Chapter 7 - THE NAME THAT BROKE US
I stared at the name.
Dominic Vale.
My hands went cold.
Marcus immediately said, “Don't jump to conclusions.”
I looked at him.
“His name is right there.”
“I know.”
Dominic took the photograph.
He looked at the handwriting.
Then at me.
“Someone wants you to believe I ordered your mother's death.”
“Did you?”
His expression changed.
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
I stepped back.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I was sixteen when she died.”
I froze.
Sixteen.
Dominic stared at the photograph.
“My father was alive.”
I looked at Marcus.
He nodded.
“Dominic couldn't have ordered it.”
“Then why use his name?”
“Because someone knew you would trust him.”
I looked at Dominic.
That hurt.
“Or because someone knew I wouldn't.”
Dominic didn't argue.
Instead, he sat on the storage trunk.
For the first time, he looked exhausted.
“I don't blame you.”
“I didn't accuse you.”
“You thought it.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“You should.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“You should question everything.”
He pulled out his phone.
Displayed an old family photograph.
His father.
His mother.
Dominic.
Sofia.
And another man.
Frank.
But behind them stood someone else.
The man from my childhood memory.
I recognized him.
My breath caught.
“That's him.”
Dominic zoomed in.
The man was younger.
But unmistakable.
His name was Edward Vale.
Dominic's uncle.
Not Richard.
Another brother.
“I thought he was dead,” Dominic whispered.
Marcus looked at him.
“He disappeared after your father's death.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“Apparently, he didn't.”
I stared at the photograph.
Edward was wearing the gold watch.
The same watch that had appeared in every clue.
The watch wasn't Richard's.
It wasn't Frank's.
It belonged to Edward.
Suddenly the story changed.
Edward had been using Richard.
Frank had been taking orders from Edward.
And someone had manipulated my mother's death to look like a Vale family crime.
But why?
Dominic answered before I asked.
“Control.”
“What?”
“My father's companies.”
Marcus nodded.
“Edward believed he deserved them.”
“He couldn't have them while your father was alive.”
Dominic looked at me.
“And after my father died, he needed me isolated.”
“So Sofia?”
“She was leverage.”
My chest tightened.
“Then why kill her?”
“She found out.”
Dominic stood.
“She found Edward's accounts.”
I remembered my mother's diary.
The stolen money.
The security leaks.
The payment to Mara.
Everything connected.
But one thing still bothered me.
“My mother knew Edward.”
Dominic nodded.
“She probably knew him better than we did.”
“Then why didn't she name him?”
Marcus answered.
“Because she was protecting you.”
He opened the red ledger.
We had found it inside the church earlier that evening.
Pages of payments.
Names.
Dates.
But not one direct order.
Then I saw my mother's handwriting.
At the bottom of a page.
He has Elena.
I stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic read it.
His face changed.
Marcus looked at him.
“Who had her?”
“I don't know.”
I remembered being eight.
The black car.
The man with the watch.
My mother's voice.
Run.
I suddenly understood.
She hadn't told me to run from the man.
She had told me to run because someone had already found me.
Dominic looked at me.
“Elena.”
I couldn't breathe.
“I remember.”
“What?”
“The day my mother died.”
Silence.
“She didn't die immediately.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What do you remember?”
“She was in the car.”
“What else?”
“Someone pulled me out.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Where did he take you?”
“A church.”
Marcus's face changed.
“The same church.”
I nodded.
“There was a priest.”
“He protected you.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he tell anyone?”
“Because my mother asked him not to.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Everything connected.
My mother had known she was going to die.
She had arranged for me to disappear from the people hunting her.
The priest had hidden me.
My father had raised me away from Westchester.
And Sofia had known.
That was why her final message mentioned me.
I looked at Dominic.
“Your sister knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she find me?”
“Because she was protecting you.”
A long silence followed.
Then Marcus found something inside the ledger.
A pressed flower.
Under it was a tiny note.
When Elena returns, give her the house key.
Dominic stared.
“What house?”
I knew.
“My childhood home.”
The house had been sold after my father's death.
Or so I thought.
Dominic looked at Marcus.
“Who owns it now?”
Marcus checked.
Then stopped.
“Vale Holdings.”
My stomach dropped.
Dominic stared at him.
“Since when?”
“Five years.”
“Who authorized the purchase?”
Marcus looked at the ledger.
Then at Dominic.
“Edward.”
Suddenly the mansion felt very far away.
Dominic took my hand.
“We're going there.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because your mother left something behind.”
“What?”
He looked toward the old photograph.
“Her last proof.”
Then his phone rang.
Marcus answered.
His face changed.
“Boss.”
May you like
“What?”
“The house is on fire.”
