Chapter 10
Frankie disappeared the following morning.
His apartment had been emptied.
His wife and two daughters were gone.
His bank accounts showed a withdrawal of nearly four hundred thousand dollars.
Paulie wanted to hunt him.
Chloe wanted to follow the money.
Dominic listened to Chloe.
That decision saved his life.
The withdrawal had been divided among eight accounts.
Seven were obvious decoys.
The eighth belonged to a construction company called North Crown Development.
Chloe stared at the name.
“Crown.”
Dominic looked over her shoulder.
“The Bellandi coin.”
Wolf on one side.
Broken crown on the other.
North Crown had existed for eleven years.
It owned parking structures, warehouses and vacant properties.
One property sat directly across from Rossi headquarters.
Another bordered the estate.
A third stood beside Sam’s school.
Dominic’s expression became murderous.
“They’ve been surrounding us for years.”
Chloe continued searching.
North Crown’s registered agent was a lawyer named Elias Mercer.
Paulie recognized him.
“He represented Varga.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Find him.”
Mercer was found before sunset.
He was not hiding.
He sat in Laura drinking wine.
Alone.
Dominic entered through the front.
Paulie locked the doors.
Chloe followed.
Mercer raised his glass.
“Mr. Rossi.”
Dominic sat across from him.
“You’re brave.”
“No.”
Mercer smiled.
“I’m insured.”
Chloe sat beside Dominic.
“North Crown.”
Mercer looked at her.
“So you found it.”
“You own property around every major Rossi location.”
“I own nothing.”
“Bellandi does?”
“Bellandi did.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Who runs it now?”
Mercer smiled.
“That’s the interesting question.”
He placed an envelope on the table.
“Silvio’s empire was never hereditary.”
“What does that mean?”
“He didn’t trust blood.”
Mercer sipped his wine.
“He believed sons become entitled. Nephews become jealous. Brothers become rivals.”
Dominic looked impatient.
“Get to the point.”
“Silvio chose successors through competition.”
Chloe understood.
“Frankie.”
“One candidate.”
“Who else?”
Mercer smiled.
“You.”
Dominic laughed.
“No.”
“Oh yes.”
Mercer leaned back.
“Why do you think Silvio obsessed over you?”
“Because of my father.”
“Partly.”
Mercer looked at Chloe.
“But mostly because Dominic built exactly what Silvio respected.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“Fear?”
“Resilience.”
Mercer continued.
“An eight-year-old boy gets his jaw broken. Loses his father. Grows up in poverty. Twenty years later he controls half the city.”
He raised his glass.
“Silvio admired you.”
Dominic looked disgusted.
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
Mercer pushed the envelope toward him.
“Because when Silvio dies, the Bellandi network passes to whoever proves capable of holding it.”
Dominic did not touch the envelope.
Chloe did.
Inside were account numbers.
Properties.
Corporations.
Billions in assets.
And a legal document.
Dominic Rossi was named beneficiary of a private trust.
Chloe stared.
“This can’t be real.”
“It is.”
Mercer smiled.
“Silvio made you his heir.”
Dominic tore the document in half.
Mercer laughed.
“You think paper matters?”
“I don’t want his empire.”
“The empire doesn’t care.”
Dominic stood.
“Get out.”
Mercer remained seated.
“You misunderstand.”
His smile disappeared.
“If you refuse it, the network will conclude you are weak.”
“And?”
“And the other candidates will kill you.”
He looked at Chloe.
“Then her.”
His eyes moved toward the ceiling, as if Sam were somewhere above.
“Then everyone carrying your name.”
Dominic grabbed him by the collar.
Paulie moved forward.
Mercer did not resist.
“You cannot resign from a throne you never asked for.”
Dominic pulled him closer.
“Watch me.”
He released Mercer.
The lawyer adjusted his tie.
“Midnight tomorrow.”
“For what?”
“Silvio’s succession council.”
Dominic laughed.
“I won’t be there.”
“Then Frankie wins by default.”
Mercer walked toward the door.
Chloe spoke.
“Where?”
Mercer stopped.
Dominic looked at her.
She ignored him.
“Where is the council?”
Mercer smiled.
“Old Bellandi Hotel.”
He left.
Dominic turned on Chloe.
“No.”
She crossed her arms.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”
“Yes, I do.”
“We have to go.”
“No.”
“If Frankie inherits the network—”
“I’ll kill Frankie.”
“And then another candidate appears.”
“I’ll kill him too.”
“And another.”
Dominic stopped.
Chloe stepped closer.
“You can’t shoot an idea.”
He stared at her.
“You destroyed the ledger. You exposed the network.”
“No.”
Chloe shook her head.
“We exposed the people in the ledger.”
She pointed toward the torn trust document.
“The system survived.”
Dominic knew she was right.
That made him angrier.
“What do you suggest?”
“We attend.”
“And accept?”
“No.”
Chloe’s expression sharpened.
“We finish what we started.”
The Bellandi Hotel had closed in 2001.
Once, it had hosted politicians, celebrities and criminal royalty.
Now it stood abandoned near the river.
At 11:58 p.m., Dominic entered the ballroom.
Chloe walked beside him.
Paulie followed.
Thirty-seven people waited.
Some Dominic recognized.
Others he did not.
Businessmen.
Criminal captains.
Lawyers.
Union officials.
One retired judge.
Frankie stood near the stage.
He smiled when Dominic entered.
“You came.”
Dominic looked around.
“So this is the great Bellandi empire?”
Frankie’s smile vanished.
“Show respect.”
“To who?”
A screen illuminated behind the stage.
Silvio appeared.
Hospital bed.
Oxygen.
Federal guards visible beyond the glass.
The old man looked delighted.
“Dominic.”
Dominic stared at him.
“You’re supposed to be dying.”
“I am.”
Silvio smiled.
“Which makes tonight important.”
Frankie stepped forward.
“I’ve served the Rossi family twenty-two years. I kept the streets running while Dominic played restaurant owner.”
Dominic looked bored.
Frankie continued.
“He wants to turn soldiers into truck drivers.”
Several men laughed.
“He wants legitimacy.”
Frankie spat the word.
“He has forgotten what power is.”
Silvio looked toward Dominic.
“What do you say?”
Dominic placed his hands in his pockets.
“Nothing.”
The room quieted.
“I didn’t come to compete.”
Frankie laughed.
“Then leave.”
Chloe stepped forward.
“We came to audit.”
The laughter stopped.
Frankie stared at her.
“What?”
Chloe lifted a laptop.
“North Crown Development controls approximately eight hundred million dollars in domestic assets.”
Silvio’s expression changed.
“Bellandi offshore holdings add another one-point-three billion.”
She continued.
“Those assets depend on forty-one shell companies, fourteen trusts and six financial institutions.”
Mercer stood near the wall.
He suddenly looked nervous.
Chloe smiled.
“I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours studying them.”
Silvio leaned closer to the camera.
“What did you do?”
“I found the weakness.”
Dominic looked at her.
Even he did not know this part.
Chloe continued.
“Every empire has one.”
She pressed a key.
Screens around the ballroom illuminated.
Bank transfers appeared.
Trust documents.
Ownership structures.
“The Bellandi network exists because nobody knows who owns what.”
She looked around the room.
“Now everyone does.”
Phones began vibrating.
One after another.
Men checked screens.
Expressions changed.
“What the hell is this?”
“My account is frozen.”
“Who sent this?”
Mercer looked at Chloe.
“You didn’t.”
“I did.”
Silvio shouted through the screen.
“You stupid girl!”
Chloe stared at him.
“You built your empire on secrets.”
She closed the laptop.
“I told you once already.”
Her voice remained calm.
“Secrets only have power while they’re secret.”
Frankie pulled a gun.
Dominic moved faster.
He struck Frankie’s wrist.
The gun fell.
Paulie kicked it away.
Dominic slammed Frankie against the table.
The room erupted.
But nobody came to Frankie’s aid.
Every man was looking at his phone.
Their money.
Their protection.
Their secrets.
Gone.
Silvio watched helplessly from a hospital room miles away.
Dominic released Frankie.
“You wanted the crown?”
He looked around the ballroom.
“There is no crown.”
He took Chloe’s hand.
“We’re leaving.”
Nobody stopped them.
Outside, dawn had begun coloring the river.
Chloe breathed cold air.
Dominic stared at her.
“What?”
She smiled.
“You’re angry.”
“You froze eight hundred million dollars without telling me.”
“Approximately.”
“Chloe.”
“I thought you liked initiative.”
Dominic stared another second.
Then he laughed.
Not the short cynical sound Chloe had first heard in the diner.
A real laugh.
She had never heard it before.
Paulie walked past them.
“I’m going to pretend this entire conversation isn’t happening.”
Dominic pulled Chloe toward him.
“You’re terrifying.”
“You bought my debt.”
“I’m beginning to think Varga undercharged me.”
She kissed him.
Behind them, the Bellandi empire collapsed without a single gunshot.
Three days later, Silvio Bellandi died in federal custody.
No ceremony.
No soldiers.
No crown.
The old king disappeared with monitors beeping beside his bed.
But Dominic did not celebrate.
He visited Joseph instead.
His father was recovering at the estate.
They sat together on the terrace.
Chloe watched through the window.
She could not hear them.
She did not need to.
Joseph eventually reached across the table.
This time Dominic took his hand.
Twenty-five years could not be repaired in an afternoon.
But repair had begun.
Sam ran into the room carrying a soccer ball.
“Dominic!”
Dominic looked up.
“I have practice.”
“So?”
“You promised.”
Dominic checked his watch.
Joseph laughed.
“The feared Dominic Rossi has soccer practice.”
“Apparently.”
Sam grabbed Dominic’s hand.
“Come on.”
Dominic allowed himself to be dragged inside.
Chloe watched him.
The empire was changing.
The streets would not become clean overnight.
Enemies would not disappear because Dominic decided he wanted a different life.
There would be investigations.
Trials.
Financial losses.
Men like Frankie.
Old loyalties.
New threats.
But something fundamental had changed.
Dominic no longer measured power by how many men feared him.
He measured it by whether Sam could walk into a room without being afraid.
And Chloe had discovered something about herself as well.
She had entered Dominic’s world because she had no choice.
She remained because she did.
Now she was helping decide what that world would become.
May you like
Not from behind him.
Beside him.
