Chapter 12
The foreclosure filing was legitimate in form.
The underlying debt was not.
North Crest claimed Thomas had defaulted on a redevelopment loan secured by the bakery.
Thomas had never received that loan.
But documents existed.
Signatures.
Witness certifications.
Transfer records.
Enough to force a legal fight.
Rocco’s attorneys froze the action temporarily.
Not permanently.
Dominic had built redundancies.
If one acquisition method failed, another waited behind it.
Rocco confronted him through counsel.
Dominic sat across the conference table.
No badge.
No expensive confidence.
Yet his voice remained steady.
“I didn't file anything yesterday.”
Rocco watched his eyes.
“Then who did?”
“The system did.”
Automatic filing instructions had been entered weeks earlier if Thomas missed another Community Stability payment.
Rocco leaned back.
“You automated punishment.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I automated enforcement.”
Thomas, sitting beside his lawyer, laughed bitterly.
“Listen to yourself.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You were offered money.”
“Half what my building was worth.”
“More than a bakery losing money is worth.”
“My bakery started losing money after you stopped paying me.”
Silence.
Dominic looked away.
For once, Thomas had stripped away every strategic explanation.
Rocco watched his nephew’s hands.
They were trembling.
Not from fear.
From anger.
Dominic finally snapped.
“You all want a villain because that makes this simple.”
His chest rose sharply.
“That club was nineteen days from default last year.”
Everyone went still.
Dominic looked at Rocco.
“Nineteen.”
He slapped a financial report onto the table.
The property consolidation allowed the club to refinance part of the debt.
Without it, the Castellano Club would likely have entered default.
Samuel reviewed the report.
His expression confirmed it.
Dominic had lied.
Extorted.
Forged.
Manipulated.
And he had also saved the club from collapse.
The room became quieter.
Dominic’s eyes found Rocco.
“You think I did all of this because I wanted your chair?”
His voice broke slightly.
“I did it because nobody else was willing to tell you the empire was bleeding.”
Rocco stared at him.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“I became cruel because every gentle solution failed.”
That was the first explanation Rocco believed came from somewhere deeper than ambition.
Then Samuel turned another page.
“There’s a problem.”
Rocco looked at him.
Samuel’s face was pale.
“If we reverse every property transaction and repay every merchant immediately…”
May you like
He hesitated.
“The club probably doesn't survive.”
