Chapter 3 - What Clare Never Told Him
Dominic ordered the doors locked.
Not because Clare was a prisoner.
Because suddenly, she might be in danger.
“Where is Ethan?”
Clare shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“When did you last see him?”
“Three years ago.”
“What happened?”
“He left.”
“That’s not enough.”
“It’s all I have.”
Dominic leaned against his desk.
His new brace felt different.
Less pressure.
Less burning.
For the first time in weeks, he could stand without feeling as if something were cutting into his calf.
It made him angrier.
Someone had intentionally interfered with his recovery.
And now the housekeeper standing before him was connected to a six-year-old mystery involving his supposedly dead brother.
“Tell me everything.”
Clare looked at Ellie.
“Not in front of her.”
Dominic nodded toward Vincent.
“Take Ellie to the kitchen.”
Clare immediately stiffened.
“No.”
Dominic understood.
“Then Vincent stays here. Maria can take her.”
Maria, the estate’s elderly cook, appeared moments later.
Ellie trusted her.
Only after Clare watched her daughter disappear did she begin.
She met Ethan Rowan eight years earlier.
He had been brilliant, awkward, and kind.
He designed rehabilitation equipment for Vale Medical.
Ethan rarely discussed work.
Then something changed.
He became anxious.
He started checking windows.
Changing passwords.
Waking at night.
“He told me he'd discovered something inside the company,” Clare said.
“What?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“He said knowing would put me in danger.”
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“When did this start?”
“About six months before Gabriel disappeared.”
Dominic felt something cold settle in his chest.
Clare continued.
“One night Ethan came home terrified. He packed a bag.”
“What did he say?”
“That someone had found out.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn't tell me.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“And then?”
“He kissed me and left.”
“You never saw him again?”
Clare looked away.
“Once.”
Dominic waited.
“Three years later.”
“Where?”
“At a train station.”
“What did he want?”
“To see Ellie.”
Dominic stared.
“He knew he had a daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he stay?”
“Because he said people were still looking for him.”
“Which people?”
Clare's voice cracked.
“He said the Vale family.”
Silence filled the study.
Dominic looked toward the windows.
For six years he had believed Ethan betrayed his company.
For six years he had believed Gabriel tried to expose him and died because of it.
What if the story had been reversed?
Vincent returned with a folder.
“Boss.”
He placed it down.
Ethan Rowan's personnel record.
Dominic opened it.
Biomedical engineer.
Thirty-two at disappearance.
Specialty: adaptive orthopedic systems.
Dominic slowly looked toward his brace.
“Adaptive orthopedic systems.”
Vincent understood.
“You think whoever altered your brace used Ethan’s research?”
“Maybe.”
They spent the next three hours rebuilding a timeline.
At 11:08 p.m., Vincent discovered the first contradiction.
Gabriel’s plane had supposedly departed from Chicago Executive Airport at 7:40 p.m.
But security footage showed Ethan Rowan entering Vale Medical’s research building at 8:12.
Gabriel’s credential entered the same building fourteen minutes later.
The two men had been together after Gabriel was supposedly already aboard the aircraft.
“That means the flight record was falsified,” Vincent said.
Dominic stared at the timestamps.
“Or Gabriel wasn’t on the plane.”
Another discovery followed.
Insurance records.
The plane had been owned by a shell corporation.
The corporation traced back to Arthur Voss.
Dominic sat silently.
Arthur had been Gabriel’s mentor.
Arthur had organized the funeral.
Arthur had identified the personal belongings recovered from the crash.
Arthur had comforted Dominic’s mother.
Arthur had stood beside Dominic at the grave.
Clare watched Dominic's face.
“You trusted him.”
“For twenty-four years.”
At midnight, Ellie wandered into the study holding a blanket.
“Mommy?”
Clare immediately lifted her.
“You should be asleep.”
Ellie rubbed her eyes.
Dominic watched mother and daughter.
Something unfamiliar moved through him.
His house had contained hundreds of people over the years.
Employees.
Associates.
Politicians.
Executives.
Security.
But rarely children.
Rarely anything innocent.
Ellie pointed toward Dominic’s brace.
“Does it hurt?”
“Less now.”
“Because we fixed it.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“Because you fixed it.”
She seemed satisfied.
Then she noticed the photograph of Ethan lying on the desk.
“Daddy.”
Every adult froze.
Clare closed her eyes.
Ellie reached toward the picture.
“Daddy has that coat.”
Dominic looked at Clare.
“You said you haven't seen him in three years.”
“I haven't.”
Ellie frowned.
“I saw Daddy.”
Clare stared at her daughter.
“When?”
Ellie pointed toward the window.
“Rain day.”
Clare’s face drained.
“What rain day?”
“When you were upstairs.”
Dominic crouched slowly despite his leg.
“Where did you see him, Ellie?”
She pointed toward the rear of the estate.
“By the trees.”
Vincent immediately reached for his radio.
“When?”
Ellie thought carefully.
“Two sleeps.”
Two nights earlier.
Security teams moved through the grounds.
Dominic stayed with Clare and Ellie.
Twenty-seven minutes later, Vincent returned.
He carried something.
A small plastic case covered in mud.
It had been hidden beneath a loose stone near the garden wall.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a handwritten note.
Dominic recognized the handwriting.
He had seen it on hundreds of engineering reports.
Ethan Rowan.
The note contained only eight words.
IF ELLIE FOUND THE BRACE, ARTHUR KNOWS SHE EXISTS.
Below it was another line.
DO NOT TRUST THE DOCTOR. DO NOT TRUST SAMUEL.
Dominic read it twice.
Then a third time.
His phone rang.
Samuel Greer.
Dominic answered.
“Where are you?”
Samuel sounded breathless.
“Dominic, listen carefully.”
“What happened?”
“You need to get Clare Rowan and her daughter out of the estate.”
Dominic’s eyes moved toward Clare.
“Why?”
A pause.
Then Samuel whispered:
“Because Gabriel Vale is alive.”
Dominic’s grip tightened.
Samuel continued.
“And he’s coming for the child tonight.”
May you like
The line went dead.
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