Chapter 4 - The Secret Dominic Buried
Dominic did not sleep that night.
Neither did Ava.
At three in the morning they sat across from each other in the library while rain traced the windows.
Eli slept upstairs.
Rosa had been told only that security needed to be increased.
Ava watched Dominic turn his wedding ring between his fingers.
He no longer wore it.
He kept it on a chain hidden beneath his shirt.
“Her name was Elena,” he finally said.
Ava waited.
“Elena Moretti before we married.”
“Eli’s mother.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Car accident.”
“That’s the official story.”
Dominic looked up.
Ava understood.
“And the real one?”
“She was afraid.”
“Of you?”
The question hurt him.
Ava saw it.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“My uncle Vincent.”
Dominic leaned back.
“Elena discovered financial records after the warehouse fire. She believed Vincent had been stealing money.”
“The same money Martin Vale discovered?”
“Yes.”
“Did she have proof?”
“She said she did.”
“What did you do?”
“I told her I would handle it.”
Ava’s laugh contained no humor.
“Those might be the six most dangerous words a husband can say.”
Dominic accepted that.
“She didn’t trust me to act quickly enough.”
“So she investigated alone.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She arranged to meet someone.”
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
“She died that night?”
Dominic nodded.
Ava felt sick.
“Accident?”
“That’s what police concluded.”
“And you believed them?”
“No.”
“Then why tell Eli that?”
“Because he was three.”
“And now?”
“Now I don’t know how to tell my son that someone may have killed his mother.”
Ava’s anger softened.
For the first time, Dominic wasn’t a feared man sitting across from her.
He was simply Eli’s father.
A man who had failed to solve the worst night of his life.
“What happened to Vincent?”
“I confronted him two years later.”
“Did he confess?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“He suffered a heart attack six months afterward.”
“So you never knew.”
“No.”
Ava stood and walked toward the window.
“Maybe Jamie saw the same person Elena discovered.”
“That’s what I’m beginning to think.”
“And Sebastian?”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“He was involved in everything.”
“Your attorney.”
“My father’s attorney before mine.”
“Why would he target Eli now?”
“I don’t know.”
A phone buzzed.
Ava checked hers.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Her apartment.
The wooden box was sitting on her bed.
Beneath the photograph:
YOU WANT JAMIE’S TRUTH? COME ALONE.
Then an address.
Ava recognized it instantly.
Lavella.
11:00 a.m.
The restaurant would be closed between breakfast preparation and lunch service.
Dominic took the phone.
“You’re not going.”
“Obviously I’m going.”
“No.”
“Someone has Jamie’s belongings.”
“And someone wants you inside an empty restaurant.”
“Yes.”
“Which should concern you.”
“It does.”
“Apparently not enough.”
Ava crossed her arms.
“You’ve spent years surrounding yourself with people who obey you.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I’m beginning to understand why.”
“And I’ve spent seven years waiting for answers.”
“You won’t get answers if you’re dead.”
Ava stared.
Dominic immediately regretted saying it.
But neither apologized.
At ten forty-five, Ava entered Lavella.
Alone.
At least, that was what whoever had sent the message was supposed to believe.
Dominic had agreed only after Ava accepted that two of his security people would remain outside.
The dining room looked strange without guests.
Chairs aligned perfectly.
Crystal glasses upside down.
The grand piano closed.
“Ava?”
She turned.
Gerald emerged from the service corridor.
“What are you doing here?”
“You texted me.”
“Yes, about the locker. Police already—”
A sound came from the private dining room.
Ava looked toward it.
“Is someone here?”
Gerald frowned.
“Not that I know of.”
Ava walked slowly toward table nine.
The table where she had met Eli.
The wooden box sat in the center.
Her breath caught.
She approached.
Everything appeared untouched.
Jamie’s photographs.
Hospital bracelet.
Newspaper clipping.
And something else.
A flash drive.
Ava picked it up.
Behind her, someone said:
“I wondered how long it would take Dominic to tell you about Elena.”
Sebastian Crane.
He stood near the doorway.
Perfect gray suit.
Silver hair.
Friendly smile.
“Mr. Crane.”
“Ava.”
“You knew Jamie.”
His smile disappeared.
“I knew of him.”
“You knew my name before we met.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
Gerald gasped behind her.
Sebastian looked almost offended.
“No.”
“Did Vincent?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Sebastian looked toward Gerald.
The maître d’ backed away.
“I should—”
“You should stay,” Sebastian said.
The politeness in his voice frightened Ava.
Gerald stopped.
Sebastian returned his attention to Ava.
“Your brother made a mistake.”
“He saw something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Sebastian nodded toward the flash drive.
“Everything you need is there.”
“Why give it to me?”
“I didn’t.”
Ava froze.
“What?”
Sebastian’s expression changed.
“That drive wasn’t in the box when it left your apartment.”
A noise came from the kitchen.
Dominic entered.
Ava spun.
“You said you’d stay outside.”
“I lied.”
“This is why I don’t trust you.”
“Complain later.”
Sebastian smiled.
“Dominic.”
“Sebastian.”
The two men looked at each other with twenty years of history between them.
Dominic pointed at the drive.
“What is it?”
Sebastian answered first.
“I don’t know.”
Ava frowned.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
Then Gerald began backing toward the kitchen.
Dominic noticed.
“Gerald.”
The maître d’ stopped.
His face had gone pale.
Ava understood before anyone spoke.
“You put it there.”
Gerald shook his head.
“No.”
“Gerald.”
“I had no choice.”
Sebastian stared at him.
“What did you do?”
Gerald began crying.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
He looked at Ava.
“Your brother gave it to my father seven years ago.”
Ava’s world tilted.
“What?”
“My father worked at the warehouse.”
“Why didn’t he go to police?”
“He was terrified.”
Gerald pointed toward the drive.
“Jamie told him if anything happened, give that to someone he trusted.”
Ava could barely speak.
“Why wait seven years?”
“Because my father died last month.”
Gerald wiped his face.
“He told me where it was before he died.”
“Why put it in my box?”
“Because someone was watching me.”
Dominic took the drive.
“Who?”
Gerald looked directly at Sebastian.
Ava’s heart stopped.
Sebastian shook his head.
“You’re mistaken.”
“No,” Gerald whispered.
“I saw him.”
“Who?”
Gerald swallowed.
“The man who followed Jamie the night he died.”
Then he spoke a name nobody expected.
May you like
“Dominic’s father.”
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