Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT DOMINIC FINALLY BROKE
Mara disappeared on a Thursday.
No dramatic kidnapping.
No ransom note.
No broken window.
She simply didn't come home.
Dominic called her six times.
No answer.
He called Tessa.
Nothing.
He called the apartment building.
She had left at 6:42 p.m.
Alone.
A taxi had taken her to a restaurant.
She never arrived.
Dominic felt something inside him crack.
He wanted to call every man he knew.
He wanted to shut down streets.
Search warehouses.
Threaten people.
But Mara had once told him:
You don't get to solve everything with fear.
So he called the one man he had avoided for twenty years.
Samuel Hart.
Retired federal investigator.
The man who had spent six years trying to arrest Dominic.
Samuel answered.
“I wondered when you'd call.”
“I need help.”
A pause.
“Is she dead?”
“No.”
“You don't know that.”
Dominic's voice broke.
“I don't.”
Samuel understood.
“Send me everything.”
Two hours later, they found Mara.
She was at an old train station.
Sitting alone.
No restraints.
No injuries.
She had been waiting.
Dominic arrived first.
He stopped several feet away.
“Mara.”
She looked at him.
“I wasn't kidnapped.”
“I know.”
“Someone wanted me to think I was.”
“Who?”
She held up a phone.
“I received a message.”
Dominic looked.
ASK YOUR HUSBAND WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FATHER.
He stared at it.
Mara's eyes filled with anger.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew enough.”
“I didn't know where he was.”
“But you knew he was alive.”
Dominic said nothing.
That was enough.
Mara stepped back.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
She closed her eyes.
“Why?”
“Because I promised your father.”
“To do what?”
“Protect you.”
“By lying?”
“I didn't know another way.”
Mara laughed bitterly.
“You never do.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I was wrong.”
She stared.
The words seemed to surprise both of them.
He continued.
“I thought protecting you meant controlling what you knew.”
Mara wiped her eyes.
“It didn't.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“It meant trusting you with the truth.”
She looked at him.
“And now?”
“Now you know everything.”
He told her about Thomas Bennett.
About the stolen money.
About the threats.
About the disappearance.
About how Dominic's father had tried to find him.
And finally, the truth.
Thomas Bennett was alive.
He had been living under federal protection.
Mara sat down.
“My father is alive?”
“Yes.”
She cried then.
Not because she was weak.
Because nineteen years of grief had suddenly become something else.
Hope.
Dominic sat beside her.
He didn't touch her.
Not until she reached for his hand.
When she did, he held it gently.
“I am still angry with you,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“I don't trust you.”
“I know.”
“I don't know if I love you anymore.”
Dominic swallowed.
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“You're not going to fight me on that?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because for once, your feelings matter more than what I want.”
Mara looked at him for a long moment.
Then she leaned her head against his shoulder.
It wasn't forgiveness.
It wasn't reconciliation.
It was simply two broken people sitting beside each other in the cold.
Then Samuel called.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“We found Richard Vale.”
“Where?”
“Dead.”
Mara lifted her head.
Samuel continued.
“And there's one problem.”
“What?”
“His phone was used to send the message that brought Mara to the station.”
Dominic looked at Mara.
“Someone wants us to think Richard is dead.”
A pause.
“Because the phone just made another call.”
“To whom?”
May you like
Samuel answered:
“Isabella Calder.”
