Chương 4 - The Dead Woman’s Secret
Dominic dismissed everyone from the kitchen except Emily.
Even Anthony.
Especially Anthony.
Grace had fallen asleep again in Emily’s arms, and one of the housekeepers carried her upstairs.
Emily waited until they were alone.
“Who was their mother?”
Dominic stood beside the window.
“Isabella Vale.”
“How did she die?”
“Car accident.”
Emily heard the hesitation.
“You don’t believe that anymore.”
Dominic turned.
“For seven years, I did.”
He walked into the library and unlocked a drawer.
Inside was an old photograph.
Isabella was beautiful, dark-haired and laughing, holding two infants against her chest.
Dominic looked younger beside her.
Happier.
Almost unrecognizable.
“She handled charitable accounts for Vale Atlantic,” he said. “She had access to corporate records but stayed away from everything else.”
“Everything else meaning your criminal business?”
His gaze sharpened.
Emily refused to look away.
Finally, Dominic said, “Meaning parts of my life I am not proud of.”
That was the closest thing to a confession she expected.
“Three days before Isabella died, she told me someone inside the company was stealing from us.”
“Reed?”
“She never gave me a name.”
“Why?”
“We argued.”
Emily waited.
Dominic stared at the photograph.
“I told her I would handle it. She told me handling problems with fear was the reason nobody told me the truth anymore.”
Emily almost smiled.
“I think I would’ve liked her.”
“You would have.”
The certainty surprised both of them.
Dominic continued.
“Isabella said she had proof. A ledger. Then she died before showing it to me.”
“The red book.”
“Maybe.”
“And Reed knows about it.”
“Apparently.”
Emily paced slowly.
“Where would Isabella hide something?”
“I searched everything after her death.”
“Maybe she didn’t hide it from you.”
Dominic frowned.
“She hid it for the girls.”
Emily remembered Lily’s locket.
“Where is Lily?”
Five minutes later, they stood beside Lily’s bed.
Dominic gently lifted the gold locket from her nightstand.
Inside were two tiny photographs.
Nothing else.
Emily turned it over.
There was a shallow engraving.
Two roses surrounding the letter V.
“Did Isabella have somewhere she took them?”
“They were babies.”
“A church? Park? Family property?”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Rosehill.”
“What?”
“Isabella’s family had a crypt at Rosehill Cemetery.”
Emily stared.
“Two roses.”
They left before dawn.
Dominic insisted Emily remain behind.
Emily insisted he could go to hell.
Anthony eventually told them both to stop arguing and brought six security men.
Snow covered Rosehill Cemetery.
They found Isabella’s crypt shortly before sunrise.
Dominic stood alone before her name for several seconds.
Emily remained back.
Then she noticed something.
Two carved roses.
Identical to Lily’s locket.
“Dominic.”
He followed her gaze.
One stone petal had a tiny indentation.
Dominic pressed the locket against it.
A click.
A narrow compartment opened.
Inside was a red leather notebook sealed in plastic.
Dominic stared at it.
Seven years.
His wife had been dead seven years, and her secret had waited six feet from her grave.
He opened the book.
Pages of dates.
Container numbers.
Initials.
Payments.
Emily understood almost none of it.
Dominic understood too much.
“Jesus.”
“What?”
He turned pages faster.
“These are shipments that never existed.”
“Meaning?”
“Vale Atlantic vessels carried containers under duplicated numbers. Someone used legitimate manifests to move unregistered cargo.”
“Drugs?”
“No.”
He stopped.
His face became colder.
“People.”
Emily’s stomach turned.
“Human trafficking?”
Dominic nodded once.
“Isabella found it.”
A twig snapped.
Dominic looked up.
“Down!”
Gunfire ripped through the cemetery.
Stone exploded beside them.
Dominic shoved Emily behind the crypt.
His men returned fire.
Emily pressed herself against the frozen ground.
“Who knows we’re here?”
“Nobody.”
“Somebody does!”
Dominic looked at the notebook.
Then at Anthony.
Anthony stood twenty yards away behind a monument, firing toward the trees.
Dominic’s expression hardened.
Emily understood.
Someone inside the house had told them.
Again.
The shooting lasted less than a minute.
The attackers retreated.
One of Dominic’s guards had been hit in the shoulder.
Emily crawled toward him.
“Pressure here.”
She tore fabric from a scarf and pressed it against the wound.
The guard groaned.
Dominic crouched beside her.
“You know what you’re doing.”
“Nursing school.”
“You said you didn’t finish.”
“I didn’t forget everything.”
The injured man looked at Emily.
“Thanks.”
“Save your breath.”
Dominic watched her hands.
Calm.
Precise.
Competent.
When the ambulance finally approached, Dominic pulled Emily aside.
“We have a problem.”
“We have several.”
“The ledger lists initials.”
“And?”
“One appears on almost every page.”
“Whose?”
“AR.”
Emily looked toward Anthony.
“No.”
“I didn’t say—”
“You didn’t need to.”
Anthony had been Dominic’s attorney for fifteen years.
His friend longer.
Emily remembered him explaining Calvin’s death.
Making coffee jokes.
Standing inside the house.
“Could it mean someone else?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe that?”
Dominic looked toward his oldest friend.
“I don’t know what I believe anymore.”
Emily took the notebook.
On one page, Isabella had written something in the margin.
Not numbers.
Words.
Emily read them.
D does not know.
If anything happens to me, protect the girls from A.R.
Her mouth went dry.
Dominic read over her shoulder.
Neither spoke.
Then a phone rang.
Anthony’s.
He answered from across the cemetery.
Dominic watched him.
Anthony listened.
Then looked directly at Dominic.
“The estate’s been breached.”
Dominic’s face emptied.
“The girls?”
Anthony hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Dominic grabbed him by the coat.
“Where are my daughters?”
May you like
Anthony whispered the answer.
“They’re gone.”
