Chapter 4 - The Second Time
Claire wanted to confront Wade immediately.
Dorian refused.
“No.”
Claire stared at him across the café.
“You do understand you don’t control me.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop saying no like you do.”
“You can confront him.”
“Good.”
“I’m saying it would be stupid.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“That sounded very close to controlling.”
“It was an observation.”
“You’re irritating.”
“So I’ve heard.”
They stood twenty feet apart.
Everyone else had discovered fascinating reasons to avoid eye contact.
Claire planted both palms on the counter.
“My ex-husband has been working for the company trying to take my café.”
“Yes.”
“He had a key to my mother’s storage unit.”
“Yes.”
“And somebody searched it hours after you walked back into my life.”
“Yes.”
“So I’m going to ask him why.”
Dorian’s voice softened.
“And if he lies?”
“He lies beautifully. I was married to him.”
Toby coughed.
Bull whispered, “Don’t.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Claire pointed at Dorian.
“I’m going.”
“Fine.”
She blinked.
“Fine?”
“Yes.”
“That was suspiciously easy.”
“I’m going with you.”
“No.”
“Then we’re back where we started.”
Claire threw her hands up.
Petra stepped between them.
“Children.”
Both turned.
Petra smiled sweetly.
“Sorry.”
Maddie sat in a booth doing homework.
Without looking up, she said, “Mom is winning.”
Dorian glanced at her.
“Noted.”
They compromised.
Claire would call Wade.
Dorian’s people would trace the location.
Wade answered on the fourth ring.
“Claire?”
She hadn’t heard his voice in six weeks.
Too smooth.
Too familiar.
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“I need to see you.”
Pause.
“About Maddie?”
“No.”
Another pause.
“Then what?”
“The café.”
Silence.
Tiny.
Enough.
Claire’s stomach sank.
“What about it?”
“Orsini.”
Wade exhaled.
“Claire—”
“You work for them.”
No answer.
“Say something.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“I was trying to help you.”
Claire laughed.
It came out harsh.
“You always say that right before explaining something terrible.”
“Can we meet?”
“Yes.”
Dorian looked at her.
Claire held up one finger.
“Where?”
Wade named a diner in River North.
Dorian shook his head.
Claire ignored him.
“One hour.”
She hung up.
“No,” Dorian said.
“You agreed.”
“Not there.”
“Why?”
“Too exposed.”
“It’s a diner.”
“So was this place yesterday.”
Claire hated when he had a point.
Wade changed the location after Claire insisted.
They met at Pearl’s.
Dorian’s people disappeared from view.
Mostly.
Claire spotted Bull’s head behind a newspaper in the corner.
“You are the least subtle person I know,” she whispered.
“I’m reading.”
“The paper is upside down.”
Bull turned it.
Wade arrived at three fifteen.
He looked older than Claire remembered.
Thirty-eight.
Expensive jacket.
Perfect hair.
Same nervous habit of rubbing his thumb across his ring finger even though his wedding band had been gone for three years.
He saw Dorian.
Stopped.
Claire watched recognition hit.
Wade went pale.
“Claire.”
“Sit.”
He sat.
Dorian stayed at the counter.
Wade glanced toward him.
“You know who that is?”
“Yes.”
“Do you?”
Claire leaned forward.
“Tell me about Orsini.”
Wade closed his eyes.
“I took a consulting job.”
“Doing what?”
“Property acquisition.”
“My property?”
“Not initially.”
“Initially.”
He looked at her.
“They wanted the block.”
“You knew I wouldn’t sell.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“They asked me to talk sense into you.”
“Sense.”
“They offered more than the place is worth.”
Claire laughed.
“Two hundred forty thousand dollars for a building worth almost nine hundred.”
Wade looked startled.
“You know?”
“I can use Zillow, Wade.”
Dorian almost smiled.
Wade rubbed his face.
“They told me the building had structural issues.”
“So you believed them?”
“At first.”
“At first.”
Claire’s voice dropped.
“What happened after that?”
Wade looked toward Dorian again.
“Vincent started asking about your parents.”
Dorian straightened.
“What questions?”
Wade swallowed.
“Whether Claire still had their papers.”
Claire felt cold.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Dorian spoke.
“You’re lying.”
Wade flinched.
Claire looked between them.
“Wade.”
“I don’t know everything.”
“What do you know?”
Wade’s hands trembled.
“They were looking for something Daniel had.”
Claire’s heart thudded.
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Dorian stood.
The room changed.
“Whose ledger?” he asked.
Wade’s face drained.
“Vittorio Ferrante’s.”
Dorian crossed the room slowly.
Wade pressed back into the chair.
Claire moved between them.
“Don’t.”
Dorian stopped.
Wade stared at her.
“You have no idea who you’re protecting me from.”
“I’m protecting myself from having blood cleaned off my floor.”
Dorian looked offended.
“I wasn’t going to hit him.”
Bull folded his newspaper.
“He wasn’t.”
Claire stared at Bull.
“That was not comforting.”
Wade laughed nervously.
Then Dorian asked, “Why does Orsini want the ledger?”
“Because it proves Vincent’s father and Vittorio were working together.”
“On what?”
Wade looked at Claire.
“The attack in 2001.”
Silence.
Dorian’s face hardened.
Claire whispered, “The night my parents found you.”
“Yes.”
Wade nodded.
“And 2007?”
Wade’s eyes moved toward the table.
Dorian understood.
“Say it.”
“I think Vittorio ordered the crash.”
Claire’s hand flew to her mouth.
Dorian didn’t move.
“Daniel saw something,” Wade continued. “Something that night. Vincent’s father spent years trying to figure out what.”
“My dad took the ledger?”
“I think he did.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“Apparently that’s everybody’s favorite answer.”
Wade leaned forward.
“I swear.”
“Then why break into the storage unit?”
His eyes widened.
“I didn’t.”
“You had a key.”
“I gave it back after Pearl died.”
“No.”
“I did.”
“To who?”
Wade frowned.
“Your lawyer.”
Claire froze.
“My lawyer?”
“Jonathan Pell.”
Dorian turned toward Mason.
“Check him.”
Mason left immediately.
Claire felt sick.
Jonathan Pell had handled her mother’s estate.
He had also recommended she consider the Orsini offer.
Pieces clicked together.
Ugly pieces.
Dorian looked at Wade.
“Anything else?”
Wade hesitated.
Claire saw it.
“Tell me.”
“There was one more thing Vincent asked about.”
“What?”
“Your basement.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“My basement?”
“He kept asking if your father renovated after 2007.”
Claire looked toward the floor.
The basement.
The same place Daniel and Pearl had hidden seventeen-year-old Dorian.
Dorian saw her expression.
“What?”
Claire whispered, “My father rebuilt part of the basement after the fire inspection in 2008.”
“After he died?”
“Mom did. She said it was something Dad had already planned.”
They moved fast.
Bull locked the front door.
Mason returned.
“Pell’s office is empty.”
Dorian’s jaw tightened.
“Phone?”
“Off.”
Claire led them downstairs.
The basement smelled of dust and old coffee.
Shelves lined one wall.
A freezer sat dead in the corner.
Dorian walked slowly.
“This was different.”
“You remember?”
“I spent eleven hours down here bleeding. Yes.”
Claire almost apologized.
Didn’t.
He stopped near the back wall.
“That wasn’t here.”
A section of paneling covered the concrete.
Claire stared.
“My mother put shelves there.”
Bull moved them.
Behind the paneling, one concrete block looked newer than the others.
Dorian reached for it.
Claire grabbed his wrist.
“My father’s wall.”
He looked at her.
Then stepped aside.
Claire pulled the block herself.
Inside was a narrow metal compartment.
Empty.
She stared.
Someone had already found it.
“No.”
Dorian crouched.
Fresh dust marked the floor.
“The storage unit was a diversion.”
Claire’s phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Maddie leaving school two days earlier.
Claire stopped breathing.
Another message followed.
YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO US.
Then:
SELL THE CAFE.
Dorian read over her shoulder.
His entire expression vanished.
No anger.
No fear.
Nothing.
That frightened Claire more.
“They photographed my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I want her somewhere safe.”
“She will be.”
Claire grabbed his sleeve.
“No killing anyone.”
His eyes met hers.
“I heard you the first time.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
From upstairs came the sound of breaking glass.
Everybody froze.
Bull drew a weapon.
Dorian pushed Claire behind him.
Mason ran for the stairs.
Then a voice shouted:
“Fire!”
Smoke rolled down from the café.
Claire screamed one name.
May you like
“Maddie!”
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