Chapter 13 - A MOTHER’S KIND OF POWERDominic ordered six security men to the house.
Carrie sent four away.
They nearly shouted at each other.
Nearly.
That mattered.
“I’m not turning Grace’s home into an armed compound.”
“Someone photographed her through a window.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
Carrie’s eyes flashed.
“Do not ask me that.”
Dominic stopped.
Because he remembered.
Victor.
The van.
Carrie going into premature labor.
The fear of losing Grace before she had ever held her.
He lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry.”
Carrie looked away.
“I know why you’re afraid.”
“I am afraid.”
“Then say that.”
He did.
“I’m terrified.”
The anger left her face.
Dominic had once believed fear surrendered power.
Now he knew naming fear sometimes prevented it from controlling him.
Carrie stepped closer.
“We protect her.”
“Yes.”
“But we don’t teach her the world is a prison.”
Dominic nodded.
They compromised.
Two discreet guards.
Daniel handled transportation.
Windows were professionally treated.
Grace’s school changed pickup protocols.
And Grace was told only that Daddy’s business had made some photographers annoying.
She accepted this immediately.
“Like movie stars?”
Dominic frowned.
“No.”
Carrie smiled.
“Basically.”
“Carrie.”
Grace giggled.
That afternoon, Carrie went to Whitaker Advisory.
Dominic hated it.
Carrie went anyway.
Fear had taken enough offices from her already.
Rebecca was waiting.
She had pulled everything they possessed on Evelyn Cross.
Fifty-eight.
Widowed.
No children.
Chairwoman of Meridian Atlantic for fourteen years.
Estimated net worth: $4.8 billion.
Political donations across both parties.
Foundations.
Museums.
Hospitals.
Three residences.
Zero scandals.
Carrie stared at the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
Rebecca looked over.
“What?”
“Anybody worth nearly five billion dollars who runs ports for fourteen years has at least one embarrassing dinner photograph.”
Rebecca smiled faintly.
“Maybe she’s careful.”
“Or somebody cleans for her.”
A knock sounded.
Walter entered carrying a box.
Dominic was behind him.
Carrie looked at her husband.
“I thought you had meetings.”
“I canceled them.”
“Why?”
“Because apparently stalking my wife is healthier than taking control of her schedule.”
Rebecca whispered to Walter:
“Growth.”
Walter nodded.
“Painful.”
Dominic ignored them.
Walter placed the box on Carrie’s desk.
“These were Anthony’s.”
Inside were financial notebooks dating back to 1991.
Carrie spent hours reading.
Most entries were ordinary.
Properties.
Trusts.
Shipping.
Then she found initials.
E.C.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Payments.
Millions.
Not from Evelyn to Anthony.
From Anthony to Evelyn.
Dominic looked over her shoulder.
“What were they for?”
Walter shook his head.
“I never knew.”
Carrie found a page marked 1998.
One handwritten sentence:
EVELYN KNOWS ABOUT SEBASTIAN. NEVER AGAIN.
Carrie sat back.
“Never again what?”
No one knew.
They called Margaret.
She refused to discuss it on the phone.
That frightened Dominic.
They returned home before dark.
Margaret was waiting in the library.
A glass of untouched wine sat beside her.
She looked at Dominic.
Then Carrie.
“I did something I have regretted for forty years.”
Dominic sat opposite her.
“What?”
Margaret’s hands twisted together.
“When you were two, Anthony told me Elena existed.”
“Sebastian’s mother.”
“Yes.”
“He told you about Sebastian?”
“Not immediately.”
Her eyes filled.
“I found out myself.”
Margaret had hired a private investigator.
Not because she wanted revenge.
Because she believed Anthony might leave.
She found Elena living outside Boston with Sebastian.
A small apartment.
A nursing job.
No luxury.
No affair continuing in glamorous hotels.
Just a woman raising Anthony’s son mostly alone.
“I went to see her.”
Dominic stared.
“What happened?”
“I offered her money.”
Sebastian’s accusation suddenly made sense.
Margaret continued.
“I told her to disappear.”
Carrie’s heart sank.
“How much?”
“Enough to change her life.”
“Did she take it?”
“No.”
Margaret smiled bitterly.
“She threw the check in my face.”
Dominic said nothing.
“She told me Anthony belonged to nobody because Anthony only loved whichever version of himself a woman reflected back.”
Carrie felt that sentence.
So did Dominic.
Margaret wiped her eyes.
“I hated her.”
“For sleeping with Dad?”
“For being right.”
Silence.
Then Margaret explained Evelyn Cross.
At the time, Evelyn had been Anthony’s attorney.
She handled the arrangement.
The secrecy.
The trust.
Everything.
“She told me Elena could become a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Dominic asked.
“She suggested using Anthony’s influence to destroy her nursing license.”
Carrie’s expression hardened.
“And?”
“I said no.”
Margaret looked at Dominic.
“For all my jealousy, Sebastian was a child.”
“So Anthony paid Evelyn?”
“To make the entire matter disappear legally.”
The payments in the ledger.
Confidential agreements.
Property.
Lawyers.
Records.
Carrie suddenly understood.
“Evelyn knew every secret.”
“Yes.”
“And now she controls the company tied to Grace’s trust.”
Margaret nodded.
Dominic stood.
“I’m calling Sebastian.”
Margaret grabbed his hand.
“No.”
“Why?”
Her face had gone white.
“Because there’s something Sebastian doesn’t know.”
Dominic waited.
Margaret whispered:
“Anthony wasn’t the one who told everyone Sebastian died.”
Carrie’s pulse changed.
“Who did?”
Margaret looked toward the dark window.
“Evelyn.”
Before anyone could speak, glass exploded.
Dominic threw Carrie to the floor.
A bullet buried itself in the wall above Margaret’s chair.
Daniel shouted from the hallway.
Security moved.
Grace screamed upstairs.
Dominic started toward the staircase.
Carrie grabbed him.
“I’ll get Grace.”
Another shot cracked outside.
Dominic turned toward Margaret.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
“Mom.”
Margaret looked down.
May you like
Almost confused.
Then collapsed.
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