Chapter 3 - Two Mothers, One Secret
Charlotte had imagined hearing the truth about her mother thousands of times.
None of those imagined versions happened in an employee corridor while she wore eight-year-old sneakers and dried blood remained on her mouth.
“What did you say?”
Augustus looked at her.
“Your mother’s death wasn’t an accident.”
Charlotte stepped toward him.
“You told me her car went through a guardrail.”
“It did.”
“You said the road was wet.”
“It was.”
“You said she was driving too fast.”
“That part was a lie.”
Charlotte slapped him.
The sound cracked through the hallway.
Dominic flinched.
Augustus did not.
For several seconds father and daughter stared at each other.
“You let me blame her,” Charlotte whispered.
Augustus’s eyes shone.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the truth would have made you stay.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Dominic interrupted quietly.
“My mother died eight months before hers.”
Augustus looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Cancer.”
“No.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Be careful.”
“I was at the hospital the night Evelyn Rainer died.”
Dominic moved closer.
“You knew my mother?”
“She and my wife were best friends.”
Dominic looked at the photograph again.
He had never seen the three of them together.
Augustus walked into Dominic’s office and closed the door.
Charlotte remained standing.
“I’m not sitting down.”
Augustus nodded.
“In 2004, Evelyn Rainer and your mother, Catherine, created a private foundation.”
“For what?” Dominic asked.
“Originally? Women trying to leave dangerous households. Later, witnesses. Employees. Anyone trapped because someone richer or more powerful controlled their money.”
Charlotte’s expression changed.
Her mother had volunteered constantly.
She had never explained where.
“They called it Haven.”
Augustus continued.
“Evelyn discovered money was being stolen from the foundation through shell companies. Millions.”
“By whom?” Dominic asked.
“Your father’s business partners.”
“My father?”
“I never proved his involvement.”
Dominic caught the distinction.
“But you suspected him.”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked away.
His father had died when Dominic was nineteen. The man had been ruthless, demanding, impossible to please.
But Dominic had worshipped him anyway.
“Evelyn intended to testify,” Augustus said. “Before she could, she became sick.”
“Poison?”
“No. Her cancer was real. But she had evidence, and someone wanted it destroyed before she died.”
“And Catherine?” Charlotte asked.
“She kept a copy.”
Charlotte’s hand tightened around the photograph.
“Then Mom died.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew.”
“I knew enough to be afraid.”
“So you locked me inside that house.”
“I tried to protect you.”
“You controlled me.”
“Yes.”
The admission surprised her.
Augustus did not defend himself.
“I was terrified. And terrified men often rename control as protection.”
Charlotte stared at him.
It was the first apology he had ever given her that did not contain the word but.
Dominic sat behind his desk.
“What does this have to do with my watch?”
Augustus looked at the platinum timepiece inside the evidence bag.
“Everything.”
He lifted it.
“Evelyn never wore this watch.”
Dominic frowned.
“It was hers.”
“She bought it, yes. But not to wear.”
Augustus turned it over.
“Your mother liked practical jewelry. Small gold watch. Brown leather strap.”
Dominic remembered.
His breathing slowed.
“Then what is this?”
“A vault.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“A vault?”
Augustus pressed a nearly invisible catch beneath the clasp.
Nothing happened.
“Needs a key.”
Charlotte touched her earring.
Everyone looked at her.
The silver earring was shaped like a tiny six-pointed flower.
Augustus stared.
“Catherine gave you those?”
“For my sixteenth birthday.”
“Give me one.”
Charlotte hesitated before placing it in his palm.
Augustus pushed the earring post into a microscopic opening beside the watch crown.
Click.
The back opened.
Inside was a memory card.
Dominic stared at it.
“My mother left this?”
Augustus nodded.
“Apparently Catherine found it before she died.”
Charlotte felt sick.
“Why give me the earrings?”
“Insurance.”
Dominic looked toward the ballroom.
“My aunt knew.”
“Possibly.”
“Vanessa framed Charlotte to recover the watch.”
“Or destroy it.”
Adrian inserted the memory card into an isolated laptop.
One encrypted folder appeared.
The password field allowed twelve characters.
Dominic tried his mother’s name.
Wrong.
Her birthday.
Wrong.
Charlotte stared at the photograph.
“Keep the girls safe.”
Then she looked at Dominic.
“What was your mother’s nickname?”
He frowned.
“For me?”
“No. My mother’s nickname for her.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Augustus suddenly whispered, “Evie.”
Charlotte typed CATHYAND EVIE, but it was too long.
Then she tried HAVEN.
Wrong.
Dominic took the photograph.
There was something written beneath the frame of the image, almost invisible.
Two numbers.
11:17.
“A time?”
Charlotte shook her head.
“A Bible verse?”
Augustus laughed softly.
“Catherine hated church.”
Charlotte almost smiled.
Dominic examined the watch.
Its hands were frozen.
11:17.
He entered 1117HAVEN.
The folder opened.
There were financial records, scanned documents, audio files and photographs.
Adrian scrolled.
“Jesus.”
More than two hundred companies appeared.
Judges.
Developers.
Bankers.
Politicians.
Police officials.
Dominic recognized half the names.
Then Charlotte saw one that made her blood turn cold.
CARVER HOLDINGS.
She looked at her father.
Augustus did not move.
“Explain.”
“I can’t.”
“Try.”
“I’ve never seen these records.”
Dominic studied him.
“Your company received twelve million dollars.”
“I can read.”
Charlotte stepped away.
“Were you part of this?”
“No.”
“You lied about Mom for seven years.”
“Yes.”
“So forgive me if your word isn’t enough.”
Augustus nodded.
“You shouldn’t trust my word. Verify it.”
The office door suddenly opened.
Peter Wallace stumbled inside.
Blood ran from his forehead.
“Security room,” he gasped.
Adrian drew his weapon.
“What happened?”
“Someone attacked Carl.”
The lights went out.
Screams erupted from the ballroom.
Emergency lights glowed red.
Dominic immediately moved toward Charlotte.
She shoved him away.
“I don’t need—”
Glass shattered somewhere behind them.
A gunshot followed.
Dominic pulled Charlotte down behind the desk.
Another shot struck the wall.
Augustus dropped beside them.
Adrian returned fire toward the doorway.
Then silence.
Dominic looked down.
Charlotte was beneath him, breathing hard.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Dominic realized his hand was protecting the back of her head.
He immediately removed it.
Charlotte noticed.
Neither spoke.
Emergency power returned.
Adrian checked the corridor.
The attacker was gone.
So was the laptop.
Charlotte stood.
“The files.”
Dominic looked at the open window.
Whoever had attacked them had taken the memory card too.
Augustus stared at the empty desk.
Then Charlotte heard a phone vibrating.
Not hers.
Peter Wallace’s.
He pulled it from his pocket.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
There was a photograph attached.
A woman tied to a chair.
Charlotte recognized her immediately.
Her former roommate.
Emma.
May you like
Under the photograph were seven words.
CHARLOTTE CARVER SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD.
