Chapter 9 - Dinner with the Enemy
The photograph had been taken three days earlier.
Dominic stared at it for a long time.
Meline stood beside him.
“Could it be fake?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“My mother wore that ring every day.”
The photograph showed Isabella older, silver-haired, sitting beside a window.
Alive.
They drove to the cemetery.
Isabella’s grave stood beneath an oak tree.
Dominic had visited it every year.
Meline examined the stone.
Not the inscription.
The proportions.
“This isn’t a grave marker.”
Dominic frowned.
“It’s a ventilation shaft.”
They removed the stone.
Below was a staircase.
House Eighteen.
Underground.
No address.
Inside they found living quarters.
Recently used.
Tea still warm.
Dominic entered a bedroom.
A woman stood by the window.
Isabella.
He stopped.
She turned.
“Dominic.”
The feared man Meline had watched face bullets without blinking suddenly looked like he couldn’t breathe.
“Mom?”
Isabella crossed the room.
He didn’t move until she touched his face.
Then he embraced her.
Meline looked away.
Some moments belonged to families.
Later Isabella explained.
Thomas had saved her after Evelyn ordered her death.
They faked her burial.
She had spent years gathering evidence against Crown.
“Why didn’t you contact Dominic?”
“Because Evelyn watched him.”
Dominic’s hurt was visible.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“To keep you alive.”
“That explanation is becoming very popular.”
Meline almost smiled.
Isabella looked at her.
“You’re Thomas’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“He talked about you constantly.”
That nearly broke Meline.
Isabella gave her a letter.
Thomas’s final letter.
It contained the name of Crown’s successor.
Because Evelyn was not alone.
She had prepared someone to inherit everything.
The successor had access to Dominic’s organization.
Meline unfolded the letter.
The name had been cut out.
Again.
Dominic swore.
Isabella said, “Evelyn took it.”
“How?”
“She came here yesterday.”
Meline stared.
“You had dinner with her?”
Isabella’s face hardened.
“She offered peace.”
“And?”
“I told her I’d rather die properly this time.”
They made a plan.
Evelyn wanted Dominic and Meline together at Belladonna again.
Table seventeen.
A final exchange.
They agreed.
The next night, Meline wore the same ivory dress.
Dominic wore black.
They sat at the same table.
“Déjà vu,” Meline murmured.
“No gun against your knee this time.”
“Romantic progress.”
He smiled.
Then Evelyn arrived.
She sat.
“You two look beautiful together.”
Meline said, “You don’t get credit.”
Evelyn smiled.
“I arranged the introduction.”
“You arranged attempted murder.”
“Details.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Where is the list?”
“Where is B-17’s archive?”
“Destroyed.”
Evelyn’s smile faded.
“You’re lying.”
“So are you.”
Dinner arrived.
Nobody ate.
Evelyn looked at Meline.
“Your father betrayed me.”
“He stopped you.”
“I created order.”
“You created fear.”
“Same thing, if properly managed.”
Meline saw then what her father had seen.
Evelyn didn’t believe she was evil.
She believed she was necessary.
That made her worse.
Evelyn stood.
“This is your final opportunity.”
“No,” Meline said. “It’s yours.”
Police entered.
Real police.
Federal agents followed.
Evelyn laughed.
“You think I didn’t plan for this?”
Every light in Belladonna went out.
A gunshot sounded.
Dominic threw himself over Meline.
When emergency lights returned, Evelyn was gone.
On her chair lay an envelope.
Dominic opened it.
Inside was the missing piece of Thomas’s letter.
The successor’s name.
Dominic read it.
His face went blank.
Meline took the paper.
One name.
HARPER BENNETT.
Meline looked toward the restaurant entrance.
May you like
Harper was standing there.
And she was holding a gun...
