Chapter 4 - The Key in Elena’s Hand
Dominic stepped between Elena and Claire.
“Show me your hands.”
Claire froze.
“Dominic—”
“Now.”
She slowly brought her hand forward.
A small cassette recorder rested in her palm.
Elena stared.
“That’s what you were hiding?”
Claire nodded.
“Margaret recorded something.”
“Why did her note say not to trust you?”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“Because when she wrote it, she had every reason not to.”
The cassette was labeled 2009.
The year Margaret disappeared.
An old player sat inside Arthur’s desk.
Elena inserted the tape.
Static.
Then her mother’s voice.
“Elena, if you ever hear this, I’m sorry.”
Elena gripped the desk.
“I lied to you because I thought lies could keep you alive. I was wrong.”
A pause.
“There are three people involved. Marla Bennett is one.”
Dominic listened closely.
“Claire Bellamy is another.”
Elena looked at Claire.
Claire closed her eyes.
“The third person is someone Elena trusts.”
The recording crackled.
Then stopped.
“What happened?” Elena demanded.
Claire approached the machine.
“The tape is damaged.”
Mason examined it.
“Or erased.”
Claire sat down.
“I helped Marla.”
Elena felt strangely calm.
“How?”
“Financial records. Contracts. I believed Margaret was destroying the company.”
“And later?”
“I discovered Marla had manipulated me.”
“So you became innocent?”
“No.”
Claire met Elena’s eyes.
“I became guilty of something I could no longer undo.”
Dominic asked, “Who was the third person?”
“I never knew.”
A sound came from downstairs.
Glass breaking.
Mason drew his weapon and moved toward the hallway.
Dominic pulled Elena behind him.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“This is my building.”
“That sentence is going to become exhausting.”
Another crash.
They descended.
The front display window had shattered.
A brick lay on the marble floor.
Wrapped around it was a photograph.
Elena picked it up.
Her and Dominic.
Taken that afternoon.
On the back:
SELL BELLAMY OR HE DIES FIRST.
Dominic read it.
His expression remained controlled.
Elena knew him well enough to see the fury underneath.
“No,” she said.
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You’re thinking loudly.”
Mason inspected the street.
“No one.”
Elena held the photograph.
“This isn’t about dresses.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“It never was.”
The next morning, Bellamy Bridal opened at ten.
At nine fifty-eight, Marla arrived.
She found Elena standing behind the counter.
Dominic stood several feet away.
Candace arrived next.
Both women stopped.
Marla recovered first.
“You’re trespassing.”
Samuel Reed entered from the office.
“No. She isn’t.”
He placed documents on the counter.
Marla read the first page.
Her face drained.
“You can’t do this.”
“The lender accepted the purchase.”
“You bought my debt?”
“Elena acquired your equity,” Samuel corrected.
Marla looked at Dominic.
“You did this.”
Dominic said nothing.
Elena answered.
“I did.”
“You don’t have that kind of money.”
“I have financing.”
Marla laughed bitterly.
“You mean him.”
“I mean a loan agreement that I intend to repay.”
Marla pushed the papers away.
“You still don’t control Bellamy Holdings.”
Samuel placed another document down.
“We believe Ms. Brooks is the beneficiary.”
Candace covered her mouth.
Marla stared at Elena.
Then something unexpected happened.
She smiled.
“You really have no idea.”
Elena felt cold.
“No idea about what?”
“Your mother.”
“Tell me.”
Marla looked toward Claire.
“You brought her here?”
Claire stepped from the staircase.
Marla laughed.
“Oh, Margaret would love this.”
“Where is she?” Elena demanded.
Marla’s smile vanished.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you threaten her?”
“Yes.”
The admission shocked everyone.
“Why?”
“Because your mother discovered what I was doing.”
“Stealing?”
“Surviving.”
Marla explained that Arthur Bellamy had left the company drowning in debt while maintaining the illusion of wealth. She had moved money to keep stores open.
Margaret called it theft.
Marla called it payroll.
Then other people became involved.
Investors who did not accept losses politely.
“Your mother wanted to expose everything,” Marla said. “If she had, people would have gone to prison.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Claire?”
“Yes.”
“And the third person?”
Marla looked at Vanessa, who had just entered through the front door.
Elena turned.
Vanessa froze.
Marla smiled.
“Ask her family.”
Vanessa whispered, “Don’t.”
“Your mother was very loyal, Vanessa.”
Elena stared.
“What does she mean?”
Vanessa’s face crumpled.
“My father.”
“What about him?”
“He worked for Bellamy.”
“What did he do?”
Vanessa whispered the name.
“Thomas Cole.”
Claire dropped her handbag.
Dominic looked sharply toward her.
“You know him.”
Claire’s face had gone white.
“He was Margaret’s accountant.”
Marla corrected her.
“No.”
She looked directly at Elena.
“He was the man who helped Margaret disappear.”
Vanessa began crying.
“And he was murdered for it.”
Silence.
Elena looked at Dominic.
“Was my mother in danger?”
“Yes,” Marla said.
“From whom?”
Marla glanced at the broken window.
“Someone who apparently knows you own Bellamy now.”
The boutique phone rang.
No one moved.
It rang again.
Elena answered.
“Bellamy Bridal.”
A distorted voice spoke.
“You found Arthur’s office.”
Elena tightened her grip.
“Who is this?”
“You found the tape.”
Dominic moved closer.
The voice continued.
“But you haven’t found the dress.”
Elena looked upstairs.
“What dress?”
“The one Margaret died wearing.”
The call disconnected.
Elena slowly turned toward Claire.
“You told me my mother was alive.”
“I believed she was.”
“Believed?”
“Elena—”
A noise came from the upper floor.
A hanger scraping across metal.
Everyone looked up.
The locked archive-room door at the end of the balcony slowly opened.
May you like
A white sleeve appeared through the darkness.
Then someone inside whispered Elena’s name...
