Chapter 4 - THE NIGHT DOMINIC FINALLY RAN
Dominic Marino had spent twenty years teaching himself never to run.
Powerful men walked.
Frightened men ran.
At 3:06 that morning, Dominic ran through the emergency entrance of Westchester Medical Center.
Rebecca had called him.
She had debated doing it.
Then she had said six words that erased everything else.
“Carrie may deliver the baby tonight.”
Dominic abandoned his car at the curb.
A security guard shouted after him.
He did not hear.
He found Daniel outside obstetric triage.
“Where is she?”
Daniel stood.
The driver who had served his family for eighteen years looked at Dominic with open contempt.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“My wife is in there.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“She was your wife when you let another woman throw her out.”
Dominic absorbed the sentence.
Normally, nobody spoke to him like that.
Tonight he deserved worse.
“Is the baby alive?”
Daniel’s expression softened by a fraction.
“Yes.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
His knees nearly weakened.
“Can I see her?”
“That’s Carrie’s decision.”
“Ask her.”
Daniel went inside.
He returned two minutes later.
“She said no.”
Dominic stared at the door.
He had never imagined a closed door could hurt.
“I’ll wait.”
Carrie remained hospitalized for four days.
Medication stabilized her blood pressure enough to delay delivery.
Every additional day mattered.
Dominic remained in the hospital for all four.
He slept in a chair near the elevators.
Carrie never invited him inside.
He did not leave.
On the second morning, Margaret found him shaving in a public restroom.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“She knows you’re here.”
Dominic paused.
“Does she?”
“Yes.”
“Has she asked about me?”
Margaret was silent.
That answer hurt.
Dominic rinsed the razor.
“Is she eating?”
“Yes.”
“The baby?”
“Stable.”
He nodded.
Margaret watched him.
“You cannot fix this by sitting in a hallway.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Dominic met her eyes in the mirror.
“For the first time, I think I do.”
Inside her room, Carrie examined the threatening note.
Hospital security had contacted police.
Amelia had contacted a private investigator.
Rebecca had begun an internal audit.
Carrie wanted to stop.
Every rational part of her said stop.
She was thirty-two weeks pregnant with dangerous hypertension.
Then Rebecca called.
“We found where the money went.”
Carrie sat straighter.
“Where?”
“Not to Vanessa.”
“What?”
“Langford Strategic transferred most of it within forty-eight hours.”
“To whom?”
“A network of companies controlled by someone named Victor Salazar.”
Carrie knew the name.
Everybody around Dominic did.
Victor Salazar had once been Dominic’s closest business partner.
Seven years earlier, Dominic discovered Victor was laundering money through a construction subsidiary and forced him out.
Victor lost nearly everything.
“Vanessa works for Victor?”
“We think so.”
Carrie looked at the hospital window.
“Since when?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“At least five years.”
Carrie felt sick.
Five years.
Vanessa had joined Marino Holdings five years and three months earlier.
This had never been an affair that became a conspiracy.
It was a conspiracy that became an affair.
“Does Dominic know?”
“Not yet.”
“Tell him.”
Rebecca sounded surprised.
“Carrie?”
“Tell him everything.”
After the call, Carrie stared at the ceiling.
She hated Dominic.
At that moment, she truly did.
But hatred did not make her want him destroyed.
Maybe that was the difference between Carrie and Vanessa.
Dominic received Rebecca’s evidence at 5:20 p.m.
He read every page.
Then he vomited in the executive restroom.
Not because of the money.
Thirty-one million dollars was recoverable.
Because every manipulated acquisition contained Carrie’s warnings.
Carrie had been right.
Again.
Again.
Again.
And each time Dominic had overridden her after Vanessa whispered that Carrie was becoming too cautious.
Too emotional.
Too conservative.
Too distracted by pregnancy.
He remembered arguments with his wife.
“You trust her more than me.”
“This is business, Carrie.”
“I understand the business.”
“You’re taking this personally.”
Now he understood.
Vanessa had not simply seduced him.
She had weaponized his arrogance.
But he had supplied the weapon.
Dominic returned to the estate.
Vanessa was packing.
He stood in the bedroom doorway.
Carrie’s bedroom.
Vanessa looked at him.
“You finally figured it out.”
Dominic felt something dark move through him.
“How long?”
Vanessa continued folding clothes.
“Does it matter?”
“How long?”
“Victor recruited me before I ever met you.”
Dominic’s hands curled.
“And the affair?”
Vanessa smiled sadly.
“You made that surprisingly easy.”
He flinched.
She saw it.
“Oh, don’t pretend I hypnotized you. Your wife adored you. You were simply bored with being adored.”
That landed deeper than any insult.
Dominic said nothing.
Vanessa zipped her suitcase.
“You wanted someone who made you feel dangerous again.”
“And Victor?”
“Wanted you careless.”
She lifted the suitcase.
“You gave both of us exactly what we wanted.”
Dominic stepped aside.
Police were waiting downstairs.
Vanessa stopped.
“You called them?”
“Yes.”
Her smile vanished.
Then she laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Victor knows where Carrie is.”
Every muscle in his body tightened.
“What?”
Vanessa’s eyes glittered.
“You should answer your phone.”
It rang.
Hospital security.
Dominic answered.
The voice on the other end was frantic.
“Mr. Marino, your wife is missing.”
Carrie had not intended to leave the maternity floor.
A nurse entered at 6:10 p.m.
“Mrs. Marino? Your attorney is downstairs.”
“Amelia?”
“She asked you to bring the documents.”
Carrie frowned.
Amelia would never do that.
Carrie reached for the call button.
The nurse moved faster.
A cloth pressed against Carrie’s mouth.
She fought.
The room blurred.
The last thing she heard was the fetal monitor alarming.
She woke inside a moving vehicle.
Her wrists were bound loosely in front of her.
Her stomach cramped.
Across from her sat Victor Salazar.
He was sixty, silver-haired and impeccably dressed.
“I apologize for the inconvenience.”
Carrie stared at him.
“If my baby dies—”
“She won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
Victor studied her.
“No. I suppose I don’t.”
Carrie forced herself to breathe.
Panic would raise her blood pressure.
Panic could hurt her daughter.
“What do you want?”
“The files.”
“Which files?”
“Don’t insult me.”
Carrie leaned back.
“I don’t have them.”
“Walter does.”
Victor smiled.
“And Walter will give them to us for you.”
Carrie understood.
That was why they had taken her.
Not because she had the evidence.
Because people loved her enough to surrender it.
Victor’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then his expression changed.
“What do you mean he found out?”
Carrie listened.
Dominic.
Victor swore.
The vehicle accelerated.
Carrie closed her eyes.
Her daughter kicked.
Then pain tightened violently across her abdomen.
Carrie gasped.
Victor looked over.
“What?”
She felt warmth.
Then wetness.
Carrie looked down.
Her water had broken.
Victor’s face lost color.
Carrie almost laughed.
“You wanted leverage?”
Another contraction seized her.
May you like
She gripped the seat.
“You just kidnapped a woman who’s going into labor.”
