Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT HER FATHER DIEDEvelyn stepped away from Dominic.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“You told me you didn’t know my father.”
“I said my father paid him. I never said I hadn’t met him.”
The distinction made her furious.
“You let me stand beside you while I learned my father was murdered.”
“I was trying to understand what happened.”
“You already knew!”
“No.”
His voice broke through hers.
“I knew I was in his car that night. I did not know the crash was deliberate.”
Evelyn stared.
Dominic continued.
“Thomas called me at one forty in the morning. He said he had evidence about Victor and needed to see my father. Anthony had disappeared hours earlier.”
Anthony lowered his head.
“I had already been taken.”
Dominic looked back at Evelyn.
“Thomas picked me up. We were driving toward the warehouse when the brakes failed.”
“You survived.”
“Yes.”
“My father didn’t.”
“No.”
“How?”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“The car went through the barrier. Thomas turned the wheel at the last second so my side didn’t take the impact.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
“He saved you.”
“Yes.”
“And you never came to us?”
“I was unconscious for nine days. When I woke, Victor told me Thomas had been working for a rival organization. He said the crash was an attempted kidnapping.”
“You believed him?”
“I was thirty-two, my father was supposedly dead, and Thomas was dead. Yes.”
“That doesn’t explain why you never told us.”
“Victor said Thomas’s family would become targets if anyone connected him publicly to the Calders.”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“So you protected us by lying.”
“I thought I did.”
“My father died beside you.”
“Yes.”
“And for eleven months you walked past me in your house without recognizing my name?”
“I never knew he had daughters.”
That hurt in a different way.
Dominic stepped closer.
“I should have told you as soon as I saw his name in the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
She wanted to hate him.
It would have been easier.
Instead she remembered him running back through gunfire for Warren.
Paying for Molly’s treatment without demanding gratitude.
Standing between her and Marco’s gun.
And kissing her as though he was afraid she might break.
“I need time.”
“You have it.”
“We don’t,” Anthony said.
Eleven o’clock was approaching.
Victor had Eleanor.
Dominic refused to take Evelyn to Pier Nine.
Evelyn refused to remain behind.
The argument lasted seven minutes.
Finally she said, “Victor needs me alive.”
“You don’t know that.”
“He needs the trust.”
“He needs the key.”
“And whatever phrase my father gave Anthony.”
Anthony suddenly froze.
Everyone looked at him.
“What?” Dominic asked.
Anthony whispered, “I remember.”
“The phrase?”
Anthony nodded.
“What is it?”
He looked at Evelyn.
“Hands tell the truth.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
Her father had said that constantly.
Watch hands, Evie.
Faces lie.
Hands tell the truth.
At 10:52 p.m., they arrived at Pier Nine.
Evelyn wore a wire connected directly to federal agents positioned three blocks away.
Dominic carried no visible weapon.
The pocket-watch key hung around Evelyn’s neck.
Victor waited inside the warehouse.
Eleanor sat beside him.
Six armed men surrounded them.
Victor smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Dominic’s voice was ice.
“Let her go.”
“Soon.”
Victor looked at Evelyn.
“You caused an extraordinary amount of trouble for a maid.”
“I’ve had a busy week.”
Victor laughed.
“I understand what my brother saw in your father.”
Evelyn moved closer.
“You killed him.”
“I ordered a brake line cut.”
The admission was clear.
The wire captured it.
“But Dominic was supposed to die with him.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Victor shrugged.
“Thomas ruined that too.”
Evelyn looked at Eleanor.
“Release her.”
“Key first.”
Evelyn removed it.
Victor held out his hand.
She remembered her father.
Watch hands.
Victor’s left hand was open.
His right remained near his jacket.
Not for a gun.
For a remote.
Evelyn saw the small red switch between his fingers.
She stopped.
“You wired the building.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
Dominic moved instantly.
He struck Victor’s right wrist.
The remote flew.
Gunfire erupted.
Federal agents stormed the entrances.
Evelyn dropped behind a crate.
Dominic reached Eleanor.
Victor grabbed the remote from the floor.
Evelyn was closer.
She kicked his hand.
The device slid beneath a forklift.
Victor struck her.
She fell.
Dominic saw it.
Something savage crossed his face.
He tackled Victor.
They crashed against the concrete.
Victor reached for a gun.
Dominic got there first.
He aimed at his uncle’s chest.
Everything stopped.
Victor smiled through blood.
“Do it.”
Dominic’s finger rested on the trigger.
“Dominic,” Evelyn whispered.
Victor laughed.
“You’re a Calder. Show her.”
Dominic looked at Evelyn.
Then lowered the gun.
“No.”
Federal agents rushed forward.
Victor stared in disbelief as they handcuffed him.
Dominic crouched beside Evelyn.
“Are you hurt?”
“My pride.”
“I can live with that.”
“You almost killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
His eyes held hers.
“Because I finally found something I want more than revenge.”
Before she could answer, an explosion thundered from the far side of the warehouse.
Victor had installed a second trigger.
Fire raced across the loading area.
Dominic turned.
“Mom!”
Eleanor was trapped behind a fallen steel beam.
Dominic ran toward her.
The ceiling began collapsing.
May you like
Evelyn screamed his name.
And then the entire warehouse disappeared behind fire.
