Chapter 9 - The Last War
Three days later, New York woke to the biggest financial scandal in decades.
Anonymous documents were leaked to the press.
Bank records.
Political payments.
Shell companies.
Names.
Hundreds of them.
The Rossi organization was exposed.
So were the people who had spent decades using it.
Dominic had released everything.
But he had done something else.
He had refused to run.
"I'm going to testify," he told me.
I stared at him.
"They'll kill you."
"Maybe."
"That's not comforting."
He smiled faintly.
"I'll have the best protection available."
"Your own men?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"The federal government."
I stared.
"You trust them?"
"No."
He shrugged.
"But they hate the people we're fighting more than they hate me."
It was the first time I'd seen Dominic genuinely smile.
The trial became international news.
Victor Costa was arrested.
The corrupt officials were exposed.
The lawyer disappeared.
But Samuel survived.
He spent two weeks in intensive care.
My mother never left his side.
For the first time in twenty-six years, they were together.
And I finally understood something.
My mother had never been weak.
She had been brave.
She had simply been fighting a war nobody could see.
One evening, Dominic found me sitting beside Samuel's hospital bed.
"How is he?"
"Awake."
Samuel opened one eye.
"You're the man who married my daughter."
Dominic froze.
I laughed.
Samuel smiled.
"Relax. I'm not shooting you."
Dominic smiled.
"I appreciate that."
Samuel looked at me.
"He's good for you."
I rolled my eyes.
"You two are already teaming up."
Samuel laughed.
Then his expression became serious.
"Emily."
"What?"
"I owe you an apology."
"For what?"
"For leaving."
I took his hand.
"You thought you were protecting me."
"I was."
"You still hurt me."
"I know."
"Then don't leave again."
His eyes filled with tears.
"I won't."
Outside the room, Dominic waited.
I joined him.
He looked at me.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm getting there."
He nodded.
"Me too."
Then he handed me an envelope.
"What is this?"
"Divorce papers."
I stared at him.
"What?"
He looked away.
"I married you when you couldn't consent."
My heart tightened.
"I never wanted to trap you."
"Dominic..."
"You deserve a choice."
I opened the envelope.
Everything was already signed.
Except my signature.
He looked at me.
"If you want out, I'll make sure you're safe."
I stared at him.
"Do you want me to leave?"
His jaw tightened.
"I want you to choose."
I thought about the hospital.
The ring.
The gunfire.
The nights when he sat beside me.
The way he had protected my mother.
The way he had risked everything to expose his own family.
"You know what I hate about you?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"You always act like you're the only one who gets to make sacrifices."
He said nothing.
I tore the divorce papers in half.
His eyes widened.
"Emily."
"I'm choosing."
"You don't have to."
"I know."
I stepped closer.
"I'm choosing you."
He stared at me.
"Are you sure?"
"No."
He blinked.
I smiled.
"I'm terrified."
He laughed softly.
"So am I."
I touched his cheek.
"But I trust you."
He closed his eyes.
Then kissed me.
It wasn't the desperate kiss of people escaping danger.
It was slow.
Careful.
A promise.
Then Enzo called.
Dominic answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He listened.
Then looked at me.
"The lawyer was found."
"Where?"
"At the old courthouse."
We went there immediately.
The building had been abandoned for years.
Inside, the lawyer sat alone.
He didn't run.
He simply smiled.
"You came."
Dominic raised his weapon.
"Where's the Syndicate?"
The lawyer laughed.
"You think you've won?"
"No."
Dominic stepped closer.
"I know we've started."
The lawyer looked at me.
"Your father never told you the most important part."
"What?"
"You were never the heir."
I frowned.
"Then what am I?"
He smiled.
"The witness."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"The only witness who can testify to what happened twenty-six years ago."
"To what?"
The lawyer leaned forward.
"The murder of Samuel Moretti."
I stared.
"But he's alive."
The lawyer smiled.
"Not the man you think."
The room became silent.
Then Samuel's voice came through my phone.
"Emily, don't trust Dominic."
My blood froze.
The call ended.
I looked at Dominic.
His face was pale.
Then another message appeared.
Come to the courthouse alone.
I looked up.
Dominic said:
"Don't go."
But I had already realized something.
The final betrayal wasn't outside the Rossi family.
May you like
It was inside the people I trusted most.
And the person waiting for me knew exactly how to break us apart.
