Chapter 5 - THE MAFIA BOSS'S PROMISE
"Did your family pay to hide my sister?"
Penelope stood in the hospital corridor, refusing to let Dominic look away.
"Yes," he admitted.
The single word struck harder than she expected.
"How long have you known?"
"Three days."
She stared at him.
"Three days?"
Dominic stepped closer.
"I found unusual payments while investigating Anthony."
"And you couldn't tell me?"
"I was trying to confirm what they meant."
Penelope laughed bitterly.
"You keep saying you're protecting me, but every time I turn around, you've hidden something else."
Dominic accepted her anger.
"Then I'll stop."
He took out his phone and opened a secure file.
"My father created a private medical trust twenty-two years ago. The trust covered the treatment of one child."
"Amelia?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Dominic hesitated.
"Because he believed Anthony Russo would kill her if he found her."
Penelope stared.
"But Anthony knows where she is now."
"Which means someone betrayed the arrangement."
Lorenzo approached.
"We found the property's address."
Penelope immediately turned toward him.
"Where?"
"Near Lake Geneva."
Dominic looked at her.
"We can go. But the choice is yours."
Penelope studied his face.
For the first time, she saw something other than control.
Regret.
Fear.
And something much more personal.
"Why do you care so much about me?" she asked.
Dominic was silent.
Then he said, "Because the first time I saw you, you were arguing with a customer who insulted an elderly waiter."
Penelope remembered.
The customer had complained about a mistake that wasn't the waiter's fault.
She had stepped between them.
Dominic continued.
"You were furious. You didn't care who the customer was. You cared that someone was being treated unfairly."
Penelope felt her cheeks warm.
"You remember that?"
"I remember everything about that night."
He moved closer but stopped before touching her.
"I've wanted to know you ever since."
Penelope searched his eyes.
"Then why didn't you just ask me out?"
A faint smile touched his mouth.
"Because every man in Chicago knows what my name means."
She answered softly.
"Then maybe you should stop hiding behind it."
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Lorenzo's phone rang.
His expression changed immediately.
"Boss, we have a problem."
"What?"
"Someone just withdrew two million dollars from the Amelia medical trust."
Dominic frowned.
"Who authorized it?"
Lorenzo looked at Penelope.
"The transaction was approved using her identity."
Penelope shook her head.
"I've never even seen that account."
Lorenzo turned the screen.
The electronic authorization contained Penelope's full name.
Her date of birth.
And a biometric signature that appeared to match her face.
But the timestamp revealed something impossible.
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The withdrawal had been approved while Penelope was standing in Dominic's apartment building.
And the security image showed a woman who looked exactly like her.
