Chapter 6 - No More Quiet Solutions
The school roof gave Dominic enough height to catch a weak emergency signal.
He sent one text to Nolan.
CIVILIANS. WEST ROAD. THREE VEHICLES. DO NOT RUSH.
Then he sent his location.
Below them, Reece’s men entered the building.
Ava crouched behind a ventilation unit with the metal cash box in her lap.
Victor watched the access door.
Dominic looked toward the stranded bus.
Parents were carrying children toward higher ground.
“They’re using the families as cover,” Victor said.
“Yes.”
“We could take the east stairwell.”
“And lead them toward the bus?”
Victor swore.
Ava looked at Dominic.
“You really called the sheriff.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“I’m adjusting.”
Dominic almost smiled.
The roof door rattled.
A voice called through it.
“Mr. Moretti!”
Dominic knew the voice from old meetings.
Gavin Reece.
Older now.
Still smooth.
“Gavin.”
“I would prefer not to make this dramatic.”
Victor muttered, “He blocked an evacuation bus.”
Dominic raised his voice.
“You’ve already failed.”
Reece laughed.
“You have Ava. I need the box.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what’s in it.”
“I know enough.”
“It contains things that hurt you too.”
Dominic looked at Ava.
She did not deny it.
Good.
Truth did not become useful only when it punished enemies.
Reece continued.
“You hand that evidence to police and the Moretti name loses half its power.”
Dominic thought of Lily.
Maybe that was the point.
“What makes you think I still want that power?”
Silence.
For the first time, Reece sounded uncertain.
“People like us don’t retire, Dominic.”
“People like you say that because you need company.”
The roof door slammed.
Victor braced it.
Ava whispered, “He’ll find another way.”
Sirens sounded far away.
Reece heard them too.
Footsteps moved rapidly below.
Dominic looked over the roof edge.
The three vehicles were leaving.
One turned toward the evacuation bus.
“No.”
He moved to the opposite side.
Nolan’s deputies appeared on the high road.
The driver of Reece’s vehicle swerved, hit deep mud, and stopped.
No shots.
No chase through civilians.
Deputies surrounded it.
The other two vehicles fled north.
Reece was not among the arrested men.
He had disappeared inside the school.
Nolan’s team cleared the building room by room.
They found an open basement door leading to an old drainage tunnel.
Reece had escaped.
Victor sat on the school steps afterward with his wrists cuffed again.
“You know I helped.”
Nolan nodded.
“That will be in the report.”
“You could remove these.”
“No.”
Victor looked at Dominic.
“You going to say something?”
Dominic considered it.
“No.”
Victor sighed.
Ava was taken to a secure location.
Nora was brought to her that evening.
Dominic stayed outside the room.
He did not belong in that reunion.
Through the closed door he heard a cry.
Then another.
Then silence.
Claire stood beside him.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
He leaned against the wall.
“Nora spent years paying for things adults did.”
Claire slid her hand into his.
“So did Lily, in smaller ways.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“She knows when you leave dinner because someone called. She knows why certain men whisper when she enters. She knows we have security at school.”
“I thought we hid it.”
“Children notice.”
Ava’s sentence returned.
Children are more observant than men like you.
Dominic closed his eyes.
“What do I change?”
Claire rested her head briefly against his shoulder.
“Start with what you can.”
The next morning, Dominic called every senior figure in his organization to the estate.
Marco stood behind him.
Some of the men expected war.
They got accounting.
Dominic placed a folder on the table.
“Effective immediately, any business that cannot survive a legal audit is being closed or sold.”
Nobody spoke.
Salvatore D’Angelo finally laughed.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“Because one accountant wrote you a guilt letter?”
“No.”
“Because of your daughter?”
“Partly.”
Salvatore leaned forward.
“You dismantle this, Reece wins.”
Dominic shook his head.
“Reece won because men like us taught everyone to solve problems in secret.”
The room shifted.
One captain stood.
“I’m not doing this.”
“You’re free to leave.”
“And my share?”
“Your legal share is yours.”
“My other share?”
Dominic held his gaze.
“There is no other share after today.”
The man cursed and walked out.
Two followed.
Marco watched them go.
“That was easier than expected.”
Dominic looked at the door.
“No. The hard part starts when they realize I meant it.”
He was right.
By afternoon, rumors spread.
By evening, two partners froze accounts.
By morning, a warehouse manager vanished with cash.
Dominic did not send anyone after him.
He sent lawyers.
Marco hated it.
“This is incredibly unsatisfying.”
“Get used to paperwork.”
“I preferred threats.”
“So did I.”
The biggest consequence came from an unexpected place.
Lily overheard part of a news report.
She found Dominic in the study.
“Are you in trouble?”
He looked up.
“Maybe.”
“Because of Nora?”
“No.”
“Because of you?”
He smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
Lily climbed into the chair across from him.
“Are you going to jail?”
Claire froze in the doorway.
Dominic did not lie.
“I don’t know.”
Lily’s eyes filled immediately.
He went around the desk and knelt.
“I am not going anywhere tonight.”
“But later?”
“I’m fixing things I should have fixed before.”
“Why now?”
He touched Snowball’s ear.
“Because a little girl had to stand in a flooded window for me to finally see them.”
Lily thought about that.
Then she hugged him.
Not because she understood everything.
Because she understood enough.
That night, Ava called from the secure apartment.
“Reece contacted me.”
Dominic stood.
“What does he want?”
“Nora.”
His blood went cold.
Ava continued quickly.
“Not to hurt her. He wants Moon.”
“The rabbit?”
“He thinks there’s more evidence inside it.”
Dominic looked toward Lily’s bedroom.
“Is there?”
Ava was silent.
“Ava.”
“Yes.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“What?”
“A recording.”
“Where?”
“Not in Moon.”
“Then where?”
Ava whispered, “In Snowball.”
Closing the old businesses also forced Dominic to call people he had avoided for years. One was a restaurant owner whose lease his father’s company had pressured into unfavorable terms. Another was a trucking contractor who had paid “security fees” long after the original threat disappeared.
Dominic did not call to ask forgiveness.
He called to cancel debts.
Marco listened to the third conversation and shook his head.
“You realize some of these people are going to think you’re dying.”
“Let them.”
“Others will think you’ve found religion.”
“I haven’t.”
“What did you find?”
Dominic glanced toward the kitchen, where Lily and Nora were arguing over whose rabbit got the red cup.
“A window.”
Marco stared at him.
May you like
“That was painfully poetic.”
“I regret saying it.”
