Chapter 8 - The Man Who Sold Her Father
Dominic ran upstairs.
Meline followed.
Her bedroom was empty.
Greg and Victor were gone.
On the bed lay another recording.
Victor appeared on screen.
“If you see this, I had no choice.”
Meline whispered, “Everyone says that before doing something terrible.”
Victor explained.
Evelyn had threatened his daughter.
A daughter Dominic never knew existed.
Victor had served Crown for years under coercion.
He had also been the man who revealed Thomas’s location fourteen years earlier.
Meline stopped the recording.
“He sold my father.”
Dominic stood beside her.
“He also saved you.”
“That doesn’t erase it.”
“No.”
She appreciated that he didn’t try to make forgiveness simple.
The recording resumed.
Victor gave them one gift.
Greg’s island warehouse had a tunnel accessible only at low tide.
Midnight.
They went.
Inside they discovered not a warehouse but an archive.
Thousands of surveillance files.
Crown had watched judges, senators, businessmen and crime families for decades.
Then Meline found Greg.
He was tied to a chair.
“Help me.”
Dominic raised his gun.
Greg laughed weakly.
“Trust issues?”
“You tried to kill us.”
“No. Evelyn did.”
“You worked for her.”
“So did half the city.”
Meline cut him loose.
Dominic objected.
She ignored him.
Greg explained that he had originally been recruited as a financial analyst.
The blind date was real.
Mostly.
He had been told to meet “Maddie” because Evelyn needed him at Belladonna as cover.
When Meline arrived, the plan changed.
“Evelyn knew you’d mistake Dominic for me.”
“How?”
“She knew Harper’s instructions had been altered.”
“By whom?”
Greg looked toward the darkness.
“Victor.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Then lights came on.
Evelyn stood on the catwalk above.
Victor beside her.
Armed men surrounded them.
Evelyn applauded.
“Finally.”
Meline looked up.
“You killed my father.”
“Yes.”
No apology.
No denial.
Dominic aimed.
Victor aimed at Dominic.
Evelyn smiled.
“You won’t shoot me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the only person who knows where Isabella Costello is buried.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Evelyn continued.
“And because she wasn’t dead when Thomas found her.”
Dominic lowered the gun a fraction.
Meline saw the trap.
“Don’t.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Smart girl.”
Then she looked at Meline.
“Your father always said you would be.”
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“The bracelet?”
“No.”
Evelyn pointed toward Dominic.
“Him.”
Dominic laughed coldly.
“You arranged all this to recruit me?”
“To restore what your father destroyed.”
“I’m not interested.”
“You will be.”
She produced a tablet.
A live video showed dozens of people.
Dominic’s employees.
Friends.
Security personnel.
All being held at different locations.
Evelyn had prepared for everything.
“Join me,” she said, “or they die.”
Dominic stared.
Meline saw the answer forming.
Sacrifice himself.
She grabbed his hand.
“No.”
Evelyn smiled.
“How touching.”
Then Victor suddenly turned his gun.
Not toward Dominic.
Toward Evelyn.
“For Thomas,” he said.
He fired.
The warehouse erupted.
Dominic pulled Meline behind cover.
Greg ran.
Victor exchanged fire with Evelyn’s men.
Evelyn disappeared.
Dominic reached Victor after the shooting stopped.
Victor was bleeding heavily.
“Where did she go?”
Victor coughed.
“House... no address.”
“We found the warehouse.”
Victor shook his head.
“Not this.”
Meline knelt.
“What house?”
Victor looked at her.
“Your father built two.”
His hand slipped into his jacket.
He gave Meline a key.
A small brass key.
Number 18.
Then Victor whispered an address that should not have existed.
Dominic recognized it.
His face changed.
“What?” Meline asked.
Dominic looked at her.
“That’s my mother’s grave.”
And when they opened Victor’s hand, they found one more thing clenched inside it.
May you like
A fresh photograph of Isabella Costello.
Alive...
