Chapter 9 - THE LAST DOOR
Dominic said one word.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Dominic.”
“No.”
“Your mother is upstairs.”
“I know.”
“Gabriel wants me.”
“I know.”
“Then I go.”
His eyes burned.
“You think I’m letting you walk into a burning building with a murderer?”
“You’re not letting me do anything.”
His jaw clenched.
I stepped closer.
“This ends tonight.”
“Not like this.”
“Then give me another option.”
He had none.
Above us, Gabriel fired into the ceiling.
People screamed.
“THIRTY SECONDS!”
Elena shouted something.
Gabriel struck her.
Dominic moved.
I grabbed his coat.
“He’ll kill her if you rush him.”
“I’m not sending you.”
“You’re not.”
I looked toward Anthony.
“Is there another way upstairs?”
“Service staircase.”
“Where?”
“Rear alley.”
Dominic understood.
“You go through the front.”
Anthony nodded.
“We go behind.”
“Absolutely not,” Dominic said.
I looked at him.
“You told me bad decisions still count.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
His expression cracked.
Fear.
Dominic Russo was afraid.
For me.
I touched his hand.
“I spent three years letting Derek decide what I was allowed to do because I was scared of what happened when I said no.”
His fingers closed around mine.
“I escaped him.”
I looked toward the burning restaurant.
“I’m not giving my choices away again just because the man trying to control me changed.”
Dominic stared at me.
Then he nodded.
Once.
“I hate this plan.”
“Good.”
Anthony handed me an earpiece.
I entered Sorrentino’s.
Smoke filled the dining room.
Sprinklers rained from the ceiling.
Flames burned near the bar but hadn’t reached the stairs.
I climbed.
“Gabriel!”
“Keep coming.”
I reached Dominic’s office.
Elena sat near the window.
Gabriel stood behind her.
Gun raised.
“You came.”
“Let her go.”
“You people keep saying that.”
He smiled.
“Throw your phone down.”
I did.
“Earpiece.”
I removed it.
Damn.
He crushed it beneath his shoe.
“Now we can talk privately.”
“About what?”
“Your father.”
“You killed him.”
“Carlos killed him.”
“You ordered Carlos.”
“Daniel left me no choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Spoken like someone who has never built anything.”
I laughed.
“What did you build?”
His smile faded.
“You spent twenty years hiding from dead men and old notebooks.”
I stepped closer.
“You didn’t build anything.”
Another step.
“You stole.”
Another.
“You lied.”
His gun shifted toward me.
“You murdered people who trusted you.”
“Careful.”
“And now everything is gone.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You think those recordings matter?”
“They already do.”
“You think prison frightens me?”
“No.”
I looked directly at him.
“I think being forgotten does.”
That landed.
His face changed.
“You want everyone to believe you were the mastermind.”
“Stella,” Elena warned.
“But you weren’t.”
Gabriel’s gun lifted.
“You were an accountant with a gun.”
His face twisted.
There.
Anger.
Predictable.
Derek had taught me something after all.
Men obsessed with control made mistakes when they lost it.
Gabriel stepped away from Elena.
Exactly what I wanted.
“You know nothing about me.”
“I know my father beat you.”
“What?”
“He hid the ledger for twenty-two years.”
Gabriel’s breathing changed.
“You never found it.”
“Shut up.”
“You needed Derek.”
“Shut up.”
“You needed me.”
“SHUT UP!”
He raised the gun.
Elena moved.
She kicked the back of his knee.
Gabriel stumbled.
I lunged.
The gun fired.
Glass shattered.
We hit the floor.
Gabriel struck me.
Pain exploded across my cheek.
Then he grabbed my throat.
For one horrible second, he became Derek.
Different face.
Same pressure.
Same helplessness.
No.
Not again.
I drove my knee upward.
Gabriel grunted.
I twisted free.
Elena grabbed the gun.
Gabriel kicked it away.
Then the door exploded open.
Dominic.
He hit Gabriel hard enough to send both men into the wall.
They fought.
No elegance.
No movie choreography.
Fists.
Blood.
Rage.
Gabriel reached for the fallen gun.
I saw it first.
“Dominic!”
Gabriel grabbed it.
I grabbed a brass lamp.
I swung.
The lamp struck his wrist.
The gun skidded away.
Dominic slammed Gabriel to the floor.
Anthony and two men rushed in.
“It’s over.”
Gabriel laughed through blood.
“No.”
Anthony cuffed him.
Gabriel looked at me.
“You think this ends because I’m arrested?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t understand families like this.”
He nodded toward Dominic.
“They don’t get happy endings.”
I looked at Dominic.
His lip was bleeding.
His suit torn.
His mother furious.
Smoke filled his restaurant.
And somehow I smiled.
“We’ll see.”
Federal agents arrived minutes later.
Gabriel Voss left Sorrentino’s in handcuffs.
I watched from the sidewalk.
Dawn approached.
Dominic stood beside me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then he said:
“You called me controlling.”
“You were being controlling.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“Derek used to say that too.”
He flinched.
I regretted it immediately.
“That wasn’t fair.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“But I understand why you said it.”
I swallowed.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
“This.”
I gestured between us.
His expression softened.
“Neither do I.”
“You’re a mafia boss.”
“That isn’t usually relevant to dating skills.”
I laughed.
He smiled.
Then became serious.
“Stella.”
“What?”
“I want you.”
My heart stopped.
“But I will never make you stay.”
He stepped backward.
Giving me space.
“If you walk away tomorrow, I won’t follow you.”
I stared at him.
“If you change your number, I won’t find it.”
Another step.
“If you choose a life that has nothing to do with me, I will make sure nobody from my world touches it.”
My eyes burned.
“And if I stay?”
Dominic’s voice became quiet.
“Then I spend however long it takes proving staying was your choice.”
I crossed the distance.
And kissed him.
Not because he saved me.
Not because I needed protection.
Because for the first time in years, I wasn’t afraid of what happened after I made a choice.
His hands stayed at his sides.
Until I took one and placed it at my waist.
Only then did he hold me.
Gently.
When we separated, Anthony approached.
His face was grim.
“What?”
Dominic asked.
“Gabriel talked.”
“That was fast.”
“He wants a deal.”
“For what?”
Anthony looked at me.
“He says there’s one more secret Daniel Bennett took to his grave.”
My stomach tightened.
“What secret?”
Anthony hesitated.
“According to Gabriel, Stella’s father didn’t hide twenty-eight million dollars.”
May you like
He looked directly at me.
“He hid eighty million.”
