followed.
An abandoned industrial property near the old rail yards.
Dominic ended the call.
Mateo began mobilizing.
Norah caught Dominic before he left.
“Don’t go.”
He looked surprised.
“You want me to ignore this?”
“I want you to think.”
“I have.”
“No, you’re angry.”
“I can be both.”
“Vittorio wants you there.”
“Yes.”
“That should worry you.”
“It does.”
“Not enough.”
Dominic looked toward Mateo.
“Give us a minute.”
Mateo left.
Norah stepped closer.
“What happens if something happens to you?”
“Nothing will.”
“Stop saying that.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“You want honesty?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know.”
Norah’s breath caught.
“That’s the truth.”
He continued.
“My world doesn’t provide guarantees.”
“Then don’t go.”
“If I don’t end this, it follows you forever.”
“Then let law enforcement handle it.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“You think I can call the police and explain the family structure?”
“You said you wanted out.”
“I do.”
“Then start acting like it.”
The words hit him.
Norah continued.
“You cannot build a different life using every method from the old one.”
Dominic stared.
For years, everyone around him had told him survival required force.
Norah was asking whether survival meant anything if it recreated the same danger forever.
“What do you suggest?”
“Evidence.”
“We have evidence.”
“Then use it.”
“Vittorio owns police.”
“Not all of them.”
“And if I’m wrong?”
“You have lawyers. Legitimate companies. Federal contacts.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“How do you know about the federal contacts?”
“Your father.”
Norah corrected herself.
“My father.”
She still struggled with the words.
“He said Vittorio feared a federal investigation more than he feared you.”
Dominic considered it.
Norah touched his arm.
“Don’t give him the war he expects.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“You realize you’re advising a man you spent five months hiding from.”
“I contain multitudes.”
He laughed quietly.
Then he did something Norah did not expect.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Nothing more.
“Stay with Lily.”
“Dominic.”
“I’ll come back.”
“For once, make that a promise you can keep.”
He met her eyes.
“I’ll do everything I can.”
It was not the answer she wanted.
But it was honest.
Dominic changed the plan.
Instead of entering the rail-yard property, his team coordinated with a federal investigator who had been quietly building a financial case against Vittorio’s network.
James wore a recording device.
Dominic remained several blocks away.
Vittorio arrived expecting a frightened informant.
Instead James admitted Dominic knew.
Vittorio exploded.
His voice filled the microphone.
Names.
Payments.
Threats.
Admissions.
Enough to build a case larger than Dominic expected.
Then Vittorio said something that froze everyone listening.
“Russo will surrender once we have the nanny.”
Dominic grabbed the radio.
“What?”
James asked, “You don’t have her.”
Vittorio laughed.
“Not yet.”
Dominic was already moving.
He called Mateo.
No answer.
Called Norah.
No answer.
Called the estate.
Nothing.
His blood went cold.
“Drive.”
The SUV accelerated.
At the mansion, Norah sat on Lily’s bed reading a story.
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then died.
Norah looked toward the hallway.
Emergency lighting should have activated.
It did not.
Lily whispered, “Nora?”
Norah stood.
“Stay beside me.”
Her phone showed no signal.
She moved toward the door.
A sound came from downstairs.
Glass breaking.
Norah’s heart began pounding.
She remembered Dominic’s instructions.
Secure wing.
Now.
She took Lily’s hand.
They ran.
At the far end of the hallway, a figure stepped from the darkness.
Norah stopped.
Lily squeezed her hand.
The figure moved closer.
Norah recognized him.
It was someone she never expected.
Someone who was supposed to be helping protect them.
Thomas Hayes.
Her father.
May you like
And he was holding the key to the secure-room door.
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