Chapter 3 - The Man at Dominic’s Table
By Wednesday morning, Mara had turned her hospital room into an investigation center.
Dr. Chen hated it.
I hated it more.
Mara ignored both of us.
Daniel set her laptop on the tray table.
Mara typed.
“I kept an offline copy.”
Daniel smiled.
“Of course you did.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“Mara trusts computers about as much as she trusts Victor.”
“I trusted Victor,” I said.
Mara didn’t look up.
“That was the problem.”
She opened several spreadsheets.
“These are the foundation payments.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“And these?”
“Transportation invoices.”
I studied the names.
Morrison Health Services.
Silver Ridge Medical.
Northstar Patient Logistics.
“Fake companies?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
Mara clicked another file.
“Northstar exists. It provides legitimate medical transport in Indiana.”
“So Victor used a real company.”
“No. He created another company with the same name in Delaware.”
Daniel whistled.
“That’s clever.”
“Not clever enough.”
She showed us routing numbers.
“The stolen pharmaceutical cargo went through warehouses rented by Victor’s shell company.”
I stared at the numbers.
“Why steal my own shipment?”
“To sell it twice.”
Mara turned the screen.
“The cargo wasn’t ordinary medicine. It included high-value specialty drugs.”
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“Hospital supply shortages would drive black-market prices up.”
Mara nodded.
“Victor steals the shipment, reports the loss, then sells portions through fake clinics.”
“And the medical fund?”
“Pays the fake clinics to make the paperwork look legitimate.”
I leaned against the wall.
Eleven years.
Victor had attended my father’s funeral.
He had eaten at my table.
He had saved my life once during an ambush on Cicero Avenue.
“Why now?”
Mara hesitated.
“What?”
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
She opened an email archive.
“These messages were routed through a dormant foundation account.”
The sender name was meaningless.
But the recipient was not.
Victor Kane.
Daniel read aloud.
“Vale is distracted. Once the shipment disappears, pressure him toward retaliation.”
I understood instantly.
“He wanted a war.”
Mara nodded.
“With who?”
“The Romano organization.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Victor wanted me to attack the Romanos over cargo he stole himself.”
Daniel finished the thought.
“Then both sides weaken each other.”
“And Victor steps into the wreckage,” Mara said.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Dominic Vale?”
“Yes.”
“This is Special Agent Laura Benton.”
I glanced at Daniel.
He recognized the name.
Federal Organized Crime Task Force.
Benton continued.
“I believe we have something to discuss.”
“When?”
“Now.”
“No.”
A pause.
“No?”
“I’m at St. Catherine’s.”
“I know.”
That got my attention.
“I’ll send my attorney.”
“I need you.”
“You don’t.”
“I also need Mara Ellis.”
My eyes hardened.
“That’s not happening.”
Mara held out her hand.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
She gave me a look.
I surrendered it.
“This is Mara.”
Agent Benton said something.
Mara listened.
Then frowned.
“How do you know about that?”
Another pause.
“When?”
Her expression changed.
“Send it.”
She ended the call.
“What?”
Mara looked at us.
“Victor contacted the FBI two months ago.”
Daniel cursed.
I said, “Why?”
“He’s been offering them information about you.”
For one second, anger overpowered thought.
Then Mara said, “Dominic.”
“I heard you.”
“He’s building two exits.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“If the takeover fails, he becomes a federal informant.”
“And gives them me,” I said.
Mara nodded.
My phone buzzed.
A file arrived from Agent Benton.
It was a photograph.
Victor entering a federal building.
Timestamped six weeks earlier.
Another followed.
Victor meeting a man outside a hotel.
Daniel zoomed in.
“That’s Anthony Romano.”
I stared at him.
The same organization Victor had spent all week demanding I attack.
Mara whispered, “He’s playing everyone.”
I called my security chief, Elias Ward.
“Where’s Victor?”
“His apartment is empty.”
“Family?”
“None in Chicago.”
“Cars?”
“One missing.”
“Track it.”
“Already doing it.”
“Do not approach him.”
Elias sounded surprised.
“Boss?”
“Just find him.”
Mara heard every word.
When I ended the call, she smiled faintly.
“You kept your promise.”
“Don’t sound shocked.”
“I’m cautiously impressed.”
Dr. Chen entered.
“That’s enough work.”
Mara sighed.
“I’m fine.”
“You lost a dangerous amount of blood.”
“I’m sitting.”
“You’re leaving the hospital today only if you rest.”
Mara glanced at me.
I said, “You heard the doctor.”
She frowned.
“You are enjoying this.”
“Immensely.”
Dr. Chen pointed at me.
“And no stress.”
I almost laughed.
Mara said, “You may need to remove him, then.”
Dr. Chen actually smiled.
Two hours later, Mara was discharged.
She expected to return to her apartment.
I disagreed.
“No.”
She stood beside my car.
“I have an apartment.”
“Victor knows where.”
“He knows your house too.”
“My house has security.”
“So does a prison.”
“Mara.”
“Dominic.”
Daniel quietly climbed into another car.
Coward.
I opened the passenger door.
“You’re staying at my estate.”
“Guest room.”
“Obviously.”
“No guards inside the room.”
“Agreed.”
“No confiscating my phone.”
“Agreed.”
“No telling Margaret what I’m allowed to eat.”
I hesitated.
Mara pointed at me.
“Dominic.”
“Fine.”
She got in.
As I closed the door, Elias called.
“We found Victor’s car.”
“Where?”
“South Side warehouse district.”
“Is he there?”
“No.”
“What did you find?”
A pause.
“Blood.”
Mara was watching me through the window.
Elias continued.
“And a photograph of Miss Ellis.”
My entire body went still.
“What kind of photograph?”
“Taken yesterday.”
“Where?”
“At the estate.”
I looked toward Mara.
Someone had photographed her walking into my office minutes before she collapsed.
Victor had not merely known she was investigating him.
He had been watching her.
“Elias.”
“Yes?”
“Lock the estate down.”
Mara opened the car door.
“What happened?”
I looked at her.
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
May you like
“Victor wasn’t working alone.”
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