Chapter 5 - The Price of Protection
Victor Calder disappeared before federal agents could arrest him.
For four days, there was no sign of him.
That frightened Dominic more than an open threat.
Belladonna closed temporarily. Employees were sent home with pay. Ava and I remained in Dominic’s penthouse under constant protection.
On the fifth morning, I found Dominic standing near the windows with blood on his knuckles.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Your hand is bleeding.”
“It is not mine.”
I stared at him.
“Did you hurt someone?”
“A man tried to enter the garage using a stolen access card.”
“And?”
“He told us Calder plans to leave Chicago tonight.”
“Then call the federal agents.”
“I did.”
“But you don’t believe they’ll catch him.”
Dominic said nothing.
I moved closer.
“You’re planning to go after him yourself.”
“He threatened you and Ava.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to become exactly what everyone says you are.”
His eyes sharpened.
“You have no idea what I am.”
“I know you bought a crib before you knew we were coming. I know you remember every employee’s name even when they think you don’t. I know you spent years trying to turn your family’s businesses legitimate.”
“That does not make me a good man.”
“No. But what you do tonight might decide whether you ever become one.”
He looked away.
“Calder will not stop.”
“Then help the authorities build a case.”
“The authorities buried cases against my father for twenty years.”
“Because men like your father taught everyone that violence was the only thing they respected.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“My father’s methods kept our family alive.”
“They didn’t keep Sofia alive.”
The moment I said it, I regretted it.
Pain crossed his face.
“That was unfair,” I whispered.
“It was true.”
He poured two cups of coffee, although neither of us drank.
“When Sofia died,” he said, “my father did not comfort my mother. He did not grieve with me. He found the men responsible and killed them.”
I said nothing.
“For years, I believed that was strength. Then I realized revenge had not brought Sofia home. It had only created more enemies and more children without families.”
“Then don’t repeat it.”
“What would you have me do?”
“Be better than him.”
Dominic looked toward Ava, who was asleep in a portable crib near the kitchen.
“People like Calder interpret mercy as weakness.”
“Mercy isn’t pretending nothing happened. Let him face trial. Let his name become evidence in a courtroom instead of a legend whispered in alleys.”
Dominic’s phone rang.
Marco’s voice came through the speaker.
“We located Calder. Old freight warehouse near the river. He has two men with him.”
Dominic ended the call.
“Stay here.”
I grabbed his arm.
“Promise me you won’t kill him.”
He looked at my hand on his sleeve.
“I cannot promise how the night will end.”
“Then don’t go.”
“I have to.”
“No. You want to.”
“He threatened your child.”
“And Ava does not need to grow up believing murder is how a man proves he cares about her.”
That stopped him.
His voice lowered.
“You think she will know me when she grows up?”
The question carried more vulnerability than I had ever heard from him.
“I think she already knows you.”
As if responding to her name, Ava stirred and opened her eyes.
Dominic walked toward the crib.
She reached up.
He lifted her carefully.
Ava touched his jaw and smiled.
Dominic closed his eyes for half a second.
Then he handed her to me.
“I’ll bring Calder in alive,” he said.
“Dominic—”
“I promise.”
Two hours later, Marco called.
Calder had been arrested.
Dominic had arrived with federal agents and records proving Calder’s extortion, bribery, money laundering and attempted murder.
No one had died.
When Dominic returned shortly before midnight, his lip was split and his shirt was torn.
I met him at the elevator.
“You’re hurt.”
“Calder resisted.”
“You promised to bring him in alive.”
“He is alive.”
“Are you?”
He looked at me.
“I’m trying.”
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him.
For a moment, he did not move.
Then his arms closed around me carefully, as though I were something fragile he did not trust himself to hold.
“You came back,” I whispered.
“I said I would.”
“No. You said you’d bring Calder in alive.”
May you like
Dominic lowered his head.
“I came back because you asked me to.”
