Dominic could have sent men after Matteo.

That was what the old Dominic would have done.

Carmine knew it.

Matteo expected it.

Perhaps that was why the trap nearly worked.

At six that evening, word arrived that Matteo was heading toward a private airfield.

Two cars.

Four men.

Luggage.

Dominic immediately ordered Carmine to prepare the SUV.

Fay stood in the foyer.

“You're going?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Dominic stopped.

“You've developed an unhealthy affection for that word.”

“You've spent months gathering evidence so you don't have to solve this with violence.”

“I’m not planning violence.”

“You're going after a man who tried to kill you.”

“To stop him leaving.”

“There are investigators.”

“They're moving too slowly.”

Fay approached.

“And if that's exactly what Matteo wants?”

Dominic hesitated.

Carmine looked at her.

“Explain.”

Fay's mind raced.

“Matteo watched this house. He knew Dominic's therapy schedule. He knew about me. He knew Eric had been caught.”

“Yes.”

“So why would he let anyone see him going to an airfield?”

Carmine became still.

Dominic's eyes narrowed.

“A decoy.”

Fay nodded.

“Where would he actually go?”

Silence.

Then Dominic looked upstairs.

The study.

The documents.

Evidence.

“Here.”

The lights went out.

Mrs. Gable screamed from the kitchen.

Carmine pulled his phone.

“Backup generator should've activated.”

Dominic's voice turned cold.

“Everybody into the interior hall.”

No panic.

No dramatic running.

Just immediate movement.

The estate's staff knew emergency procedures.

Fay helped Mrs. Gable.

Dominic maneuvered his chair independently.

Carmine communicated with guards.

Emergency lights flickered on.

Dim red illumination filled the corridor.

Then glass broke somewhere downstairs.

Fay's heart pounded.

Dominic turned toward her.

“Safe room. Now.”

“You too.”

“I’m getting the box.”

“Absolutely not.”

“It contains everything.”

“You copied it.”

“Some originals are still there.”

Fay grabbed his chair handles.

Dominic looked over his shoulder.

“Do not.”

“Then don't be stupid.”

“Fay—”

A voice echoed from the foyer.

“Dominic!”

Matteo.

Every person froze.

He had come personally.

Dominic's expression became stone.

Carmine motioned everyone backward.

Matteo stepped into view.

He was alone.

At least visibly.

His expensive suit was open.

His confident smile was gone.

“You made this difficult.”

Dominic rolled forward.

Fay's hand caught the back of his chair.

He looked up.

She shook her head.

Not alone.

Dominic understood.

Carmine stepped beside him.

Matteo laughed.

“The famous king and his nursemaid.”

Fay's face heated.

Dominic remained calm.

“You cut the power?”

“Consider it nostalgia.”

“You're terrible at nostalgia.”

“You were always arrogant.”

“And you were always jealous.”

Matteo's face hardened.

There.

The truth beneath everything.

“I built half of what you owned.”

Dominic shook his head.

“You managed what I trusted you with.”

“You got the name.”

“So did you.”

“You got the respect.”

“Because I earned it.”

Matteo stepped closer.

“And after the accident? You still had everybody bowing. Sitting in that chair, throwing plates at maids, feeling sorry for yourself, and they still called you boss.”

Dominic's eyes darkened.

Fay realized then that the accident had never simply been about money.

Matteo wanted Dominic diminished.

Not merely dead.

Broken.

“You sabotaged my rehabilitation,” Dominic said.

Matteo smiled.

“I helped you accept reality.”

Fay moved forward.

Dominic caught her hand.

A warning.

Stay.

She stopped.

Matteo looked at her.

“And then she arrived.”

His gaze made Fay uncomfortable.

“The little maid who taught the great Dominic Corso to smile again.”

Dominic's voice sharpened.

“Leave her out of this.”

Matteo laughed.

“That's your weakness.”

“No.”

Dominic looked toward Fay.

For months he had mistaken caring for weakness.

Now something changed in his expression.

“She isn't.”

He turned back.

“She is the reason I stopped being weak.”

Silence.

Fay felt tears rise.

Matteo's jaw tightened.

“Touching.”

Sirens sounded outside.

Matteo looked toward the windows.

Surprise.

Dominic smiled.

“You really thought I came downstairs without calling anyone?”

Matteo looked at Carmine.

Carmine lifted his phone.

“Thirty-seven minutes ago.”

“You set me up.”

Dominic shook his head.

“Fay did.”

Matteo stared at her.

Fay managed a small smile.

“I clean the board.”

Carmine actually laughed.

Matteo turned as if to run.

Security appeared at the entrance.

Behind them came investigators and uniformed officers.

No gunfight.

No blood.

No revenge.

For Dominic, that was the real victory.

Matteo stopped.

He looked back at his cousin.

“You think this makes you better than me?”

“No.”

Dominic's answer was immediate.

“It makes me done with you.”

As officers escorted Matteo away, he twisted around.

“You'll always be trapped in that chair.”

The old Dominic would have exploded.

The new Dominic simply looked down at his legs.

Then at Fay.

“No,” he said.

“The chair is how I move.”

His eyes returned to Matteo.

“It isn't where I live.”

Fay closed her eyes for a second.

She had never been prouder of anyone.

By midnight, the estate was quiet again.

The generator had been repaired.

The broken window was boarded.

Mrs. Gable made tea for everyone despite repeated objections that it was midnight.

Carmine sat in the kitchen eating pie.

“Stress calories don't count.”

“That's scientifically false,” Fay said.

“Prove it.”

Dominic sat nearby.

For once, nobody treated him like the center of the room.

He seemed to like it.

Fay eventually stepped onto the terrace.

Cold air touched her face.

A minute later, wheels sounded behind her.

Dominic joined her.

“You'll freeze.”

“So will you.”

“I’m rich. We freeze differently.”

Fay laughed.

Silence followed.

Not uncomfortable.

Peaceful.

Dominic looked toward the dark garden.

“It’s over.”

“Matteo?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

He looked at her.

“It's beginning.”

“What is?”

“Your life.”

His expression became unreadable.

“My life already began.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes.”

He rested his hands in his lap.

“I don't know who I am without all of this.”

“The business?”

“The fear.”

Fay waited.

Dominic continued.

“For years I thought respect and fear were the same thing.”

“And now?”

“Now I know you're not afraid of me.”

“I’ve been telling you that.”

“And somehow you respect me anyway.”

“Occasionally.”

He smiled.

Fay looked at the man before her.

Not the legend.

Not the mafia boss.

Not the patient.

Dominic.

“What happens to your organization?”

“I’m dismantling parts of it.”

Fay blinked.

“Seriously?”

“Carmine and attorneys have been moving legitimate companies into separate structures for weeks.”

“You planned this?”

“I started the day you told me pain wasn't permission to hurt people.”

Fay looked away, overwhelmed.

“You remembered that?”

“I remember almost everything you say.”

“That seems unhealthy.”

“It probably is.”

He reached toward her.

His hand settled over hers.

“Fay.”

Her heart accelerated.

“Yes?”

“I don't know how to do this.”

“Do what?”

“This.”

His thumb moved gently across her knuckles.

“Care about somebody without trying to control the outcome.”

Fay turned toward him.

“Then don't control it.”

“What do I do?”

“Ask.”

Dominic swallowed.

“Can I kiss you?”

Fay had imagined the moment more times than she wanted to admit.

Sometimes in the kitchen.

Sometimes while cleaning his room.

Once during physical therapy, which had been deeply inappropriate.

Now that it had arrived, she smiled.

“Yes.”

Dominic reached up.

Fay leaned down.

The kiss was gentle.

No desperate passion.

No dramatic music.

Just warmth after months of darkness.

When they separated, Dominic's forehead rested lightly against hers.

“You're crying.”

“No.”

“You do that often when you're not crying.”

“Shut up.”

He smiled.

Then Fay whispered, “You know this doesn't mean I’m quitting.”

His brows rose.

“You're dating your employer?”

“Who said we're dating?”

Dominic looked genuinely offended.

Fay laughed.

Inside, Mrs. Gable watched through the window.

Carmine appeared beside her.

He held out his hand.

“Pay up.”

Mrs. Gable sighed and gave him twenty dollars.

“You people are disgraceful.”

“You ran the pool.”

“I managed it. There's a difference.”

Outside, Dominic kissed Fay again.

For the first time in years, the Corso estate didn't feel like a fortress.

It felt like a home waiting to happen.

---