Chapter 4 – THE GOLD POCKET WATCH

The ambulance doors slammed shut. The flashing red lights painted the rain-soaked driveway in urgent, rhythmic bursts. Dominic climbed into the back with Caroline, never letting go of her hand, leaving Marco to follow in the SUV with Emily and me.

As I sat in the backseat of the leather-upholstered truck, Emily huddled against my side, exhausted and shivering. I wrapped my dry cardigan around her shoulders, whispering soothing words until she finally closed her eyes.

But my mind was screaming.

My fingers were gripping the cold metal of the gold pocket watch hidden inside my apron pocket. The cracked glass. The engraved eagle. It was impossible.

My father was a blue-collar mechanic on the South Side. He died in a hit-and-run when I was five years old. My mother had sold everything we owned to keep us afloat—everything except this watch. She said it was the only piece of him we had left.

Ten years ago, our apartment was burglarized. The watch was stolen. My mother wept for days.

And now, Dominic Moretti’s wife had dropped it on the cobblestones after being beaten and thrown from a moving car.

When we arrived at the private hospital, the Moretti family’s influence was immediately apparent. Entire floors were locked down. Guards in sharp suits stood at the ends of hallways.

Caroline was rushed into surgery to stop the internal bleeding from the fall.

Dominic sat in the waiting room, his elbows resting on his knees, his face buried in his hands. He looked like a man who had conquered the world only to realize he had lost his soul in the process.

Emily was asleep on a nearby couch, covered in Dominic’s heavy suit jacket.

I slowly walked over to Dominic.

“Mr. Moretti,” I whispered.

He didn’t look up. “She’s going to make it, Nora. She has to.”

“She will, sir,” I said, my voice trembling. “But… I need to ask you something.”

Dominic finally looked up. His eyes were bloodshot, his face pale. “What is it?”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the gold watch. I placed it gently on the glass coffee table between us.

Dominic’s eyes locked onto the watch. For a moment, he didn’t react. Then, he slowly sat up, the air leaving his lungs.

“Where did you get that?” he asked, his voice suddenly guarded.

“It fell out of your wife’s coat when the paramedics lifted her,” I said. I looked him dead in the eye. “Mr. Moretti, that watch belonged to my father.”

Dominic stared at me. He didn’t look confused. He looked terrified.

“Your father?” Dominic repeated softly. “Thomas Bennett?”

My breath caught. “You know my father’s name?”

Dominic rubbed his face, letting out a heavy, shuddering sigh. He looked at the locked doors of the surgery ward, then back at me.

“Nora, sit down.”

I shook my head. “No. Tell me why your wife has my dead father’s stolen watch.”

Dominic leaned back, the weight of a twenty-year-old sin settling onto his shoulders.

“Your father didn’t die in a random hit-and-run, Nora. He was a mechanic at a garage that serviced cars for my family. Specifically, for my father. The old boss.”

I felt the blood drain from my face.

“Twenty years ago,” Dominic continued, his voice heavy with shame, “my father’s enforcers used a car in a hit. A very messy hit. They took the car to your father’s garage to be crushed. But your father saw the blood in the trunk. He found a piece of evidence left behind.”

“The watch,” I whispered.

Dominic nodded. “The watch belonged to the man my father killed. Your father took it. He was going to the police. But my father’s men found out. They ran him off the road on his way home to silence him.”

A sob tore through my throat. I covered my mouth, tears blurring my vision. My whole life, my mother’s struggles, my brother’s debt—it was all because of the Moretti family.

“Why didn’t they take the watch then?” I choked out.

“They couldn’t find it. Your father had hidden it. Years later, Victoria found out where your family lived. She orchestrated the burglary at your apartment to retrieve it. She kept it in her safe as a trophy. Proof that the family’s loose ends were tied.”

“Then how did Caroline get it?” I demanded.

Dominic looked at the watch on the table. “Four years ago, Caroline told me she found something in Victoria’s safe. Something that proved the family was built on innocent blood. That’s what she was going to the FBI with. That’s why Victoria drove her away.”

Caroline hadn’t just found financial ledgers. She had found the proof of my father’s murder. She tried to expose the Morettis, and she lost her daughter for it.

I backed away from Dominic. The man who had shown me kindness tonight was the heir to the empire that destroyed my life.

“You knew,” I whispered, tears streaming down my face. “You hired me eleven months ago. You paid my mother’s medical bills. You knew who I was.”

“I didn’t know about the murder until four years ago,” Dominic pleaded, standing up. “When Caroline tried to tell me, I didn’t believe her. When I finally realized she was right, it was too late. She was gone. I hired you to keep your family safe. To pay off your debts. To try and make amends without getting you killed by my sister.”

Before I could respond, Marco burst through the double doors of the waiting room.

He wasn’t walking. He was running.

“Boss!” Marco yelled, his gun already drawn.

Dominic spun around. “What?”

“Victoria didn’t pack her bags,” Marco panted, his eyes wide with panic. “She didn’t leave the city.”

“Where is she?”

Marco looked at me, then at Dominic.

“She just called the front desk. She’s downstairs in the hospital lobby. And she’s not alone.” Marco swallowed hard. “She brought the police, Dominic. She’s handing over the ledgers, the offshore accounts, and the proof of the Bennett murder.”

Dominic went completely still.

Victoria was burning the entire empire to the ground, and she was going to take Dominic down with it.

“But that’s not the worst part,” Marco said, his voice shaking.

“What could be worse?” Dominic asked.

Marco pointed to the surgery doors.

“Victoria told the police that you ordered the hit on Caroline tonight to keep her quiet. And they have an arrest warrant with your name on it.”

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