Chapter 5 - The Secret Beneath the SilkVictor Valente arrived at the hospital carrying flowers.
White lilies.
Clara hated lilies.
Dominic knew that because she had once quietly removed them from a dinner arrangement, explaining that their smell reminded her of funerals.
Victor had never bothered to learn.
He came through the intensive care waiting area wearing a charcoal suit and the expression of a man rehearsing grief.
"Dom."
Dominic did not rise.
Victor placed the flowers on a side table.
"I came as soon as I heard."
"Who told you?"
"Marco."
"Marco didn't call you."
Victor's smile faltered.
"Then someone from the family. I don't remember."
Dominic looked at the flowers.
"Clara's in critical condition."
"I know. It's awful."
"She's pregnant."
Victor went still.
Only for an instant.
Then he lowered his eyes.
"Jesus. I had no idea."
Dominic watched him.
His brother had always been a gifted liar.
As children, Victor could break a window and convince their father the wind had done it.
As adults, he could lose millions and produce an explanation so elegant that accountants thanked him for it.
But there was one thing Victor had never mastered.
Surprise.
Real surprise came before calculation.
Victor calculated first.
"Where were you at seven tonight?" Dominic asked.
Victor frowned.
"Why?"
"Answer."
"At dinner."
"With whom?"
"Some investors."
"Names."
Victor sighed.
"Dominic, this isn't the time."
Dominic stood.
His brother took an involuntary step backward.
"Clara was attacked," Dominic said. "Someone tampered with her car. Someone removed her protection. Someone knew where she was going."
Victor stared at him.
"Are you accusing me?"
"I'm asking where you were."
"You're losing your mind."
Dominic stepped closer.
"Maybe."
Victor looked toward the guards.
Then his expression softened.
"Brother, I understand you're scared. But don't let grief turn you against your own blood."
Dominic almost smiled.
Your own blood.
He thought of the child Clara was carrying.
He thought of the woman who had protected his name while he publicly humiliated her.
Then he stepped aside.
"Go home, Victor."
His brother hesitated.
"Can I see her?"
"No."
"Dominic—"
"Leave."
Victor's jaw tightened.
For the first time, his mask slipped.
"You don't get to treat me like one of your employees."
Dominic said nothing.
Victor turned and walked away.
The moment the elevator doors closed, Dominic called Marco.
"Follow him. Quietly."
"Understood."
"And Marco?"
"Yes?"
"Don't trust anyone who says they're acting on my orders. Not anymore."
An hour later, Detective Lena Brooks arrived.
She was forty, sharp-eyed, and unimpressed by the Valente name.
Dominic had encountered her before.
She had spent three years investigating financial crimes linked to his organization.
They had never liked each other.
"Mr. Valente," she said. "I understand your wife's belongings included a storage device."
Dominic nodded.
"Hospital staff documented it. They said they'd turn it over."
"We've collected it."
"What's on it?"
"That's what we're trying to determine."
He studied her.
"Can you protect her?"
"From whom?"
"My brother."
Brooks's expression changed slightly.
"Victor Valente?"
"Yes."
"That's a serious accusation."
"I know."
"Do you have evidence?"
Dominic showed her the threatening message.
Then he told her about Serena.
Everything.
Including his own affair.
Brooks listened without interruption.
When he finished, she closed her notebook.
"Mr. Valente, your wife contacted my office three days ago."
Dominic stared.
"What?"
"She requested a confidential meeting."
"About Victor?"
"About financial irregularities involving several companies connected to your family."
Dominic sat down.
"Did she meet you?"
"Not personally. She met with one of our financial investigators this afternoon."
"Who?"
"Agent Daniel Mercer."
"Where is he?"
Brooks's face darkened.
"Missing."
The room seemed to shrink.
"He disappeared two hours before your wife's crash," she continued. "His car was found abandoned near the river."
Dominic looked toward the ICU doors.
Clara had not been running away.
She had been trying to expose a criminal operation.
Possibly his own.
Brooks opened a folder.
"There's something else. Your wife filed legal documents last week."
"What documents?"
"A petition to dissolve your marriage."
Dominic felt the floor vanish beneath him.
"No."
Brooks placed a photocopy on the table.
Clara's signature.
September first.
Two days before the crash.
He stared at it.
She had been leaving him.
Not threatening.
Not bargaining.
Leaving.
Brooks watched him carefully.
"She also requested emergency protection for an unborn child."
Dominic lifted his head.
"Protection from whom?"
Brooks turned the page.
A handwritten statement appeared beneath Clara's signature.
Dominic read it once.
Then again.
I believe my husband's family may attempt to harm me if they discover what I know.
He swallowed.
May you like
But the next sentence was worse.
I am particularly afraid of Dominic Valente.
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