Chapter 9 - MARGARET’S CONFESSION
Dominic couldn't speak.
Grace had never seen that happen.
Margaret DeLuca stood at the end of the abandoned corridor, trembling against her cane.
Dominic slowly approached.
“You can walk.”
“Not far.”
“For six years…”
“I wasn't pretending to be paralyzed.”
Margaret's voice cracked.
“The damage was real.”
“Then what did you mean?”
Margaret looked toward Adrian.
“The accident wasn't an accident.”
Dominic froze.
Six years earlier, Margaret's car had gone off an icy road outside Milwaukee.
Her driver died.
Margaret survived with spinal injuries.
Dominic had been told mechanical failure caused the crash.
Margaret shook her head.
“I caused it.”
Grace whispered, “Why?”
“I grabbed the steering wheel.”
Dominic's face turned white.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because the driver had a gun.”
Silence.
Margaret continued.
“He had orders to kill me.”
“From who?”
“Richard Sterling.”
Dominic turned toward Adrian.
“You knew?”
“Later.”
Margaret nodded.
“I had discovered that Richard was continuing what his father started.”
Corruption.
Payments.
Murders.
The war between families.
“I was going to expose him.”
Dominic's anger grew.
“And instead of telling me, you stayed silent for six years?”
“If I told you, you would have killed him.”
“Correct.”
“And then every federal agency in the country would have destroyed you.”
Dominic laughed without humor.
“So you protected Sterling.”
“I protected you.”
“By letting him continue?”
Margaret looked ashamed.
“I thought I could gather enough evidence.”
Grace understood the pattern.
Everyone protecting everyone through lies.
Daniel protecting Grace.
Helen protecting Daniel.
Margaret protecting Dominic.
All of them creating disasters they believed secrecy would prevent.
Dominic looked at his mother.
“And Adrian?”
Margaret exhaled.
“When I learned he was alive, I contacted him.”
“You contacted him.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
Dominic turned away.
Grace saw his hands shaking.
Adrian watched him.
“You have her temper.”
Dominic spun.
“You don't get to speak.”
Adrian's face tightened.
“I may be—”
“I know what Antonio's tape said.”
Silence.
Margaret closed her eyes.
Dominic asked the question nobody wanted spoken.
“Is he my father?”
Margaret cried.
Grace looked away.
Dominic didn't.
“Answer me.”
“I don't know.”
Dominic laughed once.
Broken.
Margaret continued.
“I loved Adrian before Antonio.”
Adrian lowered his eyes.
“My family arranged my marriage.”
“Antonio knew?”
“Eventually.”
“And he stayed?”
“He loved me.”
Dominic stared at her.
Grace wondered what it felt like to learn your entire life had been built on a question nobody answered.
Dominic stepped toward Adrian.
“DNA test.”
Adrian smiled faintly.
“You want certainty.”
“I want truth.”
“Truth is rarely kinder.”
“I didn't ask for kindness.”
Before Adrian could answer, Sofia screamed.
A red laser appeared on her chest.
Grace saw it.
“DOWN!”
She threw herself at the girl.
Gunfire exploded through the windows.
Dominic pulled Margaret behind machinery.
Adrian fired toward the upper catwalk.
“Sterling found us.”
Grace untied Sofia.
“Can you run?”
“Yes.”
“Then run.”
The plant erupted into chaos.
Men entered through side doors.
Dominic's team returned fire.
Grace dragged Sofia toward an emergency exit.
Adrian covered them.
A bullet struck him.
He fell.
“Adrian!”
Margaret screamed.
Dominic stopped.
For half a second he had a choice.
Leave Adrian.
Or save him.
Dominic ran back.
He grabbed Adrian beneath the arms.
“You die after the DNA test.”
Adrian laughed painfully.
“That sounds like Antonio.”
They escaped through a loading bay.
Outside, Marco pushed Margaret into an SUV.
Grace climbed in with Sofia.
Dominic dragged Adrian behind them.
Then another vehicle appeared.
Black sedan.
Vanessa Sterling stepped out.
Grace stared.
“What?”
Vanessa held a pistol.
Her diamond earrings looked absurd in the abandoned industrial yard.
Dominic aimed at her.
“Put it down.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You all thought I was stupid.”
Grace remembered the gala.
The slap.
The humiliation.
“You were part of this.”
Vanessa's eyes found her.
“You ruined everything.”
“I stopped you from hitting an old woman.”
“You made Dominic notice you.”
Grace stared.
There it was.
Not politics.
Not money.
Jealousy.
Vanessa looked at Dominic.
“My father spent years arranging our families.”
Dominic's face showed disgust.
“There was never an arrangement.”
“There was supposed to be.”
“According to your father.”
“You were supposed to marry me.”
Grace looked at Dominic.
He didn't even bother answering.
Vanessa's face twisted.
“Then she appeared.”
She pointed the gun at Grace.
“A waitress.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Vanessa.”
“You humiliated me.”
“You did that yourself.”
She pulled the trigger.
Dominic moved.
Grace felt an impact.
She hit the ground.
For one terrible second, she thought she'd been shot.
Then she saw Dominic above her.
Blood spreading across his shoulder.
“No.”
Grace grabbed him.
“Dominic!”
Marco fired.
Vanessa dropped her weapon.
Security rushed her.
Grace pressed both hands against Dominic's wound.
“Stay with me.”
“It's the shoulder.”
“I don't care.”
He looked at her.
Despite the pain, he smiled.
“You're ordering me around.”
“Shut up.”
“Interesting.”
“Dominic!”
His eyes stayed on hers.
Then he went limp.
Grace's entire world narrowed.
“NO!”
They rushed him to a private trauma center.
Grace refused to leave.
The bullet had passed through muscle without hitting major vessels.
He would survive.
The doctor repeated that three times.
Grace still sat beside him until morning.
When Dominic opened his eyes, she was holding his hand.
He looked down.
Grace immediately released it.
“You were unconscious.”
“So you held my hand?”
“No.”
“I can see your hand.”
“You were hallucinating.”
Dominic smiled weakly.
Grace felt tears rise.
She got angry at them.
“You got shot because of me.”
“I've been shot before.”
“That is not comforting.”
“It wasn't meant to be.”
Grace looked away.
Dominic's voice softened.
“Grace.”
“What?”
“I chose to move.”
She remembered the warehouse.
Her father's words.
Powerful men lose because they believe everyone else is afraid to move.
Grace looked back.
“Why?”
Dominic didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, “Because the idea of watching you die bothered me.”
She laughed nervously.
“That may be the least romantic sentence ever spoken.”
“Was I being romantic?”
“I hope not.”
“Good.”
Silence.
His thumb brushed her fingers.
Neither pulled away.
Then Marco entered.
His face ruined the moment.
“We have a problem.”
Dominic sighed.
“Of course.”
“Vanessa disappeared during transport.”
Dominic sat up despite the wound.
“How?”
“Police escort was hit.”
“Casualties?”
“Two officers wounded.”
“Sterling?”
“Also gone.”
Grace's stomach tightened.
Marco handed Dominic a phone.
A livestream filled the screen.
Senator Richard Sterling stood behind a podium.
American flags behind him.
Reporters in front.
Grace stared.
“He's giving a press conference?”
Dominic turned up the volume.
Sterling looked into the cameras.
“My daughter and I have been targeted by Dominic DeLuca and his criminal organization.”
Grace laughed in disbelief.
Sterling continued.
“A young woman named Grace Bennett has also been manipulated and kidnapped.”
Grace stood.
“What?”
“My office has evidence Dominic DeLuca was responsible for the attacks at the gala, the federal facility, and Lakeside.”
Dominic's face became stone.
Sterling held up photographs.
Carefully edited.
Dominic carrying weapons.
Grace being pulled into vehicles.
Margaret disappearing.
“He is constructing a story to make himself the victim.”
Marco whispered.
“And people will believe it.”
Sterling continued.
“I am asking federal authorities to immediately arrest Dominic DeLuca and rescue Grace Bennett.”
Grace stared at the television.
Her phone began vibrating.
Messages.
News alerts.
Her face was everywhere.
WAITRESS HELD BY CHICAGO CRIME BOSS?
SENATOR CLAIMS WOMAN KIDNAPPED AFTER GALA ATTACK
WHO IS GRACE BENNETT?
Grace looked at Dominic.
“I'm going public.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Sterling wants you visible.”
“Then I'll be visible.”
“Grace.”
She stepped closer.
“He made me a helpless victim in his story.”
May you like
Her expression hardened.
“I am tired of powerful men deciding what my story is.”
