Chapter 14 - “Dominic!”My voice echoed through the vault.
Nothing.
I ran toward the door.
Locked.
Elias stood behind me.
“You'll get him back.”
“Where is he?”
“Alive.”
“You swear?”
“I don't swear.”
I turned.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
Elias smiled.
“I expect you to hate me.”
“Why?”
“Because hate makes people decisive.”
He walked toward the table.
He opened the largest ledger.
“Do you know why your father hid this?”
“Because it could destroy you.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Because it could destroy everyone.”
He flipped through the pages.
Names.
Payments.
Deaths.
Orders.
Every page was worse than the last.
I recognized politicians.
Judges.
Police chiefs.
Media executives.
One name shocked me.
The senator who had attended my college graduation.
Another.
The judge who handled my father's estate.
Then I saw Mason's name.
I stared.
“Why is he here?”
Elias looked at me.
“He was always here.”
Mason stepped forward.
“What?”
Elias turned the page.
A transaction from eight years ago.
Payment to Mason.
Before I had ever met him.
Mason shook his head.
“No.”
Elias smiled.
“You thought your first meeting with Claire was accidental.”
Mason looked sick.
“I don't remember this.”
“You were seventeen.”
Elias tapped the page.
“Your father needed someone to watch her.”
Mason stared at me.
“I didn't know.”
“You didn't need to.”
Elias closed the ledger.
“Everyone around Claire was chosen.”
I looked at Adrian.
“My brother?”
“Chosen.”
“My mother?”
“Chosen.”
“Dominic?”
Elias's smile disappeared.
“Dominic was the only one who chose.”
I looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Elias answered.
“He was ordered to kill your father.”
“But he didn't.”
“No.”
“He protected him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did my father tell me to trust him?”
“Because your father knew Dominic had one weakness.”
“What?”
Elias looked at me.
“You.”
The vault shook.
A sound came from above.
Explosions.
Elias looked up.
“They're coming.”
“Who?”
“Everyone your father betrayed.”
The vault door opened.
Police stormed in.
But they weren't here to arrest Elias.
They aimed at us.
“Hands up!”
Elias smiled.
“See?”
I looked at Mason.
He understood.
“They've been paid.”
Adrian reached for his gun.
“No.”
I stopped him.
“What?”
“Put it down.”
Everyone looked at me.
I stepped toward the center of the room.
“I want to make a deal.”
The lead officer laughed.
“With who?”
I looked at the ledger.
“With everyone.”
I opened it.
“Every name in this book is going public.”
The officers froze.
Elias stared at me.
“You wouldn't.”
“I will.”
“You'll destroy the entire city.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at him.
“But I'll survive.”
He smiled.
“There she is.”
Then someone behind the officers fired.
The lead officer collapsed.
Chaos erupted.
Dominic appeared at the far end of the vault.
Blood covered his face.
He had escaped.
He fired twice.
The remaining officers scattered.
Marlowe's son rushed to him.
“Dad!”
Marlowe was still alive.
Ana grabbed Adrian.
“Go!”
We ran.
Dominic reached me.
“You all right?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He grabbed my hand.
“We need to leave.”
Elias stood at the vault entrance.
He didn't chase us.
He simply smiled.
That frightened me.
We reached the upper floor.
Outside, sirens filled the streets.
The sky was beginning to turn gray.
I thought it was over.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
YOU WON THE CASINO.
A second.
NOW CLAIM THE EMPIRE.
A third.
An attached photograph.
Dominic and me.
Standing beside the roulette table.
Taken hours before we met.
I stared.
Someone had known exactly when I would approach him.
Below the photograph was one final message.
THE STRANGER WAS NEVER A STRANGER.
I looked at Dominic.
He knew.
“What is it?”
I turned my phone toward him.
He read the message.
His expression changed.
“Claire…”
“What?”
He looked toward the casino entrance.
There stood a woman in a white coat.
Watching us.
I recognized her immediately.
She was the blonde woman who had walked into the casino with Mason.
The one wearing diamonds.
The one who had watched everything from across the room.
She removed her sunglasses.
Then she smiled.
Mason went pale.
“Who is she?”
He whispered:
“My sister.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“No.”
Mason looked at him.
“You know her?”
Dominic stared at the woman.
“I thought she was dead.”
The woman smiled.
Then she spoke.
“Hello, Dominic.”
She looked at me.
“Hello, Claire.”
And then she held up a photograph.
A photograph of my father.
Standing beside Elias.
With a newborn baby in his arms.
My baby.
My brother.
But the baby wasn't Adrian.
The photograph showed another child.
A second secret.
A second heir.
May you like
The woman smiled.
“You were never the only one.”
