Chapter 7 - VANESSA RETURNED FOR THE ONLY PERSON DOMINIC COULD NOT REPLACE
The blood belonged to Luca.
Enough for serious injury.
Not enough to suggest death.
Police searched hospitals.
No admission.
Dominic’s people heard rumors.
He gave them one instruction:
“Information only.”
“No retaliation.”
Several captains looked confused.
One asked:
“If we find Vanessa?”
“Call police.”
The man stared as though Dominic had announced he was becoming a priest.
“Boss.”
“You heard me.”
Hannah heard about the order from Eleanor.
She called Dominic.
“That was good.”
He leaned back in his office.
“High praise.”
“Don’t get addicted.”
“I’m already addicted to approval.”
“Clearly.”
Silence.
Their conversations had become easier.
Dangerous.
Hannah had accepted Mercy St. Catherine’s offer.
Cardiac observation unit.
First shift in three days.
She moved back into her apartment after security upgrades paid partly through victim assistance and partly by herself.
Dominic offered to cover the difference.
She said no.
He survived.
Then Vanessa called Hannah directly.
Unknown number.
Hannah was grocery shopping.
Normal.
She answered without thinking.
“Hello?”
Vanessa’s voice.
“You should have stayed a maid.”
Hannah froze.
“Where are you?”
“Still giving orders?”
“I never gave you one.”
“You took my glass.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed my life.”
“No.”
Hannah’s voice stayed calm.
“You put medication in Eleanor’s wine.”
“You did that.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Dominic believes everything you say now.”
“That must be intoxicating.”
Hannah looked around.
Public store.
Cameras.
People.
Good.
“What do you want?”
“For you to tell him Luca planned everything.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know that.”
Vanessa’s breathing changed.
“He did.”
“Then tell police.”
“I’m not going to prison because Luca got greedy.”
“That sounds like something for your lawyer.”
Silence.
Then Vanessa said:
“Do you know why Dominic likes you?”
Hannah’s jaw tightened.
“He feels guilty.”
There.
The weapon.
“His father’s debt.”
“Your father’s blood.”
“He looks at you and sees something he can finally repair.”
Hannah said nothing.
Because the words touched a real fear.
Vanessa continued.
“He doesn’t love women.”
“He buys problems until they stop making noise.”
“And you are the most expensive problem he has ever found.”
Hannah ended the call.
Hands shaking.
She called police.
Then Dominic.
Not the other way around.
That mattered.
He arrived at the station twenty minutes later because she asked.
Not alone.
Attorney.
No performance.
Hannah told investigators everything.
Number untraceable beyond burner relay.
Voice recording captured partially through store security? No.
Hannah had not recorded.
Fine.
Then she looked at Dominic.
“Vanessa said something.”
“What?”
“That you only care because you feel guilty.”
His face changed.
Hannah continued before he could answer.
“I know she’s manipulating.”
“But?”
“She didn’t invent the question.”
Dominic sat across.
“No.”
“What do you feel?”
He hated the question.
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
He looked at her bandaged wrist—mostly healed now.
Then forced himself to look at her face instead.
“At first?”
“Yes.”
“Guilt.”
“Gratitude.”
“Responsibility.”
“Because of Dad?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
His throat tightened.
“Now I wait for your calls.”
Hannah became still.
“I know which coffee you hate.”
“I know you read medical journals when you’re anxious.”
“I know you pretend Eleanor annoys you when you are actually afraid she’ll die.”
Hannah’s eyes filled.
“I know you ask before sitting close to people when they’re hurt.”
“I know you want emergency nursing back even though you’re terrified the first trauma bay will remind you of your father.”
He breathed.
“And I know none of that has anything to do with Thomas Reed.”
Silence.
Hannah looked away.
“That sounds dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“Your fiancée tried to poison your mother three weeks ago.”
“Former fiancée.”
“Technical.”
“Important.”
She almost smiled.
Then:
“I work in a hospital again Monday.”
“I know.”
“You know my schedule?”
“Eleanor told me.”
“Of course.”
He smiled.
Then became serious.
“I’m not asking for anything.”
“Good.”
“I’m telling you Vanessa is wrong about one thing.”
“What?”
“You are not a problem I want to solve.”
His eyes held hers.
“You’re a person I want to know.”
Hannah’s breathing changed.
“Bad timing.”
“Terrible.”
“Power problem.”
“Yes.”
“Your mother practically considers me family already.”
“She has poor boundaries.”
Hannah laughed.
The sound settled something inside him.
Then police entered.
New development.
Luca had been found alive at a rural urgent-care clinic under a false name.
Knife wound in his side.
He immediately requested counsel.
Then asked for protective custody.
From Vanessa.
His statement:
Vanessa wanted Eleanor dead after learning Eleanor planned to block the wedding contract.
Luca wanted only incapacity long enough for board action.
He admitted financial fraud.
Admitted pressuring Patricia.
Admitted the old Pier 41 concealment.
The prosecutors nearly fell out of their chairs.
Why cooperate?
Because Vanessa stabbed him after he said he would surrender.
He feared she would kill him if released.
Then he revealed her plan.
Vanessa had access to a second Whitmore identity.
A lake property under a trust.
Police moved.
Empty.
But inside they found:
Cash.
Medication bottles.
Passport.
A pistol.
Photographs of Dominic.
Eleanor.
Hannah.
And hospital shift schedules.
Hannah’s new schedule.
Her first shift Monday highlighted.
Dominic looked at the photograph.
His blood went cold.
He wanted Hannah hidden.
Moved.
Removed from the hospital.
He called.
She answered.
“You’re not going to work Monday.”
Silence.
Then:
“Try again.”
He closed his eyes.
Old Dominic.
Fear became rule.
“Sorry.”
He breathed.
“Police found your schedule in Vanessa’s safe house.”
Hannah became quiet.
“That’s different.”
“Yes.”
“What are they recommending?”
Good question.
“Temporary delay while security reviews hospital access.”
“Not you.”
“No.”
“Police.”
“Yes.”
She thought.
“Then I’ll talk to the hospital and investigators.”
Relief.
Then:
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“She keeps taking normal things.”
“My job.”
“My apartment.”
“Walking into a grocery store.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“No.”
Hannah’s voice broke.
“You don’t.”
“You have been protected your whole adult life.”
“If somebody threatens you, men appear.”
“If somebody threatens me, my life gets smaller.”
That sentence hit.
“What do you want?”
“I want Monday.”
“I want my first shift.”
Dominic could not give it.
Not his to give.
“What if the hospital can secure it?”
She became quiet.
“Then I go.”
He wanted to say no.
Instead:
“Okay.”
Monday arrived.
Mercy St. Catherine added security.
Police plainclothes.
Restricted staff entrances.
Hannah went.
Dominic did not show up.
Progress.
At 6:42 p.m., near the end of her shift, a woman entered the employee parking garage wearing scrubs.
Mask.
Badge.
Security stopped her.
She ran.
Police pursued.
The woman was not Vanessa.
She was a private actor Vanessa had paid.
Twenty-seven years old.
No criminal record.
Fifty thousand dollars promised.
Task:
Approach Hannah.
Inject sedative.
Put her in a vehicle.
No murder instruction.
Kidnapping.
Why?
Vanessa wanted exchange.
Hannah for Dominic’s silence on the Whitmore evidence.
The woman cooperated immediately after arrest.
And she gave police the location where Vanessa planned to wait.
This time, Dominic did not go.
He sat in his office while police handled it.
Hardest hour of his life.
At 9:03, Marcus called.
“Vanessa is in custody.”
Dominic exhaled.
Alive.
No gunfight.
No blood.
No private punishment.
Hannah called fifteen minutes later.
“You okay?”
He laughed once.
“You’re asking me?”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to go.”
“I know.”
“I wanted to drag her out myself.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Hannah said:
“I’m proud of you.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
That sentence meant more than it should have.
Then:
“Do not make it weird.”
May you like
“Too late.”
For the first time since he found her against the hallway wall, both of them laughed.
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