Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Burgundy Dress
I turned.
The man standing in the doorway was older than the father I knew from photographs.
Of course he was.
Twenty-seven years older.
Gray threaded through his dark hair.
A scar crossed his jaw.
He walked with a slight limp.
But the eyes were mine.
Or mine were his.
For twenty-seven years, I had been told Daniel Holloway was dead.
My father looked at me.
“Grace.”
I couldn't speak.
He took one step forward.
I backed away.
Pain crossed his face.
Good.
I wanted him to feel pain.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You've been alive this entire time?”
“Yes.”
My hand moved before I decided to do it.
The slap echoed through the warehouse.
Nobody stopped me.
My father turned his face back slowly.
“I deserved that.”
“No.”
My voice broke.
“You deserve twenty-seven years of them.”
Mom stood.
“Grace—”
“You knew?”
She cried.
“You knew he was alive?”
“Yes.”
I stepped away from both of them.
Everything I understood about my life collapsed at once.
Every birthday.
Every Father's Day school project.
Every question Mom refused to answer.
Every night I wondered what my father might have been like.
He had been alive.
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Calvin.
Calvin nodded.
“The fire wasn't an accident,” Daniel said.
“I figured that out.”
“Anthony Mercer discovered money moving through Mercer Shipping.”
“What money?”
“Political bribes. Weapons. Laundering.”
I looked toward the door.
“Dominic's father?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“Then who?”
Daniel continued.
“A group inside the company. Calvin and I were gathering evidence.”
“Anthony?”
“He joined us.”
“And Dominic's father?”
“Victor Mercer found out.”
“Did he kill you?”
“No.”
My chest tightened.
“Calvin said he did.”
Calvin looked uncomfortable.
“I told you what you needed to believe to come inside.”
“You kidnapped my mother.”
“I didn't.”
Mom stepped forward.
“Calvin contacted me because Daniel's cover was compromised.”
I laughed bitterly.
“His cover? For twenty-seven years?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“The people responsible didn't disappear after the fire.”
“Who are they?”
“Most are dead.”
“Most?”
“One isn't.”
The warehouse door suddenly opened.
Dominic entered.
Three armed men followed.
Calvin swore.
Mom grabbed my arm.
Daniel reached beneath his jacket.
Dominic's men raised their weapons.
“Stop!”
I stepped between them.
Dominic looked at me.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Your mother?”
“Fine.”
His gaze moved to Daniel.
Recognition dawned.
“You're Holloway.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You look like Victor.”
Dominic's face became cold.
“I'm not Victor.”
“I know.”
Calvin stepped forward.
“You weren't supposed to come.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You put Grace in my home hoping I'd shoot her.”
Daniel's head snapped toward Calvin.
“What?”
Calvin went pale.
“That wasn't the plan.”
“What plan?” Daniel demanded.
Dominic walked closer.
“The service request used my private authorization. Grace was given an access card marked 417.”
Daniel looked furious.
“You said you were bringing her safely.”
“I was.”
“You put her in Mercer's penthouse?”
Calvin backed away.
Mom stared at him.
“Calvin?”
The first crack appeared.
He wasn't working with them.
Not completely.
Dominic saw it too.
“Who gave you the authorization code?”
Calvin said nothing.
Dominic smiled without warmth.
“That answers enough.”
Daniel moved toward Calvin.
“You've been working with them.”
“No.”
“Who?”
Calvin reached inside his coat.
Weapons rose instantly.
He pulled out a phone.
“Her.”
A photograph filled the screen.
Vivienne.
The blonde woman in the burgundy dress.
My stomach dropped.
Dominic's expression didn't change.
But something in his eyes did.
“Vivienne?”
Calvin nodded.
“She hired Sterling months ago through a shell company. She arranged Grace's shift.”
“Why?”
“Because Grace wasn't supposed to survive the night.”
My mother gasped.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Calvin looked at me.
“Vivienne knew Daniel was alive. She knew he would surface if Grace died.”
“Why?”
Daniel answered.
“Because I have the evidence.”
“Against whom?”
He looked at Dominic.
“Vivienne's father.”
Dominic went still.
Vivienne Bennett.
Daughter of Charles Bennett.
Investor.
Political donor.
Dominic's business partner.
And, I suddenly remembered from tabloids displayed near grocery registers, rumored fiancée.
Dominic took out his phone.
Called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Mateo's voice came through his earpiece.
Dominic listened.
Then looked at us.
“She's gone.”
“Where?”
“Penthouse.”
My stomach tightened.
“The ledger.”
Dominic was already moving.
We returned to Manhattan at terrifying speed.
My father came.
Mom stayed under guard.
Nobody trusted Calvin enough to bring him.
When the elevator opened into Dominic's penthouse, the place looked untouched.
Dominic walked directly to his office.
The safe was open.
Empty.
He stared inside.
“The ledger?”
“Gone.”
My father cursed.
“That's what she needed.”
I looked around.
“Why not take it earlier?”
“Because she didn't know where it was.”
Dominic turned toward me.
“Until you made me retrieve it.”
I understood.
I had led Vivienne to the evidence.
Dominic's phone rang.
Vivienne.
He answered on speaker.
“Dominic.”
Her voice was calm.
“You disappoint me.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere your father should have destroyed twenty-seven years ago.”
Daniel looked at Dominic.
Pier 17.
Vivienne continued.
“Bring Daniel Holloway.”
“No.”
“Then I'll release something that makes your family look responsible for everything.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“What do you want?”
“The original evidence.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“I have it.”
Vivienne laughed softly.
“Hello, Daniel.”
My father stared at the phone.
“Charles is dead.”
“Yes.”
“You're protecting a dead man's crimes.”
“No.”
Vivienne's voice changed.
“I'm protecting what he left me.”
The call ended.
Dominic looked at Daniel.
“What evidence?”
My father removed a small brass key from beneath his shirt.
“This opens a deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Federal Trust.”
“What's inside?”
“Everything.”
Dominic looked toward the windows.
“We go public.”
Daniel shook his head.
“If we do that without securing Vivienne, she runs.”
“Let her.”
“She has names.”
“What names?”
“Judges. Police. Federal officials.”
Silence.
This was larger than a family secret.
Larger than Dominic.
Larger than my father.
I looked at him.
“Is that why you stayed dead?”
“Yes.”
“For twenty-seven years?”
His eyes filled.
“At first, I thought it would be months.”
I hated how much that hurt.
“Then years passed.”
“And you chose the mission.”
“I chose keeping you alive.”
“You don't get to call abandonment protection.”
He lowered his head.
“You're right.”
That answer hurt too.
Dominic watched me.
Later, when Daniel and Mateo left to retrieve the deposit box, I stood alone by the windows.
Dominic approached.
“You should sleep.”
“People keep saying that as if my life isn't insane.”
“You've been awake almost forty hours.”
“My father came back from the dead.”
“Fair point.”
I looked at him.
“Were you going to marry her?”
“Vivienne?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“She thought you were.”
“She thinks many things.”
“Did you love her?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly to be polite.
“Why was she at your apartment?”
“Business dinner downstairs. She came up afterward.”
“And found you pointing a gun at your maid.”
“You weren't my maid.”
“I was literally cleaning your home.”
He looked at me.
“You know what I mean.”
I did.
That was the problem.
Something had changed between us.
Maybe when he lowered the gun.
Maybe when he brought my pasta.
Maybe when he believed me before I gave him a reason.
I looked away.
“This is ridiculous.”
“What is?”
“Nothing.”
“Grace.”
“Don't.”
He stopped.
That mattered.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Mateo.
Dominic read it.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
He showed me.
The bank box was empty.
Except for one item.
A handwritten note.
Dominic read it aloud.
“Ask Grace what her mother hid in the blanket.”
I stared at him.
“What blanket?”
Then I remembered.
The cream blanket beneath me in the service closet.
I had assumed it belonged to Dominic's staff.
But my mother owned one exactly like it.
Same knitted pattern.
Same damaged corner.
I ran toward the closet.
Dominic followed.
The blanket was still there.
I pulled it out.
Turned it over.
One seam had been stitched by hand.
I tore it open.
A tiny flash drive fell onto the floor.
Dominic bent to pick it up.
Before his fingers reached it, every light in the penthouse went out.
May you like
The elevator chimed.
Someone had arrived.
