Chapter 6 - Blood TestDetective Erin Walsh arrived at 7:40 a.m. with coffee in one hand and suspicion in both eyes.
She had spent eight years trying to build a case against Dominic Caruso. She had followed money trails, interviewed frightened dockworkers, watched witnesses forget English, and sat across from Caruso lawyers who smiled like polished knives.
Now she stood inside a private recovery center funded by Caruso money, being asked to investigate an attempted child abduction.
“This is new,” she said.
Dominic sat near the window of the conference room.
“I prefer not to repeat myself, Detective.”
Walsh looked at Elena.
“And you are?”
“Elena Ramirez.”
Recognition moved across Walsh’s face.
“The accountant.”
Elena stiffened.
“You know me?”
“Half the financial crimes unit knows you. You found a hole in one of his companies large enough to drive a truck through, then disappeared.”
Dominic’s eyes moved to Elena.
She ignored him.
Walsh sat.
“Start from the beginning.”
Dominic did not speak first.
Elena did.
She described the RiverWalk, the photograph, the message, the brownstone, the window, the tattoo. She gave clear times, details, and corrections when Marcus tried to soften anything.
Walsh listened carefully.
When Elena finished, the detective turned to Dominic.
“And you believe Victor Caruso is behind this?”
“I know he is.”
“Knowing and proving are different.”
“Then prove it.”
Walsh almost smiled.
“You don’t get to order me.”
“No,” Dominic said. “But you do want him.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Dominic continued. “Victor controls the pieces of my old organization I have spent three years cutting away. You never caught me because I understood paperwork. Victor understands fear. He is sloppy when angry.”
Walsh leaned back.
“And why is he angry?”
Dominic’s gaze moved toward the hallway where the boys were eating breakfast with Elena’s hired nurse.
“Because he thought my bloodline ended with me.”
The room went still.
Walsh looked at Elena.
“Are the children his?”
Elena’s chin lifted.
“That is private.”
Dominic said, “Yes.”
Elena turned sharply.
He met her anger without flinching.
“I am not asking for rights,” he said. “I am stating the reason they are in danger.”
Walsh tapped her pen once.
“Do you have legal proof?”
“No.”
Elena folded her arms.
Dominic turned to her.
“I will not force a test.”
Walsh looked surprised.
Elena did too.
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“They are mine because I know. A test is for courts and files. Not for me.”
Elena looked away, but something in her face trembled.
Walsh closed her notebook.
“I need access to the man you caught.”
“You’ll have it,” Dominic said.
“No private questioning first.”
“He is untouched.”
Walsh looked at Marcus.
Marcus looked offended.
“He is.”
“Good,” Walsh said. “Because the second I find bruises, this becomes a different conversation.”
Dominic nodded.
Walsh stood, then paused.
“You understand what cooperation means, Caruso?”
“Yes.”
“It means records. Names. Connections. Real ones.”
Marcus tensed.
Dominic’s expression did not change.
“I understand.”
After Walsh left, Marcus shut the door.
“Tell me you’re not actually considering giving her access.”
Dominic turned his chair.
“I am.”
“Boss—”
“Do not call me that here.”
Marcus stopped.
Dominic’s voice sharpened.
“My sons nearly had a man come through their window because the world still thinks I am king of something worth inheriting. That ends.”
Marcus paced once, anger barely contained.
“You think law will stop Victor?”
“No. But law will expose him.”
“And then?”
Dominic looked toward the hallway.
“Then he discovers I am more dangerous clean than I ever was dirty.”
Elena entered without knocking.
“I heard enough of that to dislike all of it.”
Dominic sighed.
“I assumed you would.”
“The boys are asking why we cannot go home.”
“I am sorry.”
“Sorry does not answer them.”
“No.”
She came closer.
“Dominic, listen to me. They have preschool. Favorite cereal. A neighbor named Mrs. Han who brings them muffins. They know which library has the dinosaur rug. Their lives were small and safe yesterday.”
His voice roughened.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. You know danger. You know power. You know how to move people around like pieces. But children are not pieces.”
“I know that now.”
“Do you?”
Her eyes burned.
“Because part of me thinks you are relieved.”
He recoiled slightly.
“Relieved?”
“That you have a reason to pull us back into your orbit.”
Dominic absorbed that.
Then he nodded slowly.
“That is fair.”
She looked startled by the admission.
“I am not relieved they are in danger,” he said. “But seeing them yesterday was the first time in three years I did not want the pain medication to work too well.”
Elena’s anger faltered.
He looked away, ashamed of having said it.
“I have not been alive, Elena. Not fully. And that is not your problem. It cannot become theirs. But yes, some selfish part of me is glad I know.”
Her throat moved.
“That honesty does not make this easier.”
“No.”
From the hallway, Rafa called, “Mommy! Nico won’t share the dinosaur cup!”
Elena wiped her eyes quickly.
Dominic turned toward the sound before he could stop himself.
Elena noticed.
For one moment, she saw the father he might have been.
Then she walked past him.
At the door, she stopped.
“They need normal today,” she said.
Dominic nodded.
May you like
“Then normal is what they get.”
He would learn soon enough that normal was the hardest order he had ever given.
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