Chapter 13
Dominic eventually entered a negotiated plea on financial charges tied to the concealed related-party scheme, false records, and fraudulent conduct surrounding vendor acquisitions.
The physical incident in the lobby was handled separately.
Security footage left little room to dispute what happened.
Rocco’s own use of force was reviewed too.
He did not ask anyone to bury it.
The first strike followed Dominic’s shove of Maeve.
The second came after Dominic lunged at him again.
Witnesses and footage supported his claim that he acted to stop further aggression, but his attorneys still made him sit through every question.
He accepted that.
Dominic received a substantial sentence involving incarceration, restitution obligations, and financial restrictions.
North Harbor’s structure was dismantled through settlements, investor actions, and court supervision rather than one cinematic order.
Some vendor businesses changed hands again.
Others did not.
DCC Management was finished.
The brass manager badge sat inside an evidence bag for months before it was returned to the club.
Rocco looked at it once.
Then threw it into a desk drawer.
He had originally created the badge years earlier because he believed visible authority helped employees know who was responsible.
Dominic had turned it into a symbol of entitlement.
The difference bothered him.
When the club prepared to reopen, the independent operator recommended removing all family-specific management symbols.
“No manager badges?”
“Name tags.”
Rocco almost laughed.
“Dominic would hate that.”
“That isn’t a reason to do it.”
“I know.”
Rocco approved it anyway.
The new vendor policy required written reasons for payment disputes.
No manager could hold undisputed invoices unilaterally.
Conflict-of-interest disclosures were mandatory.
Employees had a confidential outside reporting channel.
And leftover safe food could be distributed under health-code-compliant procedures instead of being thrown away simply because Dominic thought generosity looked cheap.
One older member complained that the place was becoming “corporate.”
Rocco replied:
May you like
“Corporate paperwork would’ve saved us several million dollars and one four-year-old from being shoved across my floor.”
The member stopped complaining.
