Chapter 7 - THE VALENTI SEAL
Dominic took two slow, deliberate steps toward Claire, his heavy shoes clicking on the marble like the ticking of a countdown clock. His guards remained where they were, watching their boss with heightened vigilance, entirely unaware of the significance of the plush toy.
Dominic stopped four feet from Claire, holding the rabbit up between them, his thumb still pulling back the frayed ear to expose the embroidered falcon and key.
"I asked you a question, Claire," Dominic said, his voice cold, steady, and dripping with an terrifying intensity. "Where did your daughter get this stuffed animal?"
Claire swallowed hard, her chest heaving as she fought to keep her composure in front of her daughter.
"It... it was a gift," Claire stammered, her voice shaking violently. "A donation... from a charity center in Evanston three years ago..."
Dominic’s dark eyes narrowed into razor blades.
"Do not lie to me," Dominic rasped, stepping an inch closer. "This crest isn't sold in stores. It doesn't belong to a charity. This crest was designed by my grandfather in Palermo. There are only three people in this entire country who possess the silk thread and the pattern template to stitch this seal."
Claire’s eyes welled with tears, but she bit her lower lip, refusing to speak another word.
Dominic’s gaze shifted slowly down from Claire’s trembling face...
to the three-year-old girl standing behind him in her red winter dress...
and back to the hidden blue stitching under the rabbit's ear.
For the first time in his life—for the first time since he took control of the Chicago syndicate after his brother’s mysterious disappearance four years ago—Dominic Valenti looked genuinely, profoundly shaken.
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He looked at Sophie’s big brown eyes. He looked at the shape of her nose, the curve of her jaw, and the quiet, fearless confidence she possessed—a confidence that no ordinary child from a Evanston apartment should have had in front of a man like him.
"How...?" Dominic breathed, his voice cracking slightly as the terrifying truth began to form in his mind.
