Chapter 18 - The House on Maple StreetElena’s real home was smaller than Dominic expected.
A rented duplex on Maple Street in Madison with blue shutters, a narrow porch, and chalk drawings on the walkway. Mrs. Han from next door cried when Elena stepped out of the SUV with the boys.
“You scared me half to death,” Mrs. Han said, pulling Elena into a hug. “No calls, no muffins returned, nothing.”
Elena laughed and cried at the same time.
“I’m sorry.”
Mrs. Han looked past her at Dominic.
Her expression changed.
Dominic prepared for fear.
Instead, the elderly woman narrowed her eyes.
“So you’re him.”
Dominic inclined his head.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. You can fix the porch light.”
Marcus looked away.
Elena stared.
Dominic blinked.
“The porch light?”
“It flickers,” Mrs. Han said. “Scares the boys when it storms. You have hands.”
Dominic looked at his hands.
Then at Elena.
Rafa announced, “Dominic has a fast chair.”
Mrs. Han sniffed.
“Fast chair can still hold a screwdriver.”
Dominic said, “I will see to it.”
“No seeing. Fixing.”
Elena covered a smile.
For the first time, Dominic entered the world Elena had built without him.
There were dinosaur stickers on the fridge.
Tiny rain boots by the door.
A stack of library books.
A growth chart penciled against the kitchen wall.
Nico age two.
Rafa age two.
Nico age three.
Rafa age three.
Dominic touched the marks without meaning to.
Elena saw.
“I almost painted over it once,” she said.
“Why?”
“We were moving again. I thought it would hurt less not to look.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Nico cried.”
Dominic nodded.
Smart boy.
That afternoon, Dominic’s men stayed outside and out of sight. Marcus inspected the locks with Mrs. Han supervising like a tiny general. Elena unpacked emergency bags. The boys rediscovered their toys with squeals of joy.
Dominic remained in the living room, feeling too large for a life built without him.
Rafa brought him a plastic dinosaur.
“This is Stompy. He bites bad guys.”
Dominic accepted it.
“A useful skill.”
Nico brought a book.
“You can read serious.”
Dominic read on the sofa while the boys leaned against his chair. Elena stood in the kitchen, watching the impossible become ordinary.
Later, after the boys napped, she found Dominic in the hallway staring at framed photos.
One picture showed Elena holding two newborns.
Another showed Nico and Rafa covered in finger paint.
Another showed the boys at a pumpkin patch, both laughing.
Dominic’s reflection was faint in the glass.
“I do not belong in these,” he said.
Elena stood beside him.
“No.”
He accepted it.
“But you may belong in the next ones,” she added.
He turned.
She did not look at him.
“I said may.”
“I heard.”
“Do not make me regret it.”
“I will try not to.”
Mrs. Han knocked at the door before emotion could deepen.
“Porch light,” she called.
Dominic looked at Elena.
Elena shrugged.
“You were warned.”
Fixing a porch light from a wheelchair became a neighborhood event.
Marcus held the ladder he did not need. Mrs. Han gave instructions. Rafa offered a toy hammer. Nico corrected everyone’s counting. Dominic removed the old fixture plate, replaced wiring under Mrs. Han’s suspicious gaze, and installed a new bulb.
When the light came on steady and warm, Rafa cheered.
Nico smiled.
Elena stood at the bottom of the porch steps, arms crossed, eyes bright.
Dominic looked down at her.
“There,” he said. “Fixed.”
Mrs. Han sniffed.
“About time.”
That evening, they ate takeout noodles at Elena’s kitchen table.
No guards inside.
No lawyers.
No trust documents.
Just chopsticks, spilled sauce, and Rafa putting noodles on his head.
Dominic laughed.
Not a polite exhale.
Not a restrained almost-smile.
A real laugh.
Elena froze.
So did he.
The boys did not.
Rafa laughed louder.
Nico declared, “Dominic sounds rusty.”
Elena pressed her lips together.
Dominic looked at her, and for one second, the years fell away.
Then his phone vibrated.
He checked it.
The warmth vanished.
Elena noticed.
“What?”
Dominic’s voice turned quiet.
“Bianca crossed back into Illinois.”
Marcus, standing outside the kitchen door, heard and stepped in.
“She is not running anymore,” Dominic said.
Elena’s hand tightened around her fork.
“Then what is she doing?”
Dominic looked at the boys.
May you like
Then back at Elena.
“Coming for the trust before Victor can trade it from prison.”
