Chapter 55 55

Chapter 55 55
Dominic's POV

I awoke to pain throbbing from my shoulder like someone had driven a railroad spike through bone and muscle. The drugs they had given me to come out of surgery were wearing off, and there was nothing left except the raw agony and stark reality of my circumstances. Handcuffed to a hospital bed. A guard posted at my door. This was rock bottom.

Shot. Arrested. Helpless. All I had ever worked for in my life led up to this shameful moment.

A lawyer showed up around noon — not Marcus, my regular counsel, but a younger guy from the firm. It was Jenkins, I do believe. He appeared jittery, not a confidence-inspiring image.

“Mr. DeLaurentis, we really do have to speak about your predicament.” He took out a legal pad filled with notes.

"How bad is it?"

"Very bad. They’re throwing multiple charges at you. Racketeering under RICO statutes. Conspiracy. Money laundering. And now attempted murder in the shooting at Grant Park.”

"Attempted murder? Cassius's men shot first. They tried to kill my wife—"

“Theirs are from witnesses saying you were the aggressors. That you were the one who came to the park with a weapon and fired first.” Jenkins consulted his notes. “Several civilian witnesses who corroborate that story.”

Paid witnesses, undoubtedly. Cassius had prepared thoroughly. "What about bail?"

"Denied. The judge found that you are far too dangerous to the community and a huge flight risk because of your means.” Jenkins looked genuinely apologetic. "I'm sorry."

"How long until trial?"

"Six months at minimum. Maybe longer depending on discovery and motions. Federal cases move slowly."

Six months in jail. With my organization vulnerable. Face the fact, my enemies are going to tear down everything that I built. With Vivian exposed and defenseless.

"What about my wife?" The question sounded harsher than intended.

Jenkins balked, and I knew all I needed to know. "She's also under investigation. They think she might have committed marriage fraud and they are prosecuting her in federal court.”

"What kind of fraud?"

“They’re trying to determine whether she’s in fact Veronica Carter or there may have been an identity switch of some sort.” He consulted his notes again. “They’re making a case of identity theft, conspiracy to defraud, maybe there are immigration violations if they can demonstrate that she entered into this marriage under some false pretense.”

Although my wound was burning with fever, a chill of horror crept over me. "What evidence do they have?"

"I don't know yet. Discovery is still ongoing. But they appear to feel confident enough to be ominously threatening charges.” Jenkins closed his legal pad. “I will return on the morrow with further explanation. Try to rest."

When he left, I returned to handcuffed bed and a fixed gaze on the ceiling where my well-wrought life was collapsing.impire around me. And Vivian—the one for whom I'd taken a bullet—was going to be shattered by the same system that had me chained like an animal.

That night, a guard came into my cell. Even the use of a rotating circle to remove more dirt from her skin which already made me on edge.

"You have a visitor."

"Who?" I wasn’t receiving any visitors in federal custody.

"Cassius Cassano."

It hurt like the dickens, but my body stiffened regardless of it. “Tell him to go fuck himself.

"He be knowing where your wifey is at, Says you'll want to hear it." The guard appeared embarrassed, as if he knew that this was improper but had been paid to permit it.
Curiosity won over pride. "Five minutes. That's all he gets."

Cassius walked in, all tailored suits and that arrogant smile I’d rather pound off his face. He looked healthy, confident, victorious. All that I was not at the present moment.

"Enjoying your accommodations?" He pointed to the hospital room and handcuffs before saying, “And the guard at the door. Not really the Gold Coast mansion, is it?”

"What do you want, Cassius? Come to gloat?"

"Partially. "But the most part is that I came here to make you an offer. He was sitting on the chair next to my bed, as though he were perfectly comfortable. "A business proposition."

“I have no interest in any deals with you.”

"You will be. It concerns Vivian." He left the name dangling between us. “Or should I say, the woman you believe to be your wife?”

Even though I was cuffed, my fists balled up. "What about her?"

"I know who she really is. I heard about the replacement at your wedding. I know Vivian Carter took her sister’s spot, and you’ve been lying for months.” His smile widened. “And I am happy to sit on that information. For a price."

"What price?"

"Your empire. Everything. All your enterprises, all your territory, all your activities. Sign it over to me. Total conveyance of assets and control.”

"Never." The word erupted like a bullet.

"Then Vivian goes to prison. For fraud. For conspiracy. For identity theft. I’ve got Veronica waiting to testify about everything. The story of how her little sister undermined her and took over her identity befor she married you under false pretenses.” Cassius stood to leave. "She'll get twenty years minimum. Federal prison for a woman like her? She won't survive six months."

"You have no proof—"

"I have Veronica. They don’t need anything more than her testimony. Birth certificates. School records. Witnesses who knew both sisters." He moved toward the door. “You got twenty-four hours to think about it, DeLaurentis. Your empire or your wife. Choose wisely."

He stood up and left me to make an impossible decision, fuming.

I didn’t sleep a wink, despite the pain meds they were giving me through my IV. Each heartbeat stabbed pain through my shoulder, but that was nothing compared to the emotional agony I suffered. The very decision Cassius had imposed in me was impossible.

Surrender everything I’d spent decades building. Every business, every connection, every scrap of power I had accumulated through blood and calculation. Or let Vivian be blamed for a con she’d been ordered to help pull off.

I remembered my father, Antonio DeLaurentis. He had taught me that power was everything. "Never show weakness, Dominic. Never compromise. As soon as you do, you’re done.” He had lived by that creed until the day his enemies shot him to death in his home there, leaving nothing behind but blood and a reputation for violence.
Then I’d think about my mother, the only one who had ever showed me any real affection. She'd taught me something different. Dominic, power without love is meaningless. It's just... nothing. Just death alone, dying alone till you die. She’d been murdered too, killed because she was a vulnerability my father’s enemies could exploit.

Which lesson was right? Which parent had known what it was like to survive?

They gave me back my phone after they were done processing it, and when I woke around three in the morning my phone rang. Vivian's number.

"Hello?" My voice was crackly from neglect.

"Dominic. Are you okay?" Her voice fractured something inside my chest that the bullet had never reached.

"I've been better. You?"

"Scared. The FBI is circling.” Agent Morrison questioned me. “They think something is wrong with our marriage.” She paused. "Cassius was there, wasn't he? At the hospital?"

"How did you know?"

"Xavier told me. What did he want?"
"To make a deal. My empire for your freedom." I spoke with a neutral, yet storming inside.

The silence hung in the line for some seconds. Then: "Don't do it. Don’t leave everything you have built for me.”

“It’s not for you to decide.”

"Dominic, please. I'm not worth—"

"You are worth it. That's the problem." I replied in a raspier voice that had been my intention. "You're worth everything. And I am scared about what it entails. How much I am willing to lose, for you.”

"Don't sacrifice anything. Let me face the consequences—"

"No."

"Dominic—"

Before she could complete her case, an alarm sounded throughout the hospital. Guards were running by my room frantically yelling. Pandemonium reigned in the hallway beyond.
“I need to leave,” I rushed out of the room.

"Dominic, wait—"

The hospital was placed in lockdown and the line went silent. Shouting through my doorway I heard, seeing people running. Something was happening. Something that rendered even federal custody secondary.

My guard had walked off somewhere, his radio barking urgent messages. And suddenly I was alone, handcuffed to a bed, clueless as to whatever crisis may have been happening around me.