Chapter 13
Rocco spent the night with the numbers.
No bodyguards in the room.
No advisers.
Just the balance sheet and a cup of coffee that went cold before he touched it.
Dominic’s trap had become moral rather than legal.
Keep the properties and preserve the club.
Or restore what had been taken and risk dismantling the institution carrying the Castellano name.
For most of Rocco’s life, that choice would have been easy.
The club first.
Always.
Then he remembered eighty-seven cents in Maeve’s palm.
At sunrise he called Samuel.
“Prepare restitution.”
Samuel exhaled.
“All of it?”
“All coercive purchases. All diverted supplier payments. All unlawful fees.”
“The club may need to sell the upper floors.”
“Sell them.”
“The private wine collection.”
“Sell it.”
“The west event hall?”
“If necessary.”
Samuel hesitated.
“And if that isn't enough?”
Rocco looked toward the lobby.
“Then the club becomes smaller.”
A pause.
“Not the neighborhood.”
The decision spread quickly.
Members were furious.
Several threatened to resign.
One shouted that Rocco was throwing away decades of family power for “shopkeepers.”
Rocco waited until the man finished.
Then asked him to leave.
No shouting.
No threat.
Just the door.
At Vance Bakery, Thomas received a proposed restitution agreement.
Full repayment.
Cancellation of false debt.
Restoration of title.
Additional compensation subject to independent review.
He read it.
Then pushed it back.
Rocco frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
Thomas’s hand rested beside Maeve’s coloring book.
“I’m not signing this alone.”
Rocco looked at him.
“There are six other businesses.”
“I know.”
“Two don't exist anymore.”
“The families still do.”
Rocco’s eyes narrowed.
Thomas continued.
“You want to fix this because a little girl gave you coins.”
He nodded toward Maeve.
“That’s nice.”
Then his voice hardened.
“But Maeve isn't the only kid whose parents lost something.”
Rocco sat very still.
Thomas pushed the agreement toward him.
“You restore everybody.”
“That's what I'm doing.”
“No.”
Thomas met his eyes.
“You restore everybody together.”
Rocco understood.
No quiet settlements.
No buying gratitude one family at a time.
The merchants wanted collective terms.
Transparency.
A record.
Rocco almost resisted on instinct.
Then stopped.
Thomas had learned exactly what dealing privately with Castellanos could cost.
Rocco nodded.
“Together.”
Thomas’s shoulders loosened.
Then Maeve looked up from the table.
“Mr. Rocco?”
“Yes?”
She pointed toward the club through the window.
“Dominic coming back?”
Rocco did not answer.
Because earlier that morning Samuel had discovered something strange inside the bakery’s property file.
A release of lien had already been prepared.
May you like
Signed by Dominic.
Dated two days before the lobby incident.
