Chapter 6 - The Interrogation of Dominic Moretti
At 2:00 PM on Friday, two weeks after the boardroom raid, Lorenzo and Nina arrived at the Federal Detention Center in Brooklyn under an executive Department of Justice subpoena.
The concrete visitor’s consultation suite smelled of industrial disinfectant, stale floor wax, and defeat. Lorenzo sat on a metal stool behind the two-inch-thick ballistic glass partition, dressed in a tailored charcoal cashmere overcoat, with Nina sitting tall, elegant, and peaceful beside him.
Ghost sat attentively between their chairs, his ears pricked, watching the heavy steel security door unlock with a loud hydraulic buzz.
Dominic Moretti was led into the booth by two armed corrections officers, his wrists and ankles bound in heavy transport chains.
His expensive camel-hair coats, gold Rolex, and smug swagger were completely gone. In their place was an oversized, coarse orange institutional jumpsuit with BOP INMATE stenciled in bold black letters across the back. His face was pale, sunken, and hollowed out by fourteen days in maximum administrative segregation.
He slowly picked up the black plastic telephone receiver with trembling hands.
Lorenzo lifted his to his ear.
"Lorenzo..." Dominic croaked, pressing his forehead against the scratched glass, tears leaking from his bloodshot eyes. "Lorenzo, please... you have to listen to me! My brother forced me into the Astoria deal! Giancarlo threatened to cut me out of the family trust! I didn't know they were going to burn the auto shop! Tell the federal prosecutor to drop the RICO enhancements! I’m looking at thirty-five years in a federal penitentiary!"
Lorenzo looked through the scratched glass at the man who had worked in his inner circle for twenty years.
He felt no rage. He felt no lingering sorrow.
He felt only the vast, clean, unyielding stillness of a sovereign leader who had cleansed his house of vermin.
"You didn't think about thirty-five years when you stole a puppy from a crying family, Dominic," Lorenzo said, every word hitting with the force of an iron hammer. "You didn't think about it when you watched an honest mechanic's garage burn to the ground so you could build a casino."
"I saved your life, Lorenzo!" Dominic wept, slamming his shackled fists against the glass. "I gave you the dog that took a bullet for you in Miami!"
Lorenzo turned the receiver slightly so Dominic could see Ghost sitting calmly beside Nina on the other side of the glass.
Ghost looked through the partition, his dark eyes meeting Dominic's without a single growl or sign of recognition. The dog simply leaned his heavy head into Nina’s open palm, closing his eyes as she scratched behind his scarred ears.
"The dog didn't save me for your sake, Dominic," Lorenzo whispered into the phone. "The dog saved me because he was raised by good people before you stole him. And you will spend the rest of your life remembering that a six-note song brought down your entire family."
Lorenzo hung up the phone with a sharp click.
May you like
Dominic let out a loud, broken shriek, slamming his shackled fists against the glass as the two guards hauled him backward toward the cellblock doors.
Lorenzo stood up, wrapped his coat around Nina’s shoulders, and walked out into the bright Brooklyn sunshine, leaving the traitor behind iron bars forever.
