Chapter 5 - The Face I Had Forgotten
Memory is cruel.
It can hide something important for weeks, then return it because of a smell, a voice, or one ordinary detail.
For me, it was a blue tie.
Rafael enlarged the scanned note.
Margaret’s handwriting shook slightly near the bottom.
IF I DIE, FIND NURSE CLARE BENNETT. SHE SAW HIM.
Dominic watched me.
“What do you remember?”
“Nothing useful.”
“Think.”
“I am thinking.”
I closed my eyes.
Room 614.
Margaret asleep.
Hallway quiet.
A man standing near the medication room.
I had noticed him because he wasn’t wearing hospital identification.
At the time I assumed he was family visiting another patient.
Dark coat.
Silver hair.
Blue tie.
He had turned away when I walked past.
My eyes opened.
“Oh my God.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What?”
“I saw someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe him.”
“Late fifties, maybe sixties. Expensive suit. Silver hair. Blue tie.”
Rafael looked at Dominic.
Neither spoke.
That told me enough.
“Anthony?”
Dominic pulled out his phone and showed me a photograph.
The man was smiling at a charity gala.
Silver hair.
Kind face.
Blue tie.
My stomach dropped.
“That’s him.”
Dominic’s entire body seemed to harden.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Completely?”
“I passed him twice.”
“What was he doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“I was working.”
“Clare.”
“I had six patients. I wasn’t investigating organized crime between medication rounds.”
His jaw tightened.
I immediately regretted the tone.
Not because I feared him.
Because I could see what this was costing him.
This wasn’t a stranger.
It was family.
Dominic turned away.
Rafael spoke carefully.
“Anthony attended the board dinner at Lakeview that night.”
I frowned.
“He’s on the board?”
“Through a foundation.”
Everything suddenly made sense.
Access.
Money.
Influence.
Kathryn.
Weber.
Dominic’s uncle didn’t need to sneak into Lakeview.
He was invited.
“What do we do?” Emily asked.
Dominic’s answer came immediately.
“Nothing.”
I stared.
“Nothing?”
“We watch.”
“Your brother almost died.”
“And if I move too early, Anthony knows we have evidence.”
“So you’re going to pretend?”
“I’m going to make him comfortable.”
I hated how easily he said it.
Then his phone rang.
This time, Anthony Romano himself was calling.
Dominic looked at the screen.
Everyone went silent.
He answered on speaker.
“Uncle.”
“Dominic.”
The voice was warm.
Friendly.
“Where are you?”
“Working.”
“At five in the morning?”
“You know me.”
Anthony chuckled.
“I heard about Luca.”
My hands went cold.
Dominic’s face remained perfectly still.
“What did you hear?”
“That there was trouble.”
“From whom?”
“Chicago talks.”
“That it does.”
“I’m worried about the boy.”
Boy.
Luca was twenty-three.
“Is he alive?”
Anthony asked.
A pause.
Dominic looked at me.
Then said, “No.”
My eyes widened.
Rafael did not react.
Anthony went silent.
Finally he whispered, “What?”
Dominic’s voice roughened in a way that sounded heartbreakingly real.
“He didn’t make it.”
“Oh, Dominic.”
“Not now.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You shouldn’t be alone.”
“I said no.”
Another pause.
Then Anthony sighed.
“I’m sorry.”
The call ended.
I stared at Dominic.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“To your uncle.”
“Yes.”
“He thinks Luca is dead.”
“That’s the idea.”
“What if he sends someone to verify?”
“He will.”
I looked toward Luca’s room.
“Then we need to move him.”
“We already are.”
Within twenty minutes, an ambulance arrived.
Not a city ambulance.
A private transport vehicle owned by a company Rafael trusted.
Luca was moved to another secure location outside the city.
Mercer went with him.
Before they left, I walked beside Luca’s stretcher.
His eyes opened.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere safer.”
“Dom?”
“He’s staying.”
Luca looked at me.
“Then you stay too.”
“I wasn’t planning—”
His fingers caught my wrist weakly.
“Clare.”
“Yes?”
“My brother doesn’t trust people.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“He trusts you.”
I glanced toward Dominic.
He was speaking to Rafael.
“I don’t think that’s true.”
“It is.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“He’s just terrible at knowing what to do with it.”
Then he was gone.
Later that morning, Dominic insisted I leave my apartment temporarily.
I refused.
Then a bullet shattered my kitchen window.
That ended the argument.
No one was inside when it happened.
We had returned only to collect clothes.
The shot cracked through the glass and buried itself in the cabinet behind where my head had been less than five seconds earlier.
Dominic pulled me to the floor.
Rafael’s men rushed outside.
The shooter vanished.
For several seconds, Dominic remained over me, one arm braced against the floor.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Clare.”
“I’m fine.”
His hand touched my cheek.
Just briefly.
Checking.
His expression changed.
Anger, yes.
But underneath it was something worse.
Fear.
Not for Luca.
For me.
The realization unsettled both of us.
He pulled back first.
“You’re coming with me.”
“Where?”
“My house.”
I stared at him.
“You have got to be kidding.”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
“You look like a man who’s used to kidnapping nurses.”
“That joke stopped being funny hours ago.”
“It’s getting funnier.”
Despite everything, he laughed.
One short, surprised sound.
Then the window glass shifted in the wind.
Reality returned.
I packed a bag.
Dominic lived in a mansion overlooking Lake Michigan.
Of course he did.
Stone walls.
Iron gates.
Security cameras.
More rooms than any reasonable person needed.
“What are you compensating for?” I asked.
He stared at me.
“The house.”
“Careful, Nurse Bennett.”
“You kidnapped the wrong woman.”
“That is becoming increasingly clear.”
He showed me a guest room.
My suitcase looked absurd beside the antique furniture.
“You’ll be safe here.”
“Are you?”
His expression changed.
“What?”
“If Anthony really tried to kill you, is this place safe for you?”
Dominic looked toward the lake.
“I’ve been difficult to kill for a long time.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then someone screamed downstairs.
We ran.
Rafael stood in the entry hall holding a man against the floor.
A young security guard.
One of Dominic’s own.
A cell phone had fallen from his pocket.
On the screen was a photograph.
Me.
Taken ten minutes earlier inside Dominic’s house.
The guard looked up.
Dominic’s face went cold.
“Who are you sending that to?”
The guard smiled.
Not at Dominic.
May you like
At me.
Then he whispered, “Dr. Weber says hello.”
