Chapter 10 - THE TRIAL OF DOMINIC MORETTIThe journalist’s name was Nathan Cole.
He had been found dead in an alley behind a Moretti-owned warehouse.
The official investigation remained open for six years.
Margaret claimed Dominic personally ordered the killing.
She possessed a recording.
Dominic listened to it with Elena and his attorneys.
His own voice said:
“Cole cannot leave that building alive.”
The recording was clear.
No obvious edits.
Dominic remembered the conversation.
Nathan Cole had entered a warehouse during an active weapons transfer operated without Dominic’s knowledge.
Dominic ordered Gabriel to keep him inside until police arrived.
“He cannot leave that building alive” had not been the entire sentence.
Dominic had said:
“If Vittoria’s men see him, Cole cannot leave that building alive. Get him into the secure office.”
The recording removed the first half.
Gabriel confirmed it.
But confirmation from Dominic’s consigliere carried limited value.
Margaret claimed Dominic altered the story.
Nathan Cole’s widow appeared on television demanding justice.
Dominic refused to attack her credibility.
“She lost her husband,” he told his attorneys. “We do not turn her grief into a weapon.”
Elena watched him prepare to surrender for arraignment.
“You may not come home.”
“I know.”
“The children don’t understand.”
“They will understand more if I run.”
“You could leave the country.”
“That is what the old Dominic would do.”
“The old Dominic would threaten the prosecutor.”
“That too.”
Elena’s hands trembled as she adjusted his tie.
“I just found you.”
“You found a complicated version.”
“I found their father.”
He touched her face.
“Then tell them I am doing what I ask them to do.”
“What?”
“Facing what happened.”
Dominic surrendered publicly.
The image of him entering federal court appeared across the country.
The children watched only because Caleb found a news clip on a tablet.
“Is Dad going to jail?” he asked.
Elena sat with all three of them.
“He has to answer questions about something that happened.”
“Did he do it?” Noah asked.
“He says no.”
“Do you believe him?” Sophie asked.
“Yes.”
Caleb crossed his arms.
“Then why can’t he come home?”
“Because the law has to decide using evidence.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Sometimes it feels that way.”
Dominic was denied immediate release because prosecutors argued his wealth made him a flight risk.
He spent twelve nights in federal detention.
Elena visited twice.
The children were not allowed.
Dominic called every evening.
He read bedtime stories through a monitored line.
The first time, his voice broke when Sophie called him Dad without hesitation.
Caleb had not yet used the word directly.
He called Dominic by name.
Dominic never pressured him.
Ethan and Gabriel searched for the original recording.
They discovered Nathan Cole had worn a backup audio device connected to a cloud account.
The account had been accessed after his death by Claire Lawson.
Elena’s friend.
The doctor who helped deliver the triplets.
The woman sheltering the family.
Elena confronted Claire in the farmhouse kitchen.
Claire did not deny it.
“Nathan was my brother-in-law.”
Elena stared.
“You never told me.”
“My sister was his wife.”
“Why help me?”
“Because I believed Dominic killed him. Keeping his children away felt like justice.”
Elena’s stomach turned.
Every person who offered protection carried another purpose.
“Did you alter the recording?”
“No. Margaret gave it to my sister.”
“Where is the original?”
Claire looked toward the children playing outside.
“I destroyed it.”
Elena stepped back.
“You knew it might prove his innocence.”
“I believed men like Dominic were never innocent.”
“You were willing to let him go to prison for something he did not do.”
“He has done other things.”
“That is not justice.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“My sister stopped living after Nathan died.”
“So you helped stop my life too?”
The question silenced her.
Claire admitted the backup device had not been destroyed.
She had hidden it in a bank deposit box.
Elena went with federal agents to retrieve it.
The full recording confirmed Dominic’s story.
It also captured other voices.
Vittoria ordered Nathan Cole removed from the secure office.
Julian Cross arranged the killing.
Luca approved it.
Dominic had attempted to save him.
The charges were dismissed.
When Dominic left the courthouse, Elena and the children waited beyond the barricades.
Noah and Sophie ran first.
Caleb remained beside Elena.
Dominic crouched and embraced the younger two.
Then he looked at Caleb.
“You came.”
Caleb nodded.
“Mom said you told the truth.”
“I did.”
“Even about the bad things?”
“As much as the law allowed me to.”
Caleb walked forward.
“Okay, Dad.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
He held all three children.
Elena stood behind them crying.
That evening, the family returned to the farmhouse.
No guards entered the living room.
Dominic removed his jacket and sat on the floor while the children showed him twelve days of drawings.
Sophie had drawn the courthouse as a purple castle.
Noah had drawn a prison containing pizza.
Caleb had drawn five figures holding hands.
Dominic noticed the fifth figure no longer stood at the edge.
He was in the center beside Elena.
Later, after the children slept, Dominic found Elena on the porch.
“Claire left,” she said.
“I know.”
“I thought she was the only person who helped without wanting something.”
“She did help.”
“She also wanted revenge.”
“People can do both.”
“I’m tired of complicated love.”
Dominic stood beside her.
“I can offer uncomplicated problems.”
She smiled despite herself.
“Such as?”
“I don’t know how to braid Sophie’s hair.”
“That is serious.”
“Noah wants me to coach soccer. I have never played.”
“Tragic.”
“Caleb wants to understand company ownership.”
“He’s five.”
“He has concerns about shareholder voting.”
Elena laughed.
Dominic looked at her.
He had missed the sound for five years.
“I want to marry you again.”
Her laughter stopped.
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Dominic absorbed it.
Elena turned toward him.
“I don’t mean never.”
“That is different from no.”
“I mean not yet.”
He waited.
“The first time we married, I entered your life,” she said. “Your house. Your family. Your rules. I disappeared inside the Moretti name before anyone physically made me disappear.”
Dominic listened without defending himself.
“If we marry again, it has to be a new marriage. Not a restoration of the old one.”
“What does that require?”
“My own work. My own accounts. A house neither family controlled. Decisions made together.”
“Yes.”
“You agreed before I finished.”
“I plan to agree to the reasonable parts.”
“And the unreasonable?”
“Negotiation.”
She smiled faintly.
“I also need time to trust that you will not return to violence whenever you are afraid.”
“I may fail.”
“I know.”
“I will tell you when I do.”
“That helps.”
Dominic reached into his pocket.
Elena raised a hand.
“Do not produce a ring.”
He removed Sophie’s plastic horse.
“She asked me to hold it.”
Elena laughed again.
Dominic placed the toy on the porch railing.
“No ring. No proposal.”
“Good.”
“Would you consider dinner?”
“We have dinner every night.”
“Without children.”
“Who would watch them?”
“Ethan.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Gabriel?”
“He lets them eat dessert before dinner.”
“Vittoria is unavailable.”
Elena gave him a look.
Dominic lifted both hands.
“Poor suggestion.”
They finally chose Rebecca Sloan.
Their first date in five years took place at a quiet restaurant nowhere near Bellini’s.
Dominic arrived without security inside.
Elena wore the same earrings she had worn on their first date.
They spoke about things unrelated to murder, trusts, or custody.
Elena wanted to open a financial consulting firm for women rebuilding after abusive or controlling marriages.
Dominic offered investment.
She refused.
He respected the refusal.
Dominic wanted to convert Moretti warehouses into employee-owned logistics hubs.
Elena questioned the plan until he revised it.
They argued.
They laughed.
At the end of dinner, Dominic kissed her beside the river.
No gunshot interrupted.
No relative appeared with forged documents.
For one night, they were simply two people trying again.
Then Dominic’s phone rang.
Margaret had escaped federal medical custody.
She left behind a note addressed to Elena.
I AM GOING TO END WHAT I STARTED AT LAKE MICHIGAN.
Elena knew the location.
The Bennett family cabin stood on the lake north of the city.
May you like
The triplets were currently there with Rebecca.
Margaret was going after the children.
