Chapter 2 - The First Time She Entered His World, Iris Realized Loving Dominic Falcone Might Cost More Than Either of Them Was Ready to PayThree months after Iris Calloway first placed her hand in Dominic Falcone’s across a white tablecloth, she learned that tenderness did not erase danger.
Sometimes it only gave danger something new to threaten.
The lesson arrived on a Tuesday evening in May.
Not with a gunshot.
Not with screaming tires.
Not with some cinematic warning delivered beneath a streetlamp.
It arrived in the form of a black sedan parked across from Iris’s apartment building for the third night in a row.
She noticed it because poor people noticed things.
They noticed which grocery store marked down meat after eight.
They noticed when the landlord’s footsteps stopped outside their door.
They noticed when the electric bill was three dollars higher than expected because three dollars was still three dollars.
And Iris noticed cars.
Especially expensive ones that did not belong on her block.
She stood behind the thin curtain of the third-floor apartment, one hand holding the fabric aside.
Below, rainwater shone beneath the streetlights.
The sedan waited.
Engine running.
Windows dark.
Eli appeared behind her.
Again? he signed.
Iris nodded.
He looked through the curtain.
Maybe someone lives nearby.
Three nights? Same place?
Eli’s mouth tightened.
He had grown taller in the past year, though Iris still sometimes saw the seven-year-old boy beneath his twenty-one-year-old face—the frightened child waking in a hospital room to discover the world had become quieter without asking his permission.
Now he was broader through the shoulders from metalworking and mechanic work, grease permanently embedded beneath two fingernails no matter how aggressively he scrubbed.
Tell Dominic, he signed.
Iris immediately shook her head.
Eli gave her a look.
It was the particular look younger brothers perfected after years of being raised by older sisters who believed responsibility was a religion.
You tell me not to hide problems.
This might not be a problem.
Then telling him won't hurt.
Iris stared at the sedan.
She hated when Eli became reasonable.
It felt like theft.
Twenty minutes later she sent Dominic a message.
A photograph.
No dramatic words.
Just:
Do you recognize this car?
His answer came less than a minute later.
Stay inside.
Her stomach dropped.
Dominic?
No answer.
Then:
Lock the door. Keep Eli away from the windows. Gus is coming.
That was when fear became real.
Not because of what Dominic said.
Because of what he didn’t.
Iris locked the deadbolt.
Eli saw her face.
Bad?
I don't know.
Seven minutes later another vehicle pulled against the curb.
Gus Ferro stepped out.
He looked almost absurdly ordinary for a man Iris knew had spent most of his adult life beside Dominic.
Gray jacket.
Open collar.
Reading glasses still tucked into his shirt pocket as though he had been interrupted halfway through a newspaper.
But the moment Gus stepped onto the sidewalk, the black sedan moved.
Not quickly.
That would have looked guilty.
It simply pulled away.
Gus watched until its taillights disappeared.
Then he came upstairs.
“You got coffee?”
It was the first thing he said.
Iris stared.
“That’s your opening line?”
“I drove across Philadelphia.”
“There may be someone watching my apartment.”
“Exactly. Seems like a coffee situation.”
Eli laughed silently.
Gus pointed toward him.
“Smart kid.”
Iris made coffee.
Nobody drank it.
Gus sat at their tiny kitchen table and studied the photograph on her phone.
“Dominic knows the plate.”
“Whose is it?”
“Company vehicle.”
“What company?”
Gus looked at her.
That hesitation told Iris more than an answer would have.
“Gus.”
“Falcone Logistics.”
Her stomach tightened.
“That’s Dominic’s company.”
“One of them.”
“Then why would his own people be watching me?”
Gus rubbed a thumb along the edge of the coffee mug.
“Because not everybody likes what he’s doing.”
“What exactly is he doing?”
Silence.
Iris suddenly understood something that made anger rise beneath her fear.
“You think I don’t know.”
Gus looked up.
“Know what?”
“That Dominic is changing things.”
“He told you that.”
“He told me enough.”
“Enough isn’t everything.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Gus leaned back.
For the first time, the older man seemed uncomfortable.
“He’s shutting down certain operations.”
“What operations?”
“Iris—”
“What operations?”
“Cargo theft. Protection collections. Cash businesses used to clean money. Loans.”
The kitchen seemed smaller with every word.
Iris knew what Dominic had been.
Or thought she did.
Knowing in theory was different from hearing crimes listed beside the salt shaker.
“How many people are angry?”
Gus exhaled.
“Enough.”
“And that car?”
“Belongs to a company controlled by Vincent Falcone.”
“Dominic has family?”
“Cousin.”
“Why have I never heard his name?”
“Because Dominic hoped you wouldn’t have to.”
That answer frightened her most.
Gus looked toward Eli, then back at Iris.
“Vincent believes Dominic has become sentimental.”
“Because of me?”
“Because Dominic wants out.”
Iris stopped breathing for half a second.
“Out?”
“He’s been moving legitimate businesses into separate ownership structures. Paying back taxes. Closing accounts. Cutting people loose with severance instead of threats. It’s been happening for months.”
Months.
The word struck her.
Dominic had told her he wanted to become different.
She had believed him.
She had not understood he had already begun.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“You’d have tried to stop him.”
“No.”
Gus raised an eyebrow.
Iris corrected herself.
“I would’ve asked whether he was doing it for himself or for me.”
“And if he said you?”
“I would have walked away.”
Gus nodded slowly.
“Which is why he didn’t tell you.”
The apartment door opened twenty minutes later.
Dominic entered alone.
His eyes found Iris first.
Then Eli.
He crossed the room and stopped in front of her.
Are you okay?
She signed back sharply.
Am I?
His expression changed.
Gus stood.
“I’m gonna take Eli downstairs.”
Iris looked at her brother.
Eli immediately signed, Absolutely not.
Gus almost smiled.
Dominic signed to Eli.
Please.
Eli hesitated.
Then pointed two fingers toward Dominic’s eyes before pointing toward Iris.
I’m watching you.
Dominic nodded solemnly.
Fair.
When they were gone, Iris turned on him.
You should have told me.
Yes.
The immediate admission stole half her anger.
Don't do that.
Do what?
Agree so quickly that I can't yell properly.
A faint shadow touched his mouth.
It vanished when she didn’t smile.
How dangerous is this?
Dominic considered the question.
That alone was answer enough.
Dominic.
More dangerous than I wanted you to know.
Her hands dropped.
He continued.
Vincent believes the organization belongs to the family, not me. He thinks I am dismantling something my father died protecting.
Are you?
Yes.
No hesitation.
Iris looked at him.
Why?
His answer came slowly.
Because I spent fifteen years telling myself inheritance was obligation.
His hands stopped.
Then moved again.
Then I met a woman who looked at everything I could do and asked who I wanted to be.
Iris’s throat tightened.
That isn't an answer.
Yes, it is.
No. If you're doing this because you think becoming good will make you worthy of me, stop.
His face hardened.
I am not becoming good for you.
The words were almost harsh.
Then:
You made me understand that I wanted the choice.
Iris stared.
Dominic stepped closer but didn’t touch her.
Before you, I thought my life had already been decided. My father died. I inherited his enemies, his debts, his men, his rules. I thought surviving them was the same as choosing them.
He looked around the tiny apartment.
Then you told me I wasn't your knife.
His scar shifted as his jaw tightened.
No one had ever told me I was allowed to be anything else.
Iris blinked hard.
So this is your choice?
Yes.
Even if I leave tomorrow?
Pain crossed his face.
But he nodded.
Even then.
That mattered.
More than she could explain.
She stepped toward him.
Then stopped.
And Vincent?
Dominic’s expression became the one Philadelphia feared.
Vincent will not touch you.
Iris shook her head.
That's not what I asked.
He waited.
What happens to him?
I don't know yet.
No disappearing people.
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
Iris—
No.
He looked almost offended.
He watched your home.
Then call the police.
Dominic stared at her as though she had suggested summoning a dragon.
She nearly laughed.
You wanted another way to be strong.
He looked away.
This is an extremely irritating way.
She smiled despite herself.
Probably.
He looked back.
Then signed:
Fine.
But the following morning, the black sedan appeared again.
May you like
This time Eli was outside.
And the man behind the wheel took his photograph.
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