Chapter 6 - The Secret Rosa Refused to Keep
The traitor was Dominic’s cousin, Anthony Castile.
Rosa cried when Dominic told her.
Not because she feared Anthony.
Because she had loved him.
Anthony’s father had died when he was young, and Rosa had treated him like another son.
He knew her routines.
Her house.
Her security system.
Everything.
“Why?” Rosa whispered.
Dominic sat beside her.
“Money.”
Rosa closed her eyes.
“Money.”
Sadie watched from the doorway.
One word had broken the old woman more effectively than the fire.
Anthony had sold information to Dominic’s enemies.
He had not personally started the fire, but he had provided access.
He claimed he never knew Rosa would be targeted.
Dominic did not believe him.
Sadie was less certain.
People lied.
People also made terrible decisions without understanding where those decisions would lead.
“What happens to him?” she asked Dominic later.
“He answers for what he did.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Dominic looked at her.
Sadie knew there were parts of his world he had carefully kept outside her sight.
She did not want details.
She wanted to know who he chose to be.
“Turn him over to the police,” she said.
“It isn’t that simple.”
“It can be.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.”
Dominic looked toward the window.
“Anthony has information about people who will disappear if law enforcement becomes involved.”
“That sounds like their choice.”
“Sadie.”
“You told me you wanted a different life.”
“I never said that.”
“No. But you look at one.”
Dominic turned.
She continued quietly.
“Every time you sit with Rosa. Every time you come into the diner and pretend you like the coffee. Every time you ask instead of order. You look like a man discovering he’s allowed to become someone else.”
That hit harder than accusation.
Dominic said nothing.
Sadie walked away.
The decision was his.
The next morning, Anthony was placed in the custody of federal investigators through an attorney.
Dominic provided evidence linking him to the arson conspiracy.
Carmine stared when Dominic told him.
“You sure?”
“No.”
“That’s new.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“Yes.”
The information Anthony provided unraveled the rest.
Investigators made arrests.
The immediate threat against Rosa and Sadie began to shrink.
For the first time in weeks, Sadie returned to her apartment without security stationed directly outside the door.
It felt strange.
Smaller than she remembered.
Quieter.
She should have been relieved.
Instead, she missed Rosa.
She missed arguing with Dominic.
She even missed Carmine pretending not to watch her.
Her phone rang.
Rosa.
“Come to dinner tomorrow.”
Sadie smiled.
“Is that a request?”
“No.”
“You really are Dominic’s mother.”
Rosa laughed.
Dinner was held in Dominic’s penthouse.
No army of guests.
Just Rosa, Carmine, Sadie and Dominic.
Rosa insisted on cooking.
Dominic insisted she sit down.
Sadie ended up cooking.
“Apparently,” she said, “saving your mother means becoming unpaid catering staff.”
Dominic stood beside her chopping vegetables badly.
“You’re criticizing my knife skills?”
“I’m questioning whether you’ve ever held an onion.”
“I have employees.”
“Of course you do.”
Rosa watched from the table.
She smiled quietly.
Later, after Carmine left, Rosa handed Sadie an envelope.
Sadie immediately pushed it back.
“No.”
“You haven’t opened it.”
“If Dominic is related to it, no.”
Dominic looked offended.
“I had nothing to do with this.”
Rosa pushed the envelope back.
“Open it.”
Sadie did.
Inside was a letter.
Not a check.
A recommendation.
Rosa had contacted the nursing program Sadie once attended.
She had told them what Sadie had done.
Not who Rosa’s son was.
Not anything about money.
She had simply described the young woman who heard a stranger crying inside a burning building and went toward the danger instead of away from it.
Sadie’s eyes filled.
“They agreed to reconsider your application,” Rosa said.
Sadie looked at Dominic.
He raised both hands.
“I swear.”
“There’s still tuition.”
Rosa smiled.
“There are scholarships.”
Sadie looked suspiciously at Dominic again.
“One of them existed before I was born,” he said.
Sadie laughed through her tears.
Two weeks later, she received the email.
Readmitted.
Partial scholarship.
Enough that she could make the rest work with part-time employment.
Sadie sat on her apartment floor crying.
She called Rosa first.
Then Dominic.
“I got in.”
Silence.
Then:
“I knew you would.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I strongly suspected.”
She smiled.
“Thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s what I’m thanking you for.”
Dominic understood.
He had respected her choice.
For him, that had required more effort than writing any check.
“I’m proud of you,” he said.
Sadie closed her eyes.
Nobody had said those words to her since her father died.
“Dinner tonight?” Dominic asked.
“Is this another security meeting?”
“No.”
“Your mother?”
“No.”
“Carmine?”
“Absolutely not.”
Sadie’s smile widened.
“Dominic Castile, are you asking me on a date?”
There was a pause.
“I believe that is what normal people call it.”
She laughed.
“Yes.”
But before they could have that dinner, Rosa asked Sadie to visit.
There was something she had not told Dominic.
Something about the night of the fire.
Something Rosa had heard just before the smoke filled her bedroom.
May you like
And if she remembered correctly, Anthony had not been the only person who betrayed them.
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