Chapter 5 - The Key My Father Left Behind
Dominic turned the trip to Cleveland into a military operation.
Three SUVs.
Eight security men.
Enzo.
Isabella insisted on coming.
I sat beside Dominic.
“You always travel like this?”
“Only when people want to kill us.”
“Comforting.”
“You asked.”
At the treatment center, my mother cried when she saw me.
Then she noticed Dominic.
She looked him up and down.
“So you're the idiot.”
Enzo coughed.
Dominic extended his hand.
“Dominic Rossi.”
“I know.”
Mom ignored his hand and hugged him.
Dominic froze.
“You kept my daughter alive,” she said. “We'll discuss the marriage later.”
His expression softened.
“Yes, ma'am.”
Mom handed me an old envelope.
Inside was a brass key and a note.
My father's handwriting.
For Claire. When the truth finally comes looking.
I stared at it.
“Where does it go?”
Mom answered.
“Grand Central Station.”
Dominic frowned.
“Locker?”
“Your father rented a long-term private deposit box through a storage company that used to operate beneath the terminal.”
Enzo checked his phone.
“The company still exists.”
Dominic looked at me.
“We go back to New York.”
---
The deposit box contained no money.
No jewelry.
Only three ledgers, photographs, and a cassette tape.
Enzo stared at the documents.
“This could bury Costa.”
“And half my father's old organization,” Dominic said.
I looked at him.
“Including Rossi people?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happens?”
Dominic met my eyes.
“You decide.”
I stared.
“What?”
“This belongs to your father. To you.”
“You're giving me control?”
“I’m not my father.”
For the first time, I believed him.
Then Enzo's phone rang.
His expression darkened.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Isabella's car was intercepted.”
Dominic went completely still.
“Where is my mother?”
Enzo swallowed.
“Costa has her.”
---
Victor Costa called ten minutes later.
Dominic put the phone on speaker.
“Victor.”
“Dominic.”
“Touch my mother and—”
“Save the threats.”
Costa chuckled.
“Bring Thomas Bennett's records.”
“Where?”
“The old Pier 12 warehouse.”
I stepped forward.
“I’m coming.”
Dominic muted the phone.
“No.”
“He wants the records.”
“He wants you.”
“Then use that.”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
“I almost watched you die once.”
His control cracked.
“I will not do it again.”
I stared at him.
“You don't get to lock me away because you're afraid.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“Liar.”
Silence.
I stepped closer.
“Your mother is alive because I made a choice.”
His jaw tightened.
“Let me make another.”
For several seconds, we simply looked at each other.
Then Dominic nodded.
May you like
“We do it together.”
---
