Chapter 7 - The body had never been identified properly.I remembered that now.
My father had been burned beyond recognition.
Dental records had been used.
The police had called it conclusive.
My mother had accepted it because there had been no reason not to.
But there was one problem.
My father had two fillings.
The body had three.
I had noticed it at the funeral.
I had told myself grief was making me imagine things.
Now I knew better.
He had never died.
Someone had wanted us to believe he had.
Dominic arrived at the gym thirty minutes later.
He entered cautiously.
His eyes moved over the bodies.
Then landed on me.
“You found it.”
I held up the ledger.
“You knew he was alive?”
Dominic stopped.
That was answer enough.
I walked toward him.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“That's not the same.”
“No.”
“Say it.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
“Daniel contacted me two years ago.”
My blood turned cold.
“What?”
“He was alive.”
“You spoke to him?”
“Once.”
“You knew for two years?”
“I didn't know where he was.”
“You could have told us.”
“He told me not to.”
“Why?”
“He said everyone around him was compromised.”
“And you believed him.”
“Yes.”
“Even Vanessa?”
Dominic hesitated.
I saw it.
“You weren't sure.”
“No.”
“Who was the man in the photograph?”
Dominic studied it.
“I don't know.”
I laughed once.
It wasn't humor.
“That's your answer to everything.”
He ignored the insult.
“Where's Elias?”
“Escaped.”
Dominic looked at the ledger.
“Then he's going to disappear.”
“Not before we find him.”
My mother stepped between us.
“Avery.”
I turned.
She looked afraid.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Your father left a second message.”
I waited.
She reached into her coat.
Pulled out an old cassette tape.
My father's voice filled the room when we played it.
“Avery, if you're hearing this, they found the ledger.”
I couldn't breathe.
“You're going to think I betrayed Dominic.”
A pause.
“I didn't.”
My eyes moved toward Dominic.
His face was hard.
“My final payment was never money.”
“What?” I whispered.
The recording continued.
“It was access.”
“To what?”
“The organization that killed the people I loved.”
Then another voice spoke.
Female.
Vanessa.
My eyes widened.
She was on the recording.
Daniel continued.
“Vanessa knows more than she believes.”
The tape crackled.
Then:
“Elias is not the mastermind.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
A final sentence.
“It's the person sitting closest to the throne.”
The tape ended.
Silence.
I looked at Dominic.
“Who sits closest to your throne?”
He didn't answer.
Then his phone rang.
He checked the screen.
His face went blank.
“Who is it?”
He turned the screen toward me.
The caller ID said:
VANESSA.
He answered.
Her voice was shaking.
“Dominic.”
“Where are you?”
“Don't ask.”
“Vanessa.”
“Listen to me.”
A pause.
“I know who took your father.”
I leaned closer.
“Who?”
Vanessa said one name.
Then screamed.
The line went dead.
Dominic immediately ordered everyone to locate her.
Ten minutes later, we found her car abandoned beneath an overpass.
Her phone lay on the driver's seat.
Blood covered the steering wheel.
No body.
A message had been carved into the dashboard.
Three words.
THE QUEEN KNOWS.
Dominic stared at it.
I stared too.
“Queen?”
“It's a code.”
“For whom?”
He looked at the blood.
“Vanessa used to be called the Queen.”
“By who?”
“Your father.”
I remembered the photograph.
Vanessa beside Daniel.
Not Dominic.
Daniel.
Why?
Before we could answer, the ledger began vibrating.
I looked down.
There was a hidden phone embedded inside the cover.
It rang once.
Then stopped.
A text appeared.
MIDNIGHT. HOTEL SAINT CLAIR.
Then another.
COME ALONE, AVERY.
I looked at Dominic.
“No.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You didn't even read the message.”
“I don't need to.”
“I'm going.”
“So am I.”
“It says alone.”
“I don't care.”
The next message arrived.
IF DOMINIC COMES, YOUR MOTHER DIES.
My mother looked at me.
Dominic looked at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally, Dominic said:
“You'll go.”
“Yes.”
“And I'll stay away.”
“Yes.”
He looked at the ledger.
Then at me.
“But Avery…”
“What?”
“If you see a man with a silver ring…”
He stopped.
“Run.”
“Why?”
May you like
Dominic's expression was the most frightened I had seen it.
“Because that man is the only person I have ever feared.”
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