Chapter 16 - The ChoiceDominic raised his hands.
“Let her go.”
The gun remained against Lily's head.
Voss looked satisfied.
“You see, Dominic, this is why men like you lose.”
“What?”
“You think power means controlling everyone.”
Dominic looked at Lily.
She was terrified.
But she wasn't crying.
He remembered the little girl beneath the chandelier.
The girl who had traveled alone through Manhattan because she believed someone had to answer her question.
She had been brave then.
She was brave now.
Dominic looked at her.
“Lily.”
She nodded.
He spoke calmly.
“Remember what I taught you.”
Her eyes moved toward him.
“Truth?”
“Yes.”
“Always?”
“Always.”
The gunman looked confused.
Voss frowned.
Dominic suddenly threw the briefcase.
It struck the gunman's wrist.
The weapon moved.
Lily dropped.
Evelyn ran.
Dominic tackled the gunman.
Marco and the agents moved simultaneously.
Gunfire erupted.
Voss fled.
Dominic grabbed Lily and covered her with his body.
“Dad!”
“I've got you.”
Evelyn reached them.
She pulled Lily into her arms.
Dominic looked around.
“Where's Voss?”
Marco shouted:
“West side!”
Dominic stood.
He wanted to chase him.
But Lily grabbed his hand.
“Don't.”
Dominic looked down.
“Why?”
“You promised you'd come back.”
He stopped.
Then smiled.
“You're right.”
He stayed.
Voss escaped that night.
But his empire didn't.
The recording was released to federal investigators.
The Black Ledger was decrypted.
Dozens of hidden accounts were frozen.
Companies collapsed.
Officials resigned.
People who had believed themselves untouchable suddenly discovered that they could be arrested.
Three weeks later, Daniel disappeared.
A note was left on Dominic's desk.
I have spent twenty-five years running from the people who destroyed my family.
Now I'm going to find the last one.
Dominic stared at the note.
Evelyn entered.
“Daniel?”
“He left.”
“Will he come back?”
“I don't know.”
Lily appeared behind her.
“Is he going after Voss?”
Dominic nodded.
Lily became quiet.
“Are we safe?”
Dominic looked at his daughter.
“For the first time…”
He smiled.
“I think we are.”
But he was wrong.
Because that same night, in another city, Samuel Voss entered a private apartment.
A man waited for him.
Voss placed the newspaper on the table.
The headline read:
MORETTI LEDGER EXPOSES DECADES-LONG NETWORK.
The man smiled.
“Did they believe you were finished?”
Voss shook his head.
“No.”
“Good.”
The man opened a drawer.
Inside was an old photograph.
Anthony Moretti.
Daniel Moretti.
And a third brother.
Joseph Moretti.
Dominic's grandfather had two sons.
But nobody had ever told Dominic about the third.
May you like
The man tapped the photograph.
“Now we begin.”
