Chapter 6 - The Betrayal
Nico stared at the photograph.
“My father died ten years ago.”
Dominic did not answer.
“Nico,” I said softly.
He took the picture.
His father, Marco DeSantis, stood beside Gabriel Vale outside a warehouse.
Date stamped beneath:
October 14.
The night before Salvatore Mercer was murdered.
“This proves nothing,” Nico said.
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“No.”
“It proves they met.”
“Yes.”
“My father worked for Salvatore.”
“I know.”
“He would never betray him.”
Dominic looked at him.
“I know.”
But doubt had entered the room.
Arthur’s voice remained on speaker.
“Marco DeSantis did not kill Salvatore.”
Nico froze.
Dominic picked up the phone.
“You just said he did.”
“No. I said the man in the photograph ordered the murder.”
We looked again.
There were three men.
Gabriel.
Marco.
And behind them, partly obscured by a car door, another figure.
Dominic zoomed in.
The face was blurry.
But recognizable.
Dr. Adrian Keller.
“Keller?” I said.
Arthur chuckled.
“Not a doctor then.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What was he?”
“My son’s accountant.”
Everything connected and disconnected at once.
Arthur continued.
“Keller arranged the payments. Gabriel arranged the men. Marco discovered the plan and tried to warn Salvatore.”
Nico stared at the photograph.
“My father tried to save him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why hide this?”
“Because Marco agreed to disappear from the investigation to protect Dominic.”
Nico’s eyes filled but he looked away.
Dominic gripped his shoulder once.
No words.
None needed.
I looked at the phone.
“Arthur, did you send those men?”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
Arthur continued quickly.
“To protect you.”
“They shot at us.”
“They were told to retrieve the tape.”
“With guns.”
“You live in Dominic Mercer’s world now, Elena.”
“No.”
I looked at Dominic.
“I don’t.”
Arthur laughed softly.
“You were born into it.”
I hated the sentence.
“Where are you?”
“Vale Tower.”
“Why should we trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
At least he admitted it.
“But if Gabriel gets that tape, your mother’s murder disappears forever.”
“What’s on it?”
“Camille’s last recording.”
I stopped breathing.
Dominic looked at the cassette.
Arthur continued.
“She recorded Gabriel confessing.”
“To shooting her?”
“To more than that.”
Dominic picked up the cassette.
“We’re not giving it to you.”
“I expected that.”
“Then why call?”
“To tell Elena one thing.”
“What?”
Arthur’s voice softened.
“I failed your mother.”
I closed my eyes.
“That doesn’t make you my grandfather.”
“No.”
“You buried her murder.”
“Yes.”
“You let my mother live in hiding.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was alive.”
“Not until four months ago.”
“And when you found out?”
“I started trying to bring you home.”
“You mean bring my inheritance under your control.”
Silence.
Dominic looked at me.
Arthur finally said, “You are more like Camille than I expected.”
“Good.”
I ended the call.
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re smiling.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Your standards for entertainment are disturbing.”
“So I’ve been told.”
We left Grand Central through a service exit.
By six fifteen, we were back at Dominic’s penthouse.
Not because it was safe.
Because it was fortified.
Nico’s team secured the building.
Keller had vanished from police custody during a transfer.
Gabriel had been released because the hospital had no evidence he committed a crime.
Mom remained guarded.
We digitized the cassette using an old audio service that Dominic’s people somehow produced within thirty minutes.
The recording hissed.
Then Camille’s voice.
Young.
Shaking.
“Gabriel, stop.”
I gripped the table.
Dominic stood beside me.
A male voice.
“You destroyed this family.”
Camille.
“I had a baby.”
“With him.”
“With Salvatore.”
“He is filth.”
“He loves me.”
“You think that matters?”
Then another voice.
Keller.
“Gabriel, Arthur is coming.”
Gabriel.
“Good.”
Camille.
“What did you do?”
A pause.
Then Gabriel:
“I fixed it.”
Camille began crying.
“My baby?”
“Gone.”
“You killed her?”
“No.”
“You gave her away.”
Silence.
Then Gabriel said:
“You’ll never see her again.”
A noise.
Movement.
Camille screamed.
The recording crackled.
Then Salvatore’s voice.
“Get away from her.”
Chaos.
Another voice.
Sofia.
“Ruth, take the baby.”
Gunshot.
I flinched.
Dominic’s hand closed around the back of my chair.
Camille gasped.
Then Gabriel said something.
Six words.
Clear.
Cold.
“Salvatore will be next.”
The tape ended.
No one spoke.
Nico finally exhaled.
“That’s enough.”
“For murder?” I asked.
“For conspiracy. Maybe more.”
Dominic looked at the files.
“With the financial records, yes.”
My phone rang.
Owen.
I answered.
“Hey.”
He was crying.
“Elena.”
“What?”
“Mom’s gone.”
My heart stopped.
“What do you mean gone?”
“Someone moved her.”
Dominic was already signaling Nico.
“Where?”
“I came back from getting coffee. Her room was empty.”
“Security?”
“They said there was a transfer order.”
“Signed by who?”
Owen’s breathing shook.
“Keller.”
Dominic cursed.
I stood.
“Where did they take her?”
“Nobody knows.”
Then another call came through on Dominic’s phone.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Gabriel.
“Do you have the tape?”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
“Then you have something I want.”
“And you have Margaret.”
“Yes.”
My nails dug into my palms.
“If you hurt her—”
Gabriel laughed.
“Elena, your mother survived twenty-three years because I allowed it.”
“No. She survived because you failed.”
Silence.
Dominic looked at me.
Gabriel’s voice changed.
“Midnight. Vale Tower. Bring the tape and original documents.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“Then Margaret dies.”
The line disconnected.
I stared at Dominic.
“We’re going.”
“No.”
“She’s my mother.”
“And that’s why you’re not walking into his building.”
“You don’t get to decide.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I just found out I have a sister.”
The room went silent.
Dominic looked almost angry saying it.
“I am not losing her six hours later.”
My throat tightened.
“You barely know me.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Good. Stay alive long enough to complain about it.”
I looked away before he could see my eyes fill.
Nico returned.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found the ambulance.”
“Where?”
“Abandoned near the East River.”
“Margaret?”
“No.”
I gripped the table.
Nico continued.
“But they left something.”
He held out a phone.
Mom’s phone.
One unsent voice memo.
I pressed play.
Her weak voice filled the room.
“Elena, if you hear this, Gabriel is taking me to the place where Camille died.”
Dominic looked at me.
Mom continued.
“Not Vale Tower.”
A pause.
Then she whispered an address.
Dominic’s face changed.
He knew it.
“What is it?” I asked.
He looked at Nico.
Nico went pale.
It was the old Mercer warehouse.
May you like
The same place where Salvatore had been murdered.
And according to the timestamp, Mom had recorded the message twelve minutes ago.
