Chapter 4 - The Carter Tournament had been the beginning of everything.And the night I disappeared was the night someone tried to kill my father.
I had never told anyone the complete story.
Not my mother.
Not the police.
Not even myself.
Because remembering meant admitting something I had spent eight years avoiding.
I had seen my father die.
Dominic sat across from me inside the SUV as rain hammered the roof.
His men were checking the warehouse.
The scarred man had escaped.
So had the others.
I stared through the window.
“Tell me what you know.”
Dominic was silent.
“Now.”
He leaned back.
“Eight years ago, your father contacted me.”
“Why?”
“He believed someone was moving money through my company.”
“Someone inside your organization.”
“Yes.”
“He suspected someone.”
“Several people.”
“Names?”
Dominic shook his head.
“He never gave me all of them.”
“You knew he was in danger.”
“Yes.”
My voice became colder.
“And you let him die.”
Dominic didn't defend himself.
That surprised me.
“I tried to stop it.”
“How?”
“I sent men to protect him.”
“They failed.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because the people responsible were still alive.”
I stared at him.
“You were afraid?”
“For your mother.”
That answer hurt more than I expected.
He continued.
“Your father knew they were watching your family.”
“Who?”
Dominic looked away.
“I don't know.”
“That's not good enough.”
“No.”
He reached into the glove compartment.
Pulled out another photograph.
It showed my father outside a hotel.
Standing beside Vanessa.
I froze.
“No.”
Dominic watched my reaction.
“This was taken three months before Daniel died.”
“Why was she with him?”
“I don't know.”
I grabbed the picture.
On the back was a date.
The same week Vanessa had first met Dominic.
My mind raced.
“You said she didn't know anything.”
“I said nothing like that.”
I looked at him.
“Then what are you saying?”
“That I don't trust her.”
I remembered the mansion.
Her expression when Dominic mentioned my father.
The fear in her eyes.
The sudden panic.
“What if she knows where the second key is?”
Dominic's phone rang.
One of his men spoke urgently.
“Boss, there's a problem.”
“What?”
“We found the scarred man's phone.”
“And?”
“The final message wasn't sent from the warehouse.”
“Where?”
A pause.
Then:
“Your mansion.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
The second key wasn't somewhere in the house.
Someone had been inside.
Someone who knew about it.
Someone close enough to watch us.
We returned to the estate.
Security had doubled.
But Dominic didn't trust his own people.
Neither did I.
We entered through a side corridor.
I noticed something immediately.
A photograph on the wall had been moved.
I touched the frame.
Behind it was a thin crack in the wall.
A hidden compartment.
Dominic pulled the frame aside.
Empty.
Except for one strip of red cloth.
My stomach dropped.
I recognized it.
My father's training jacket.
The one he wore the night he died.
I reached for it.
A voice came from behind us.
“Looking for this?”
Vanessa stood at the end of the corridor.
She wore a dark coat.
No jewelry.
No makeup.
She looked nothing like the spoiled woman from the party.
Her hands were shaking.
“Where did you get that?”
She held a black envelope.
“Your father gave it to me.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to survive.”
“You used Avery.”
“I didn't know who she was.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“I swear.”
I didn't believe her.
“Tell me everything.”
She swallowed.
“Daniel came to me six months before he died.”
“Why?”
“He knew Dominic was watching the wrong people.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Who was he talking about?”
“Your board.”
Silence.
Vanessa continued.
“There was money missing from three companies. Millions.”
“Where did it go?”
“Offshore accounts.”
“Whose?”
She looked at Dominic.
Then at me.
“That was the problem.”
She handed me the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
A list of names.
Seven.
I recognized three.
They were people who attended Vanessa's birthday party.
My blood ran cold.
One name was circled.
ELIAS VALE.
Dominic went pale.
I noticed.
“Who is he?”
Dominic didn't answer.
Vanessa did.
“His lawyer.”
Dominic's most trusted legal adviser.
The man who had controlled every major business transaction for years.
The man who had access to every account.
The man who had been standing ten feet away from us at the party.
I looked at Dominic.
“You've been sleeping beside the enemy.”
His expression hardened.
Then a gunshot cracked through the mansion.
Vanessa screamed.
Dominic shoved me down.
A security guard collapsed at the end of the corridor.
Another gunshot.
Glass shattered.
Dominic drew his weapon.
I moved toward the fallen guard.
He grabbed my wrist.
“Don't.”
I looked at him.
The guard's lips moved.
“Second key…”
His eyes rolled back.
He was dead.
Dominic looked toward the upstairs balcony.
A shadow moved.
I ran.
Dominic shouted my name.
I ignored him.
The figure disappeared through a door.
I followed.
Inside was Dominic's private office.
On the desk sat a small metal case.
Two locks.
One keyhole.
And on top of the case was a photograph of my father.
The words beneath it stopped me cold.
SHE KNOWS WHERE THE BODY IS.
I slowly turned.
Vanessa was standing in the doorway.
May you like
She was crying.
And in her hand was the second key.
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