Chapter 8 - The Freight Company That Never Died
Sophia stared at the message.
“I don’t know what that means.”
Dominic believed her.
But someone wanted him not to.
They reconstructed James’s final weeks.
Atlantic Meridian had supposedly closed after his death.
Yet shipping manifests showed its container codes were still being used.
The company had never died.
It had simply disappeared on paper.
Vivian provided access to Romano records.
The same codes appeared there.
Mrs. Walsh recognized one address.
An abandoned customs warehouse.
They entered before dawn.
Inside were hundreds of boxes.
Not drugs.
Documents.
Rafael had built an archive of blackmail.
Judges.
Executives.
Police officers.
Business owners.
And Dominic.
One file was labeled SOPHIA BENNETT.
Sophia opened it.
Photographs of her.
Emma.
Their apartment.
Mrs. Walsh’s house.
Two years of surveillance.
Then she found a sealed DNA report.
Emma Bennett.
Dominic looked away immediately.
“This is private.”
Sophia opened it.
The report did not concern Dominic.
It compared Emma with James.
Probability of paternity:
99.99%.
Sophia almost laughed from relief she did not understand.
Then she saw the second page.
James Bennett had submitted the test himself.
Why would James question whether Emma was his?
A handwritten note answered:
They’re trying to convince Sophia I wasn’t who she thought I was. If they kill me, they will rewrite my life.
Sophia sank into a chair.
Rafael had planned everything.
Not only murder.
Erasure.
Dominic found another file.
His own.
Inside were recordings proving Adrian had manipulated accounts for Rafael.
Then a final audio file.
James’s voice.
“Rafael Moretti is alive. Adrian Vale is moving the money. Vivian Romano’s father is laundering it. Elena Costa knows Rafael survived, but I believe she is trying to protect Dominic.”
Sophia cried silently.
James had solved it.
The recording continued.
“There is one more man. He is the reason Rafael knows everything Dominic does.”
Dominic leaned closer.
James named him.
But before the audio reached the word, an alarm sounded.
Someone had entered the warehouse.
Dominic drew his gun.
Footsteps approached.
One person.
Slow.
Confident.
A man appeared between the shelves.
Adrian Vale.
He was bleeding.
He raised both hands.
“I’m not here to fight.”
Dominic aimed at him.
“Then talk.”
Adrian looked at Sophia.
“Rafael has Mrs. Costa.”
“We know.”
“And he has the rabbit.”
“We know.”
Adrian shook his head.
“You don’t understand.”
He pulled a small device from his pocket.
“The rabbit wasn’t evidence.”
Sophia stared.
“What was it?”
“A map.”
“To what?”
Adrian looked at Dominic.
“To the only account Rafael could never access.”
Dominic lowered the weapon slightly.
Adrian whispered:
“Your father’s contingency fund.”
A shot came through the window.
Adrian collapsed.
His phone slid across the floor.
The screen lit up.
An incoming call.
May you like
The caller ID showed a name that made Dominic stop breathing.
FATHER.
