Chapter 8 - Back to the Ballroom
By the next evening, Victor Shaw had become a victim on television.
He stood outside the Bellamy Foundation and told reporters he was deeply concerned for missing employee Anna Carter and her daughter.
He never directly accused Dominic.
He did not need to.
Edited footage showed Dominic confronting Victor, surrounding Anna with armed men, and taking her away.
Another clip appeared to show Anna entering the finance office before two hundred thousand dollars disappeared.
By noon, every local station had the story.
By evening, national outlets were repeating it.
Anna watched from a federal safe apartment.
“I hate his face.”
Noah sat beside her with a hospital bracelet still around his wrist.
“Get in line.”
Lily had seen her father that morning.
The reunion had been quiet.
No dramatic sprint.
Lily stood six feet from Noah and stared at him.
“Are you really Daddy?”
Noah cried before answering.
“I think I’m trying to be.”
Lily walked over, placed repaired Rosie in his lap, and said:
“You can hold her until you remember.”
Now Dominic stood near the apartment window while Evelyn reviewed the plan.
“We trigger the hidden server’s silent alarm deliberately.”
Anna looked up.
“You want Victor to come.”
“Yes.”
“He’ll believe Dominic found it alone.”
Evelyn nodded.
Dominic smiled without humor.
“Easy to sell.”
Then Anna stood.
“I’m going too.”
Three people said no.
Noah looked at his wife.
Then sighed.
“Actually, she’s going.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Noah.”
“You’ve known my wife two days. I’ve known her eleven years. That face means she already decided.”
Anna smiled.
“Thank you.”
“I didn’t say it was smart.”
“Still counts.”
That night, the Bellamy ballroom was full again.
Reporters lined the rear wall.
Board members whispered.
Victor moved through the room shaking hands.
Then he saw Dominic enter.
For the first time, his mask slipped.
Dominic crossed the ballroom alone.
Anna waited in the service corridor wearing an earpiece.
Federal agents were hidden throughout the building.
Michael remained in a surveillance van.
Noah stayed with Lily.
Dominic found the hidden network cabinet behind the musicians’ gallery.
He opened it.
A tiny red light changed color.
Silent alarm triggered.
Three minutes later, Victor entered and locked the door.
“You always were predictable,” Victor said.
Dominic stood with empty hands.
“So were you.”
Victor looked at the cabinet.
“Do you know what I admire about your family? You can’t imagine a world where you aren’t the center of it.”
“Is that what this is about?”
Victor laughed.
“My father burned alive behind a door your father ordered locked.”
Dominic’s face did not change.
“If that’s true, he was wrong.”
Victor stopped.
That was not the answer he expected.
Dominic continued.
“If my father murdered your father, he was wrong. If I profited from things I should have questioned, I was wrong. None of that makes what you did to Noah or Michael right.”
Victor’s expression twisted.
“You don’t get to become moral now.”
“No.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“I get to decide what I do next.”
Victor reached inside his coat.
A gun appeared.
Dominic remained still.
“You destroy the server,” Victor said. “The press sees you leave. Then they learn you kidnapped Anna, murdered Noah years ago, and stole foundation money.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I release files putting Michael at the center of the trafficking.”
“You forged them.”
“Of course.”
The admission traveled through every federal earpiece.
Then Anna opened the door.
“No,” she said. “I’m inconvenient.”
Victor spun.
His gun lifted.
Dominic moved between them instantly.
Victor’s face went white.
“You.”
“Yes. Me.”
“You should be running.”
“I spent three years running.”
Anna took one careful step forward.
“You told me Noah was dead.”
“He should have been.”
Another admission.
“You kept him drugged.”
“He knew too much.”
“You threatened my child.”
“I never touched the girl.”
“No. You only made her watch her mother be afraid.”
Victor’s eyes flicked toward Dominic.
That half second was enough.
Dominic knocked the gun aside.
It struck the carpet.
Victor lunged.
The door burst open.
Federal agents flooded the gallery.
“Hands!”
Victor froze.
Evelyn entered behind them.
Dominic and Victor stared at each other.
Years of trust.
Business meetings.
Funerals.
Victor had stood beside Dominic while he buried an empty coffin.
Dominic’s hands curled into fists.
Victor smiled.
“Go ahead,” he whispered. “Show them what you are.”
Dominic looked at him.
Then slowly opened his hands.
“No.”
Agents pulled Victor’s arms behind him.
“You don’t get to choose what I am anymore.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
A technician examined the server.
“The original logs are intact.”
Anna finally breathed.
Dominic’s phone vibrated.
A message from Noah.
Lily wants to know if she can have her borrowed guy back now.
May you like
Dominic stared at the screen.
Then laughed.
