Chapter 5 - Locker 317
Gabriel Vale looked nothing like a monster.
That was the first thing I noticed.
He was in his early sixties.
Silver hair.
Expensive navy coat.
Clean hands.
Kind-looking eyes.
He could have been someone’s professor.
Someone’s doctor.
Someone’s father.
Celeste’s father.
“Put the gun down, Dominic,” he said.
Dominic aimed directly at him.
“You shot Camille.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“Ruth always was sentimental.”
Mom trembled.
“You killed her.”
“No.”
“You fired the gun.”
“Yes.”
The distinction made my stomach turn.
Gabriel looked at me.
“Elena.”
“Don’t say my name.”
“You have her face.”
“Don’t.”
“I wondered if you would.”
Dominic moved between us.
“You came for the key.”
Gabriel looked at his hand.
“Yes.”
“You’re not getting it.”
“I already have what I need.”
Dominic’s gaze sharpened.
Gabriel smiled.
“The locker won’t matter after sunrise.”
“What happens at sunrise?”
“You’ll find out.”
Nico stepped behind Gabriel.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Gabriel lifted both.
“I’m unarmed.”
“Men like you don’t need weapons.”
Gabriel looked pleased.
“You really are Salvatore’s son.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“You murdered him.”
Gabriel sighed.
“Salvatore murdered himself the moment he decided to blackmail Arthur.”
“With what?”
Gabriel’s eyes moved to the key.
“Locker 317.”
Mom whispered, “Don’t.”
Gabriel turned.
“You should have died years ago.”
Owen stepped into the doorway.
“Get away from my mother.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“And who are you?”
“My son,” Mom said.
Something shifted in Gabriel’s expression.
“You had another child.”
Mom smiled weakly.
“A real one.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
I almost admired her.
Almost.
Then the monitors beside her bed began beeping faster.
The nurse rushed in.
“Everyone out.”
Dominic grabbed Gabriel by the coat.
“You’re coming with us.”
Gabriel laughed.
“On what charge?”
“Start with trespassing.”
“You don’t own the hospital.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“No. But I know who owns the building.”
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
Ten minutes later, hospital security escorted Gabriel downstairs.
Police questioned him.
He denied everything.
Mom was sedated.
Before she drifted off, she looked at me.
“Get the locker.”
I squeezed her hand.
“I will.”
“And Elena?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t trust Arthur.”
That warning stayed with me as Dominic, Nico, and I entered Grand Central Terminal at 5:11 a.m.
The station was almost empty.
Maintenance workers.
Early commuters.
Echoing footsteps.
Locker 317 stood in an old secured baggage section beneath the east concourse.
Dominic inserted the key.
“Ready?”
“No.”
He opened it anyway.
Inside was a metal box.
No money.
No jewelry.
Documents.
Photographs.
A cassette tape.
A handwritten letter.
And a small gold bracelet.
My name was engraved inside.
ELENA CAMILLE.
I held it carefully.
“She named me.”
Dominic stood beside me.
“Yes.”
I opened the letter.
The handwriting was young.
Uneven.
Elena,
If Ruth gives you this someday, then I failed to come back for you.
I stopped reading.
My eyes blurred.
Dominic took the letter when my hands began shaking.
He read aloud quietly.
“You were born at 11:42 p.m. You screamed before the doctor finished lifting you. Your father laughed because he said you sounded angry already.”
Dominic’s voice caught once.
He continued.
“I loved you before I saw you. Whatever anyone tells you, you were wanted.”
I covered my mouth.
“The Vale family will say your father ruined me. The Mercer family may say I ruined him. Neither is true. We were young and foolish, but you were never a mistake.”
Dominic stopped.
I whispered, “Keep going.”
“If something happens to me, trust Sofia Mercer. Trust Ruth Bennett. And one day, if Dominic Mercer is old enough, tell him Salvatore loved him more than he knew.”
Dominic lowered the letter.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Nico opened another envelope.
“Boss.”
Inside were financial records.
Wire transfers.
Offshore accounts.
Payments from Vale Metropolitan Group to city officials.
Judges.
Police commanders.
Hospital administrators.
Dominic scanned the pages.
“This is why Salvatore died.”
Nico nodded.
“He had evidence Arthur Vale was buying half the city.”
My skin went cold.
Dominic pulled out a photo.
Salvatore Mercer.
Camille Vale.
Sofia Mercer.
Ruth—Mom—standing together.
Young.
Alive.
Behind them was another man.
Gabriel.
And on the back, a date.
Two days before Camille died.
Another document showed a trust.
Beneficiary: Elena Camille Vale Mercer.
Assets: controlling shares in a subsidiary that had grown into one of Vale Metropolitan’s largest holdings.
I stared.
“What does this mean?”
Dominic read further.
“It means your mother’s inheritance was never legally transferred.”
“How much?”
Nico whistled softly.
Dominic gave him a look.
“How much?”
He answered.
“Potentially over six hundred million.”
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because three hours earlier I had begged my brother to keep my mother alive until payday.
Six hundred million dollars.
And cold pasta.
Same night.
Dominic looked at me.
“Don’t think about the money.”
“How can I not?”
“Because this is why people are coming after you.”
I looked at the evidence.
“If I inherit this, what happens to Arthur?”
“He loses control.”
“And Gabriel?”
“Depends what else is here.”
Nico held up the cassette.
“We need a player.”
Dominic looked around.
“We’ll digitize it.”
Then every light in the corridor went out.
Darkness.
Nico swore.
Dominic grabbed my arm.
“Down.”
We crouched behind the lockers.
Footsteps.
Multiple.
Fast.
A muzzle flash split the darkness.
Gunshot.
Metal sparked beside Dominic’s head.
He pushed me flat.
“Nico!”
“Two left!”
Another shot.
Dominic returned fire once.
A man shouted.
I crawled toward the metal box.
Dominic grabbed my ankle.
“Leave it.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“It’s my mother’s proof.”
I snatched the box.
A hand grabbed my hair from behind.
I screamed.
Dominic turned.
Gunshot.
The man collapsed.
Dominic dragged me behind him.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Stay with me.”
Emergency lights flickered on.
Nico stood over one attacker.
Another had fled.
Dominic checked the fallen man’s pulse.
Alive.
Nico searched him.
“No ID.”
Then he found a phone.
One recent message.
GET THE TAPE.
Dominic read the sender name.
His face darkened.
“What?”
He showed me.
The message had come from a saved contact.
AV.
Arthur Vale.
Mom’s warning echoed.
Don’t trust Arthur.
Dominic looked toward the station exit.
“We need to move.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered before he could stop me.
“Hello?”
An old man’s voice spoke.
“Elena.”
I knew immediately.
Arthur Vale.
“My granddaughter.”
I said nothing.
“I assume you found Camille’s locker.”
Dominic took the phone and put it on speaker.
Arthur continued.
“Bring me the tape.”
Dominic said, “You sent men to kill her.”
Arthur laughed softly.
“If I wanted Elena dead, she would have died twenty-three years ago.”
“Then why the gunmen?”
“To stop someone else from reaching the evidence first.”
“Who?”
Pause.
Arthur’s voice changed.
“Dominic, look inside the metal box again.”
Nico opened it.
Beneath the documents was a false bottom.
He lifted it.
Inside was a photograph.
A man shaking hands with Gabriel Vale.
The other man’s face was familiar.
Dominic stared.
Nico whispered, “No way.”
Arthur spoke through the phone.
“That man ordered Salvatore’s murder.”
May you like
Dominic’s face went completely still.
Because the man in the photograph was Nico’s father.
