Chapter 6 - Five Million Reasons to Lie
Claire instinctively stepped backward.
Lily was still in her arms.
Dominic moved between Claire and Marcus so quickly that nobody questioned whether it was deliberate.
Marcus remained beside the table.
His weapon still lay untouched.
Adrian stared.
“You took five million dollars from Victor?”
“Yes.”
Dominic's voice was nearly emotionless.
“Explain very carefully.”
Marcus nodded.
“Victor contacted me through an encrypted number three weeks ago.”
“Three weeks?”
“Yes.”
“He knew about Claire?”
“Not then.”
“What did he want?”
“Information about your movements. Meetings. Travel. Security arrangements.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“And you agreed.”
“I told him I would.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“This keeps getting better.”
Marcus ignored him.
“I suspected someone inside the company was selling information. When Victor approached me, I decided to let him believe I could be bought.”
Dominic's stare never changed.
“You didn't tell me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't know how high it went.”
“That's your excuse?”
“No.”
Marcus met his eyes.
“It's my mistake.”
Dominic said nothing.
Marcus continued.
“Victor transferred five million into an offshore account he believed I controlled.”
“You kept it?”
“The account belongs to a federal task force.”
Daniel Reeves looked surprised.
“You're working with federal investigators?”
“Unofficially.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Which agency?”
Marcus named one.
Daniel's expression changed.
“I know the investigator.”
Dominic was still not convinced.
“Prove it.”
Marcus reached slowly into his jacket.
Adrian moved.
Marcus stopped.
“Phone.”
Dominic nodded.
Marcus removed it.
He entered a code and opened a secure message thread.
Dozens of communications with Victor.
Payments.
Instructions.
Photographs.
Dominic took the phone.
One message read:
Bennett's analyst has a copy. Keep her away from D.V.
Another:
If she reaches the penthouse, contain the situation.
Dominic looked up.
“Contain.”
Marcus nodded.
“I told Victor I would intercept her.”
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Sophia changed the plan without telling me.”
Sophia folded her arms.
“You were behaving strangely.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“You were right.”
She didn't smile back.
Marcus continued.
“When Claire arrived, I didn't know she was already upstairs. Victor assumed I did.”
Claire looked at him.
“So the threat about Lily?”
Marcus's face darkened.
“I received the same message.”
He showed them.
If Bennett leaves with the files, the child becomes leverage.
Claire went pale.
Dominic's anger sharpened.
“Why didn't you tell me immediately?”
“I was trying to locate whoever Victor had inside building security.”
Dominic understood.
“If you'd warned me, my reaction might have exposed you.”
“Yes.”
Dominic handed back the phone.
Then punched Marcus.
It happened once.
Fast.
Marcus stumbled into the wall.
Claire gasped.
Dominic's voice remained quiet.
“That was for deciding alone.”
Marcus wiped blood from his lip.
“Fair.”
Dominic pointed toward him.
“Never do it again.”
“Understood.”
Adrian stared.
“That's your version of forgiveness?”
“No.”
Dominic looked at Marcus.
“That comes later.”
Marcus picked up his badge but left the weapon on the table.
Claire finally exhaled.
Lily made a small unhappy sound.
Dominic immediately turned.
The anger disappeared from his face.
“You scared her.”
Claire stared.
“You just punched a man.”
“He deserved it.”
Marcus nodded.
“I did.”
“None of you are normal.”
Sophia sighed.
“I have been saying this for years.”
The tension broke just enough for everyone to breathe.
Then Daniel pointed toward Ethan's list.
“If Marcus was pretending to cooperate with Victor, maybe the other names aren't people Victor owns.”
Adrian looked at him.
“What else?”
“Targets. Informants. People being pressured.”
Dominic returned to the computer.
“Then we need to identify which.”
Claire sat with Lily.
Her mind kept returning to Ethan's face on the video.
Project Lighthouse.
A list of people Victor owned.
Or believed he owned.
“What did Ethan mean by Lighthouse?” she asked.
Adrian pulled out his father's note.
“There was a symbol in Dad's files.”
He drew a simple lighthouse shape on paper.
Claire's eyes narrowed.
“I've seen that.”
“Where?”
She opened the flash drive she had brought.
One vendor registration contained a tiny icon in the metadata.
The same symbol.
Dominic leaned closer.
“What is it?”
“A tag.”
“For what?”
Claire typed rapidly.
“Data classification.”
She searched across all copied files.
Seventy-three records appeared.
Each contained the lighthouse symbol.
“It's not a project,” Claire whispered.
“It's a category.”
Dominic watched.
Claire filtered the records.
Names appeared.
Payments.
Dates.
Private information.
Compromising photographs.
Debt records.
Medical expenses.
Legal settlements.
Dominic's expression grew colder.
“Victor collected leverage.”
“Yes.”
Claire opened a file attached to a government regulator.
His daughter had received an unexplained tuition payment.
Another name showed gambling debt.
Another contained evidence of an extramarital affair.
Adrian leaned against the desk.
“He blackmailed them.”
Daniel nodded.
“Or bought them.”
Dominic scrolled.
Then stopped.
One folder was labeled:
M.R.
Marcus Reed.
Inside was a single document.
An old military disciplinary report.
Marcus looked at it.
“I know what that is.”
Dominic glanced at him.
“Problem?”
“I disobeyed an order during deployment.”
“What happened?”
“I removed civilians from a building after being told to hold position.”
“Were you disciplined?”
“Yes.”
“Were civilians harmed?”
“No.”
Dominic closed the file.
“Then I don't care.”
Marcus gave a quiet laugh.
“Victor thought you would.”
“He misunderstands me.”
Claire looked at Dominic.
Victor did misunderstand him.
Perhaps everybody did.
The world believed Dominic cared primarily about control.
But Claire was beginning to realize the truth.
Dominic cared about loyalty.
There was a difference.
One could be purchased.
The other had to be earned.
Claire continued searching.
Then found another folder.
E.B.
Ethan Bennett.
Her hands stopped.
Dominic noticed.
“You don't have to open it.”
“Yes, I do.”
She clicked.
Photographs.
Ethan leaving work.
Ethan meeting Daniel.
Ethan entering a coffee shop.
Ethan's car.
Claire's house.
Then a photograph of Claire herself.
Pregnant?
No.
Taken earlier.
She was walking outside a pharmacy.
Claire felt sick.
“They were watching us.”
Dominic's face hardened.
Marcus moved closer.
“Look at the date.”
Two days before Ethan died.
Another file appeared.
A text message.
Bennett won't stop. Apply pressure.
No sender listed.
Claire covered her mouth.
Dominic read the metadata.
“Can we trace who wrote it?”
Claire nodded weakly.
“Maybe.”
Adrian opened another document.
A maintenance invoice.
Vehicle electronics inspection.
Ethan's license plate.
Silence.
Claire started crying.
Dominic crouched beside her.
“Claire.”
“They touched his car.”
“We don't know that yet.”
“Yes, we do.”
Her voice broke.
“Look at it.”
Dominic did.
The invoice was generated by a garage later revealed to be one of Victor's shell vendors.
Dominic felt rage.
But he kept his voice controlled.
“Forensics.”
Marcus nodded.
“I'll send the files.”
Claire looked at Dominic.
“He killed Ethan.”
Dominic didn't correct her.
Maybe because he believed it too.
Maybe because saying otherwise would have been cruel.
Lily reached toward Claire's face and touched a tear.
Claire pressed her daughter's hand to her cheek.
“He never got to meet her.”
Dominic looked away.
There were some griefs too private to witness directly.
Then Claire whispered, “He knew she might exist.”
Dominic looked back.
“Little Star.”
She nodded.
Lily babbled.
Dominic reached toward her.
Lily grabbed his finger.
Claire watched.
A strange thought entered her mind.
This child had lost a father before she was born.
And somehow, within less than two days, she had chosen the coldest man Claire had ever met as if she recognized something inside him nobody else could see.
Dominic stood.
“We end this.”
Adrian nodded.
“How?”
“Victor believes Marcus works for him.”
Marcus understood immediately.
“You want me to contact him.”
“Yes.”
“What do I say?”
Dominic looked at Claire.
Then at Ethan's drive.
“Tell him Claire is scared.”
Claire frowned.
“I am.”
“Tell him she wants a deal.”
Adrian smiled slowly.
“Bait.”
Dominic's eyes turned cold.
“No.”
He looked directly at Claire.
“Nobody uses her as bait.”
Claire stood.
“You don't get to decide.”
“Claire.”
“If pretending I'm willing to hand over the drive gets Victor to expose himself, I'm doing it.”
“No.”
“You said you were learning to compromise.”
“This isn't one.”
She stepped closer.
“My husband died because he found this.”
Dominic held her gaze.
“I know.”
“I spent two years believing it was meaningless.”
Her voice trembled.
“It won't be meaningless now.”
Dominic wanted to refuse.
He could force the issue.
Increase security.
Send her somewhere safe.
But he knew what it meant to live with unfinished grief.
His brother stood across the room because Dominic had once refused to listen.
He would not make the same mistake twice.
Finally, he nodded.
“Only if we control everything.”
Claire exhaled.
“Fine.”
Marcus contacted Victor.
The response came eight minutes later.
Tonight. 11 p.m. Pier 17. Claire alone. Drive in hand.
Dominic read it twice.
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“We agreed.”
“We agreed to control it.”
“We can.”
Dominic turned toward Marcus.
“Coverage?”
“Possible.”
“Exits?”
“Several.”
“Cameras?”
“Yes.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“I'll be nearby.”
Dominic shook his head.
“Victor knows you.”
“He thinks I'm working with him.”
“That makes you useful elsewhere.”
Claire looked between the brothers.
“So we're actually doing this.”
Dominic stared at the message.
Then at her.
“Yes.”
But at 10:43 that night, as Claire prepared to leave the penthouse, Sophia rushed into the room holding Lily's baby monitor.
“Dominic.”
Something in her voice made everyone turn.
“The camera in Lily's room just went dark.”
Dominic ran.
Claire followed.
The crib was empty.
For one impossible second, Claire couldn't understand what she was seeing.
Then she screamed.
“Lily!”
Dominic ripped open the closet.
Empty.
Bathroom.
Empty.
Marcus checked the window.
Locked.
Claire collapsed against the crib.
“No. No, no, no—”
Dominic's face became terrifyingly calm.
He turned toward the hallway.
Security had been inside the penthouse.
Every door was locked.
Every elevator monitored.
Yet Lily was gone.
Then Dominic's phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared.
Lily.
Alive.
Sitting on someone's lap.
Below it:
The meeting moved up.
Bring the drive.
And this time, come without Dominic.
Claire stared at the screen.
Dominic said nothing.
But everyone in the room understood.
Victor had just made the single mistake no amount of money could repair.
He had taken the child who had crawled into Dominic Valente's arms and trusted him without question.
May you like
And Dominic was going to bring her home.
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