Chapter 6 - The Mother Who Came Back
Dominic read the driver's statement three times.
The name at the bottom was unmistakable.
Victoria Rourke.
His mother.
Alive.
He had spent twenty-three years believing she was dead.
Now someone was using her name to threaten his unborn daughter.
"Where is she?" he asked.
The driver shook his head.
"I was given a location. I never saw her."
"Who gave it to you?"
"A woman."
"Describe her."
"Older. Gray hair. Scar near her ear."
Dominic looked at Griffin.
His mother had a scar near her right ear.
It was the only physical detail he remembered from the night she supposedly died.
Eliza sat quietly beside Rebecca in the apartment.
She had heard everything.
"Maybe it's not her," she said.
Dominic looked at her.
"Maybe."
But neither believed it.
That afternoon, a letter arrived through Rebecca's office.
It contained a photograph of a woman standing outside a small church in Wisconsin.
On the back were five words:
Come alone if you want answers.
Dominic recognized his mother immediately.
Griffin insisted on accompanying him.
Eliza refused to let him go without understanding the danger.
"Your father spent years hiding something," she said. "If your mother knows what happened, you need to hear her."
Dominic looked at her.
"You're asking me to trust someone who may have threatened our child."
"I'm asking you to find out whether the threat is real before you destroy another relationship."
He nodded.
The meeting was scheduled for the following evening.
Meanwhile, Celeste was discovering that her position inside Blackridge was collapsing.
Dominic had frozen her access cards, canceled her company credit accounts, and instructed Griffin to investigate every transaction connected to her.
She stormed into the penthouse.
"You cannot do this to me!"
Dominic was standing by the windows.
"I can."
"After everything I've done for you?"
He turned.
"What exactly have you done?"
Celeste laughed.
"I stood beside you when everyone else was afraid of you."
"You stood beside me because you wanted my name."
"I loved you."
"No. You loved the life."
She slapped him.
He didn't move.
Celeste's eyes filled with tears.
"Eliza has turned you against me."
Dominic's voice became ice.
"Eliza didn't need to turn me against you. You did that yourself."
He opened the door.
"Leave."
Celeste walked out, but she stopped before reaching the elevator.
"You think you're protecting your wife? Ask her what her grandmother knew about your mother."
Dominic went still.
"What does that mean?"
Celeste smiled.
"Ask Paige."
Then she disappeared.
The next evening, Dominic and Griffin drove to the church in Wisconsin.
A woman waited in the parking lot.
Her hair was silver.
A pale scar crossed the skin near her ear.
Dominic stopped walking.
"Mom?"
The woman turned.
For several seconds, she simply stared at him.
Then her hand rose to her mouth.
"Dominic."
He crossed the distance between them.
She touched his face as if she needed to confirm he was real.
"My boy."
He stepped back.
"Why?"
Victoria began crying.
"Because your father was going to kill me."
"You let me bury an empty coffin."
"I know."
"You let me grow up believing you were dead."
"I know."
"Do you have any idea what that did to me?"
Victoria lowered her head.
"I have thought about it every day."
Dominic's anger broke through his restraint.
"Then why come back now?"
She looked at Griffin.
Then at the road.
"Because Richard's people are moving again. And because the child Eliza is carrying is in danger."
Dominic went still.
"Who is threatening her?"
Victoria's face tightened.
"Someone inside your family."
"Who?"
She reached into her handbag and removed a photograph.
It showed Richard Rourke standing beside a younger man.
Dominic recognized him immediately.
His uncle.
Arthur Rourke.
But the date written on the photograph was impossible.
Arthur had supposedly died in prison eleven years earlier.
Victoria whispered:
"Your father didn't work alone. And Arthur never went to prison."
Dominic stared at the photograph.
May you like
Then his mother said the words that changed everything.
"Your uncle has been running Blackridge through you for years."
