Chapter 46 46

Chapter 46 46
Dominic's POV

The morning had war councils and desperate manoeuvres. My office abounded with lawyers scrutinizing case law, accountants shuffling dollars through ever more labyrinthine offshore conduits, tech whizzes scrubbing away digital evidence. But even with all this, and even though I have all this power and money and connections, it may not be enough. That revelation settled in my chest like a stone.

“We need to go on offense,” Paulo said, his wind-beaten face somber. "Stop reacting and start attacking."

"And how, precisely, do you propose we go about that? Cassius is in protective custody. We can't touch him directly."

"Then we don't touch him. We destroy his credibility. Paint him as mentally unstable and unreliable in their defense so that no jury would convict based on his word.”

"Already working on it." I called up some documents on my computer. "I've got reporters on the payroll planting stories. Cassius's history of mental illness. His documented drug use. His history of violent, unpredictable conduct. Anything and everything that makes him out to be an unreliable witness.”

“What about the tapes that he supposedly has?” Xavier inquired from his seat at the window. “There is no credibility component to physical evidence.”

“And if those tapes exist — and that’s still an if — they were illegally obtained. Without warrants, without authorization. Any good lawyer will have them thrown out as inadmissible evidence.”

“That won’t prevent the media from picking up the story,” Paulo said. “It doesn’t stop damage to your reputation.”

He was absolutely right. Reputation meant a lot in my circles. The perception was as important as the reality. Even if I survived every legal charge, my empire would fall to ruin in any case if people thought I was weak or compromised. Rivals would encroach on my turf. My allies would dump me for safer liaisons. The whole structure would collapse.

"Then we control the narrative. Get the jump on the story before it gets the jump on us.” I decided while saying it. "Press conference. Today. I confront the accusations right to their face!”

Xavier looked skeptical. "That's incredibly risky. You have the right to an attorney, and if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court” —

"Everything is risky right now. At least I’m driving the conversation, instead of being reactive to it. I control the framing." I stood up, already rehearsing what I would say. “Book it this afternoon. Major media outlets. I want maximum coverage."

My cellphone rang before Xavier could reply. My lead attorney, Marcus Chen, who billed at an hourly rate that made more in a week than most people saw in a week. I said, already from the timing sure that there was no good news.

"Er, Dominic, the situation is very bad. The district attorney held a press conference just now. They're convening a grand jury. They’re going to indict you.”

Everything in me went cold. An indictment changed everything. It meant that they had evidence sufficient to prosecute, enough to persuade a grand jury there were crimes committed. This was no longer just threats or a show. This was real.

"When?" I was perfectly in control of my voice even if the ice had taken over me.

"Next week at the earliest. That could be in as little as three days if they fast-track it.”

"What are the specific charges?"

“Racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy to commit murder, witness tampering. They’re more or less accusing you of running a criminal enterprise. They are just throwing the kitchen sink at you.”

I hung up without a goodbye and watched Chicago from the sky below. This city over which I have presided for more than a decade. This was the empire I’d established beginning in blood and calculation. All of it potentially unraveling because one vindictive rival had lucked out on a security breach.

This was what I had always known might happen. Why I have always kept everyone at a distance. Why I’d never let myself love too much. Because caring gave them leverage. And Vivian, they were already using her as leverage, I could tell. The way they had interrogated her at the wives’ lunch. The tone Cassius put on mentioning her by name. She was my point of weakness, and they knew it.

"You must anticipate the contingency," Xavier said softly, after the others left. "For the worst-case scenario."

"For what? Prison?" The word tasted like poison.

“For the prospect of conviction, yes.”
"I won't survive prison, Xavier. You and I both know that." I turned to face him. "I'm too high profile. Made too many enemies through the years. Someone would murder me within a month. Probably less."

“Then we determine for sure it doesn’t come to that.”

"How? We’re running out of options, and we’re running out of time.”

Xavier paused to speak, so whatever he was thinking about doing next was a terrible idea. "There's always running. Disappearing."

"Running?" I spat out the word like a foreign substance.

"Out of the country. We have resources throughout the world. South America, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe. We can set up new identities, get your new documentation. You could disappear completely. Take Vivian and make a fresh start somewhere they’d never find you.”

It was the first time I had actually given it serious thought. Could skip Chicago, leave all this and Vivian behind, flee to some extradition alternative country. Live quietly under assumed names. It would mean to give up everything I had built, all the connections I had made, and all the power that piled up. But I'd be alive. And I'd have her.

"And abandon everything I've built? Let Cassius win? Let him take my city?" I ground my teeth so hard I thought my jaw had to be clenching to a pulp. “No, I’m not running like a coward. I'm fighting this. I’m fighting, even if it kills me.”

Xavier bobbed his head sagely, he had been counting on that response. "Then we fight. All of us. To the bitter end, if necessary.”

As he departed to run point with the lawyers, I thought of Vivian. You know, that promise I made her give me last night. She needed to run if something catastrophic went wrong, even if I couldn’t. Although I did not, she had to. That was important to me even more so than I was eager to scrutinize very carefully.

The press conference took place at three that afternoon. I had to stand facing a wall of cameras and shouting reporters, flashbulbs strobing the room. But I was in my element here. This was theater, performance, the  art of managed dissimulation. I never did anything else in my adult life.

“I’m here today to discuss the accusations that have been directed at me and my business concerns,” I started, my voice more even and sure than it had ever been. The voice of a man with nothing to conceal and nothing to dread. “A known career criminal by the name of Cassius Cassano, who is in police custody and charged with his own numerous counts, has made multiple allegations about my operations.”

I paused for effect, and let the silence stretch recklessly long. "These claims are completely false. Cooked up by a guy who’s in deep trouble and is looking to escape out the door by bring others down. The mob does it all the time: Testify in exchange for a lower sentence.”

Lies, but they were very sincere in their delivery. The cameras loved it.

“I've given full cooperation to the police. All my accounts are audited. My business dealings are legitimate. My conscience is clear." More lies, but necessary ones. “I’m happy to have an investigation: I would have nothing to hide.”

The questions came rapid fire, reporters yelling over one another.

“And what about the grand jury investigation?”

“I am assured that once the actual evidence and fighting spirit of our President is permitted before these depraved partisans, this impeachment hoax will be vanquished — never to return,”
he said in a statement: “I’m confident they will all see this for exactly what it is, a partisan political persecution. A brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of 2016.”

“And what about this claim that you were involved with the mob?”

"I'm a legitimate businessman. My companies have thousands and thousands of employees. Any attempt of the sort is nothing but grotesque lies, and my lawyers will act against that kind of defamation with all available measures."

I was good at this. Had always been really good at looking you in the eye and lying through his teeth. How to say one thing and mean another. Of looking trustworthy and honest while telling a craven lie.

With the press conference wrapping up, moments away from walking out of there with a bow on the day by absolutely owning that narrative, this question comes flying from somewhere in the back:

"Is it true that your wife is under investigation as well, Mr. DeLaurentis? For possible roles in money laundering and a cover-up? Is anything happening to Vivian DeLaurentis?”

I froze completely. Every meticulously maintained expression slipped for a split second. Now they were after Vivian. That made her a target, not only for rivals but also for the authorities. This had just gotten infinitely more complex.