Chapter 13 - The Men Who Betrayed Each Other)
Adrian's face looked gray.
His shirt was wrinkled.
There was blood on one sleeve from an old cut, but his hand holding the gun was steady.
Gabriel stared.
"You idiot."
Adrian laughed.
"You were going to leave me with all of it."
"I got you out."
"You got me out because I have the offshore codes."
Domenico remained focused on Ruby.
Gabriel's hand rested on her shoulder.
"Let the girl go," Adrian said.
Gabriel smiled.
"Suddenly you have morals?"
"No."
Adrian looked at Domenico.
"I have leverage."
Domenico understood.
Neither man intended to save Ruby.
They intended to use her.
Adrian continued.
"I want a car, twenty million transferred, and safe passage."
Domenico almost laughed.
"You think you're negotiating?"
"I know where the rest of Lucia's evidence is."
"The police already have enough."
"No."
Adrian shook his head.
"They have murder conspiracy. Fraud. Kidnapping. But they don't know about the accounts Gabriel used after Lucia died."
Gabriel's face changed.
Adrian smiled.
"There it is."
Domenico kept his voice calm.
"Let Ruby walk to me."
"Transfer first."
"My phone is in my pocket."
"Slowly."
Domenico reached for it.
Outside, Shaw's tactical team listened through the microphone hidden beneath Domenico's collar.
They could not shoot.
Ruby was too close to Gabriel.
Domenico unlocked his phone.
Adrian gave him an account number.
Domenico pretended to enter banking information.
Ruby looked at him.
Her thumb moved across her palm.
Then she looked toward the floor.
A broken wine bottle lay near Gabriel's foot.
Domenico knew his daughter.
She was not simply frightened.
She was telling him something.
Gabriel shifted.
His shoe touched the bottle.
Ruby suddenly dropped to the floor.
Gabriel instinctively reached down.
Domenico moved.
He crossed the space and drove Gabriel backward.
Ruby crawled beneath a table.
Adrian raised the gun.
A shot cracked.
The bullet struck a barrel.
Police entered from three sides.
"Drop the weapon."
Adrian turned.
Shaw fired one command.
"Now."
Adrian dropped the gun.
Gabriel attempted to run.
Daniel tackled him at the side door.
Domenico ignored everyone.
He dropped to his knees.
"Ruby."
She crawled from beneath the table.
He pulled her into his arms.
She was shaking violently.
"Daddy."
"I've got you."
"Are we going home?"
"Yes."
"For real?"
He closed his eyes.
"For real."
Gabriel and Adrian were taken into custody.
No one died.
No heroic execution followed.
No revenge was required.
For Domenico, watching Gabriel placed inside a police vehicle was colder and more satisfying than violence.
Gabriel had spent his life protecting the Moretti name.
Now cameras recorded him leaving the family winery in handcuffs while that same name appeared on the property behind him.
His reputation would not save him.
His connections would not save him.
His money would not save him.
The truth would follow him into every courtroom.
Back at the mansion, Ruby slept in Domenico's bed.
He sat beside her until sunrise.
Rosa brought coffee.
"You should sleep."
"No."
"You've been awake for almost three days."
Domenico looked at Ruby.
"Three years."
Rosa understood.
He had not truly rested since Lucia died.
He had worked.
Expanded.
Negotiated.
Bought companies.
Built hotels.
Filled every hour.
Anything to avoid sitting still long enough to hear the final argument with Lucia replay in his head.
Rosa sat beside him.
"You loved her."
"I didn't listen to her."
"Both can be true."
He looked at Rosa.
"She came to Gabriel because I wasn't there."
"Lucia made choices based on what she knew then."
"I should have been here."
"Yes."
The answer surprised him.
Rosa did not comfort him with lies.
"You should have listened more. You should have come home earlier. You should have noticed Valentina's cruelty before Ruby needed to become brave enough to expose it."
Domenico stared at the floor.
Rosa continued.
"But guilt is only useful if it changes what you do next."
He looked at Ruby.
"What if I've already damaged her?"
"Then you help her heal."
"What if she doesn't trust me?"
"Then you earn it."
Domenico nodded slowly.
Ruby stirred.
Her hand moved across the blanket until she found his fingers.
She held them without opening her eyes.
Rosa smiled.
"Looks like you have somewhere to start."
Later that morning Shaw called.
Marcus had signed a cooperation agreement.
Adrian was talking.
Gabriel was not.
Valentina remained silent.
But Lucia's phone changed everything.
Forensic recovery found twenty seven audio recordings.
Fifteen photographs.
Four videos.
And one unsent email.
The email was addressed to Domenico.
Shaw offered to send it.
Domenico asked her to wait.
He was afraid.
Not of evidence.
Of Lucia's final words.
That evening, after Ruby fell asleep, he opened the email.
Domenico,
If I have waited too long to say these things, part of that is my fault.
You are not the enemy I am afraid of.
But you have become so busy protecting our future that you stopped noticing our present.
I need you to come home.
Not to the mansion.
To us.
There are people around the company I no longer trust.
Gabriel says I am overreacting, but I think he is involved.
I am leaving copies where no one can erase them.
If I am wrong, we will laugh about this someday.
If I am right, protect Ruby.
And if something happens before I can say it again, remember this.
I was angry with you.
I was disappointed in you.
I still loved you.
All three things can exist at once.
Please come home.
Lucia
Domenico read the final sentence until the screen blurred.
Please come home.
May you like
Three years too late, he whispered into the empty room.
"I'm home."
