Chapter 8
Dominic made the decision that shocked everyone.
He asked the family court to remove him as Lily’s primary temporary guardian.
His own lawyer stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You fought for her.”
“I’m still fighting for her.”
“Then why surrender placement?”
“Because every Whitmore attorney is going to argue a Mafia boss is using a baby to punish them.”
“They’ll argue that anyway.”
“Not if I give up control.”
Dominic proposed that Lily be placed with Rebecca Sloan, Ava’s lifelong best friend and designated backup caregiver in an unsigned estate-planning draft.
Rebecca had known Lily since birth.
She was a pediatric physical therapist.
Married.
No criminal record.
Already approved for respite care during Dominic’s temporary guardianship.
Dominic would remain Lily’s maternal uncle with court-approved contact.
But he would no longer control where she slept.
The judge asked:
“Mr. Vale, why are you requesting this?”
“Because I want every decision about Lily to survive the argument that people are afraid of me.”
The courtroom went silent.
He continued.
“And because if I get arrested tomorrow, she shouldn’t lose another home.”
That was the first time Dominic publicly acknowledged his own criminal exposure.
Then he made three more decisions.
He authorized his attorneys to turn over every Ava-related communication in his possession, including messages showing his own anger and threats to “deal with Daniel” that Ava had stopped him from carrying out.
No editing.
Second, he issued written instructions that no associate, employee, or friend of his was to contact Daniel, Margaret, Whitmore staff, witnesses, or lawyers outside lawful channels.
Violation meant termination from every legitimate Vale business.
Third, he accepted the prosecutor’s review of his punches at the party.
Daniel had shoved him first.
Margaret had attacked him with the drink and moved toward him again.
Self-defense arguments existed.
But Dominic’s punch to Daniel came after he had already regained his footing, and the force was substantial.
The prosecutor offered misdemeanor diversion rather than pursue a contested assault case.
Dominic accepted.
Anger-management counseling.
Community service through a program with no Vale-family connection.
No violent offenses.
No witness contact.
He hated every hour.
Completed every hour.
Part of his underworld circle called him weak.
Dominic answered:
“I’m trying to make sure a fifteen-month-old doesn’t grow up thinking the law is something our family purchases.”
Finally, Dominic delivered Ava’s sealed DNA report to:
The family court.
Ava’s former counsel.
Detective Claire Benton.
And the independent guardian ad litem.
No private settlement.
No bargaining chip.
May you like
Whatever the report exposed, it would now move through systems Dominic did not control.
Margaret’s lawyers lost their last hope that the envelope could quietly disappear.
