Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO SPOKE WITH ARTHUR’S VOICE
Dominic Vale entered carrying the smell of expensive cologne and rain.
He looked first at Arthur.
Then Luca.
Then Nora.
His smile never changed.
“Thank God you are safe.”
Arthur remained seated.
“Did you search for me?”
“All night.”
“Where?”
Dominic removed his gloves.
“The waterfront. The hospitals. Every street between your home and the pharmacy.”
Nora placed a coffee cup in front of him.
He did not thank her.
Luca leaned against the counter.
“Why the pharmacy?”
Dominic’s fingers paused.
“That was where Arthur said he was going.”
“I told no one except the person who sent the message.”
Dominic smiled again.
“You are tired.”
Arthur’s pale eyes hardened.
“Sit.”
Dominic obeyed.
For thirty years, he had managed attorneys, unions, contractors, and political favors for the Rossi organization. He had learned to hide contempt beneath manners.
He looked at Nora’s broken window.
“This neighborhood is becoming dangerous.”
“It became dangerous when Harbor Crown started buying it,” Nora said.
His gaze settled on her.
“You should sell while the property still has value.”
“How much did you spend reversing my utility payment?”
The smile disappeared for less than a second.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“Then you will not mind investigators examining Harbor Crown’s accounts.”
Dominic looked at Luca.
“You brought outsiders into family business?”
“Family business tried to kill my father.”
“That is an extraordinary accusation.”
Arthur placed the dented olive oil tin on the table.
Dominic’s breathing changed.
Very slightly.
But Nora saw it.
“You remember this?” Arthur asked.
“It is olive oil.”
“Sofia bought it from your cousin’s shop.”
“Many people did.”
“She used the tins to hide keys.”
Dominic looked toward the basement door.
The movement lasted less than a heartbeat.
Luca noticed.
Arthur noticed.
Nora noticed.
Dominic recovered.
“What did you find?”
Arthur leaned back.
“Why would there be anything to find?”
Silence spread through the café.
Dominic’s confidence began to fracture.
“You cannot trust a stranger with records she does not understand.”
Nora folded her arms.
“So there are records.”
His jaw tightened.
Arthur said:
“You used my name to buy police officers.”
“I protected the family.”
“You purchased buildings through shell companies.”
“I strengthened our position.”
“You altered my medication.”
Dominic stood.
“That is a lie.”
Every bodyguard rose.
Luca remained still.
Dominic looked toward him.
“I raised you beside your father. I cleaned your mistakes before you understood you had made them.”
“You also ordered men to follow him through a storm.”
“I ordered protection.”
“The driver’s message says otherwise.”
Dominic’s eyes moved rapidly.
He had expected fear.
He found preparation.
“You think federal investigators will protect you?” he asked Arthur. “Those ledgers contain your crimes too.”
“I know.”
“You will die in custody.”
“Perhaps.”
“You would destroy everything Sofia built?”
Arthur’s cane struck the floor.
“Sofia built a kitchen where hungry people ate. Men like us built the rest.”
Dominic turned toward Nora.
“This café will burn before morning.”
Luca moved so quickly the chair behind him fell.
He crossed the room and seized Dominic by the coat.
The bodyguards shifted toward the windows.
Nora stepped between them.
“Let him go.”
Luca’s eyes were black with rage.
“He threatened you.”
“He also confessed while my recorder was running.”
Dominic stared toward the counter.
The old security device showed a small red light.
His face collapsed.
Luca released him slowly.
Nora picked up her phone and called the investigator who had documented the brick.
Dominic reached inside his coat.
Two bodyguards pinned his arms against the table.
They found a phone, not a weapon.
On the screen was an outgoing message to a Harbor Crown contractor.
CLEAN THE SHOP TONIGHT.
The message had already been sent.
Luca looked toward Nora.
“We leave now.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“If we leave, they destroy the café and claim the records burned.”
Arthur understood first.
“She wants them to come.”
Luca stared at her.
“This is not a game.”
“No. It is my business.”
The state investigator advised evacuation while officers prepared surveillance around the block.
Nora agreed to leave the public area but insisted on remaining in the apartment above the café with law enforcement nearby.
Luca objected until she said:
“You do not get to turn me into property because someone threatened me.”
He became silent.
At midnight, two men entered through the rear alley carrying gasoline cans.
They never reached the basement.
State officers arrested them inside the kitchen.
One body camera recorded the men naming Dominic as the person who paid them.
Dominic had spent decades speaking with Arthur Rossi’s authority.
May you like
By sunrise, he was speaking only for himself.
Continue to the next part: The arrests expose a network reaching from Harbor Crown to Arthur’s own guards, forcing Luca to choose between protecting the Rossi name and preserving the evidence against it.
