Chapter 7
Dominic made no attempt to stop them.
His consigliere, Michael Vaughn, arrived ten minutes later looking grim.
“Boss.”
Dominic gestured toward the empty chair.
“Sit.”
Michael glanced at Sophia.
“This is private.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Dominic,” Sophia said softly, “I can give you a minute.”
He looked at her.
“Do you want to leave?”
She understood the question.
He wasn’t ordering her to stay.
“No.”
“Then stay.”
Michael sat.
“The council heard.”
“Quickly.”
“You weren’t exactly subtle.”
“I’ve never claimed to be.”
Michael lowered his voice.
“Anthony called an emergency meeting.”
Sophia went still.
“He told the council you stole his fiancée and broke the Caruso alliance.”
Dominic’s expression barely changed.
“What else?”
“He says you’re emotionally compromised. Says a Don who puts a woman over peace isn’t fit to lead.”
Sophia looked at Dominic.
“What happens now?”
Michael answered.
“If the Carusos withdraw from the treaty, the Moretti faction may interpret it as an opening. Territories become disputed. Old grudges come back.”
Sophia’s face lost color.
“All because I left Anthony?”
“No,” Dominic said.
“All because weak men built peace on a woman they assumed would never say no.”
Michael sighed.
“The council meets tomorrow.”
“And Anthony?”
“He’ll be there.”
Sophia looked at the city lights beyond the restaurant window.
For years she had believed obedience protected everyone.
Now her first real act of freedom threatened to expose how fragile that peace had always been.
Dominic reached beneath the table and offered his hand.
He did not take hers.
He waited.
Sophia placed her hand in his.
“What are we going to do?” she whispered.
Dominic’s eyes remained on Michael.
“We’re going to let Anthony talk.”
Michael blinked.
“That’s your strategy?”
“No.”
Dominic’s thumb moved once across Sophia’s knuckles.
“That’s his funeral.”
Part 3
The Raineri council met in an old private banking building on LaSalle Street that had not officially belonged to the family for thirty years.
Officially, almost nothing belonged to Dominic.
Unofficially, men with government contracts, construction companies and eight-figure portfolios returned his calls before they returned their wives’.
Sophia had been there twice.
Both times, she had waited outside.
Women were not invited into council meetings.
At least, not women like her.
That changed at 8:00 p.m.
The elevator doors opened.
Dominic stepped out first.
Sophia walked beside him.
Conversation in the conference room stopped.
Anthony was already there.
So was Sophia’s father, Vincent Caruso.