The Senator’s Door
Chapter 10 - The Senator’s Door
Margaret survived. The bullet passed through her shoulder and missed everything the doctors described as vital, though Anna privately thought the word vital had become too small for the things people almost lost.
Senator Richard Caldwell did not make it far. Dominic’s men found his car abandoned near Forty-Second Street. Vega found his security detail lying in official statements before she even finished her coffee. By midnight, Caldwell’s name was attached to warrants nobody at City Hall could quietly misplace.
Anna spent the night beside Lily, who refused to sleep unless Dominic’s guard stood outside the door and Marco promised to keep his shiny shoes visible. Dominic stayed in the hallway. Anna noticed he never sat. Men like him probably thought rest was a rumor.
At dawn, Dominic brought her coffee. “Caldwell will try to bargain.” “With what?” “Names.” Anna laughed without humor. “Everyone has names.” “Not like these.”
The ledger from Pier 47 had already started burning through the city. Judges took sudden medical leave. A deputy commissioner resigned for family reasons. Three Moretti board members fled to airports and discovered airports had cameras.
But the cleanest trap was the one Anna set. She agreed to meet Caldwell’s attorney in a federal conference room, Lily’s sealed records on one side of the table and the termination letter on the other. Dominic sat beside her, silent as stone.
The attorney tried charm first. Then concern. Then the word misunderstanding. Anna let him talk until he grew comfortable. Then she slid across copies of the altered custody filing, the forged termination, and the Pier 47 trust.
“Your client tried to take my daughter because he wanted waterfront property,” she said. “If he has an explanation, I would love to hear it somewhere recorded.” Agent Vega smiled from the corner. The attorney asked for a recess.
May you like
Dominic looked at Anna with something close to admiration. “You didn’t need me.” She gathered the papers. “No. But you made an intimidating centerpiece.” “Happy to be furniture.” “Don’t get used to it.”
Outside, reporters shouted. Anna ignored them until one asked whether she was Dominic Moretti’s latest liability. Dominic started to turn, but Anna touched his sleeve. Then she faced the cameras herself. “No,” she said. “I’m the woman his father should have answered eleven years ago.”
