Chapter 5 - THE DEAD MAN'S ACCOUNT
Three days later, Dominic woke in Massachusetts General Hospital with Elena asleep in a chair beside him.
He watched her for several seconds.
Her hair had fallen across her cheek.
She still wore the inexpensive black shoes she cleaned houses in.
A billionaire's private security team stood outside the room.
Federal agents occupied the hallway.
And the person Dominic trusted most was a woman who had originally entered his life carrying bleach and rubber gloves.
His movement woke her.
“You're staring.”
“Occupational habit.”
“You own casinos.”
“I watch people.”
“That's less reassuring.”
He smiled.
Elena checked his temperature.
Dominic caught her wrist gently.
“You're not my nurse.”
“No.”
“You've done enough.”
“Also true.”
“Then why are you still here?”
Elena hesitated.
Because leaving felt strangely impossible.
Instead she said, “Mrs. Crane asked me to stay.”
“Coward.”
She looked offended.
Dominic's smile widened.
It was the first time she realized he could be funny.
The moment ended when Samuel entered carrying a sealed envelope.
“Marcus wants to talk.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“No.”
“He says your father is alive.”
Silence.
Dominic sat up too quickly.
Pain flashed across his face.
“My father died eleven years ago.”
Samuel placed photographs on the bed.
Victor Crane entering a private clinic in Switzerland.
Victor boarding a yacht.
Victor sitting beside a man Dominic recognized as Thomas Vale, former chief financial officer of Crane Holdings.
Dates.
All recent.
Dominic stared.
His father's funeral had been closed-casket after a boating accident.
There had been DNA confirmation.
A death certificate.
Everything.
Except apparently a dead man.
Marcus had discovered the truth six months earlier.
Victor had staged his death.
Then spent eleven years quietly moving money through businesses owned by his sons.
Why?
Control.
Victor Crane had never trusted either son to build the empire without him.
So he disappeared and watched.
When Dominic began cleaning the company and shutting down illegal operations, Victor lost access to millions.
Marcus had discovered him.
Instead of exposing Victor, Marcus made a deal.
Then the deal collapsed.
Marcus kidnapped Dominic to seize control before Victor could reclaim it.
The brothers had been fighting each other while their father manipulated both.
Dominic looked physically sick.
Elena understood.
The basement had not begun with Marcus.
It had begun decades earlier in a house where one boy was worshipped and another discarded.
Victor had simply found a way to keep hurting them after his supposed death.
Federal investigators wanted Dominic's cooperation.
He gave it.
For two weeks, evidence accumulated.
Elena returned to normal life.
Or tried.
She cleaned apartments.
Picked Noah up from school.
Bought groceries.
Pretended she had not recently crawled through a drainage tunnel while armed men chased her.
Then one afternoon, a black SUV stopped outside her building.
Elena froze.
Dominic stepped out.
He wore a dark coat and looked irritatingly healthy.
Noah was beside Elena.
The boy stared.
“Mom, is that the basement guy?”
Dominic stopped.
Elena slowly turned toward her son.
“How do you know about the basement guy?”
“You talk in your sleep.”
Dominic coughed to hide a laugh.
Elena glared at both of them.
Noah walked directly to Dominic.
“Are you mafia?”
“Noah!”
“What? Mrs. Patterson said rich people don't get chained in basements unless they're mafia or spies.”
Dominic crouched.
“Your mother is going to have a conversation with Mrs. Patterson.”
“Are you?”
Dominic considered the question.
“My family has done things I'm not proud of.”
Noah nodded solemnly.
“So mafia.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Dominic laughed.
It was genuine.
That evening, Dominic ate spaghetti in Elena's tiny apartment.
He had probably eaten meals costing thousands.
Yet Elena noticed how slowly he ate Noah's garlic bread.
Like he was memorizing normality.
After Noah went to bed, Dominic stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes.
“You don't have to do that.”
“You saved my life.”
“So you're washing dishes?”
“I owe interest.”
Elena smiled.
Then Dominic became serious.
“Come work for me.”
She stiffened.
“No.”
“You didn't hear the job.”
“I don't need charity.”
“It isn't.”
He offered to pay for her to complete nursing school while working with the Crane Foundation's community health program.
Elena stared.
“You researched me.”
“I had to make sure Marcus hadn't left threats around you.”
“And accidentally found my college transcripts?”
“Very thorough security.”
She should have been angry.
Instead, tears burned unexpectedly behind her eyes.
She had not allowed herself to think about nursing school in years.
Dominic saw her expression.
“You saved a man with supplies from a cleaning bag. Imagine what you could do with the right resources.”
Before Elena could answer, Dominic's phone rang.
Samuel.
Dominic listened.
His face changed.
“When?”
He hung up.
“What happened?”
“Marcus was attacked in federal custody.”
“Is he alive?”
“Barely.”
“Who did it?”
Dominic looked toward Noah's bedroom.
Then back at Elena.
“My father.”
A pause.
“And before Marcus lost consciousness, he gave the agents a message for me.”
“What message?”
May you like
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“He said Victor knows about you.”
