Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Basement
A woman stepped onto the final basement stair and said, “You should have left Elena buried.”
Dominic moved in front of Mara.
His security chief drew his weapon.
Isabella Serrano stopped breathing.
The woman raised both hands.
She was in her late fifties, maybe early sixties. Gray threaded through her dark hair. Her black coat was damp at the shoulders, as though she had come in from the night through some entrance nobody else knew existed.
Dominic stared at her.
He had never seen her before.
His mother clearly had.
“Rosa,” Isabella whispered.
The woman’s eyes hardened.
“Still alive, Isabella.”
Celeste looked between them.
“You know her?”
Isabella did not answer.
Dominic did.
“Apparently she does.”
He stepped closer.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked at the gun.
Then at Dominic.
“Rosa Bellini.”
That surname landed differently.
Bellini.
Dominic remembered the man Mara had once thrown wine at.
Vittorio Bellini.
A cousin of the Bellini family had handled Serrano shipping years ago.
Old alliances.
Old enemies.
Old secrets.
“What are you doing in my house?” Dominic asked.
Rosa glanced toward the basement.
“Entering through the same tunnel your father used.”
Silence.
Dominic looked at his security chief.
The man looked stunned.
“There’s no tunnel on the property plans.”
Rosa gave a humorless smile.
“That was the point.”
Dominic’s gaze returned to her.
“You have thirty seconds before I decide I don’t care why you’re here.”
Mara touched his back.
A warning.
Not fear.
Control.
Rosa noticed.
“So that’s Mara.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“You know my wife?”
“I know what they’re doing to her.”
Mara went still.
Dominic took another step.
“Who is they?”
Rosa looked at Isabella.
“Ask your mother.”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
Rosa laughed quietly.
“Twelve years and that’s still your favorite word.”
Celeste snapped, “Stop talking in riddles.”
Rosa looked at her.
“You were always the loud one.”
Celeste’s face drained.
“You knew me?”
“Since you were a child.”
Isabella suddenly moved forward.
“That’s enough.”
Rosa turned.
“No, Isabella. Enough was twelve years ago.”
Dominic’s patience disappeared.
He grabbed Rosa by the arm and pulled her away from the basement door.
“Talk.”
She didn’t resist.
“Your sister ran.”
Dominic froze.
“Elena?”
“Yes.”
“You said she wasn’t kidnapped.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“My mother did.”
Rosa’s eyes flicked toward Isabella.
“She was right.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“Then where did Elena go?”
Rosa looked at Mara.
“To your father.”
Mara’s breath caught.
Dominic stared.
“Peter Callahan?”
Rosa nodded.
“He hid her.”
Mara backed up half a step.
“My father hid Elena?”
“For six months.”
Dominic turned toward her.
Mara looked as shocked as he felt.
Rosa continued.
“Peter was investigating Bellweather Holdings. He discovered the money moving through it wasn’t real estate money.”
Mara whispered, “Payments.”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
Rosa looked at Isabella again.
“People Vittorio Serrano wanted quiet.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“My father?”
Rosa gave him a long look.
“Your father wasn’t the man you thought he was.”
Isabella finally spoke.
“He was trying to protect the family.”
Rosa’s expression sharpened.
“He was protecting himself.”
Dominic turned to his mother.
“What did he do?”
Isabella said nothing.
Rosa answered.
“He found out Elena had copied account records.”
Celeste stared.
“Elena?”
“She knew.”
Dominic’s pulse thudded.
“Knew what?”
“That Bellweather was paying judges, contractors, politicians, cops.”
Nobody moved.
“And she was going to expose it?” Mara asked.
Rosa nodded.
“Not at first. She just wanted out.”
Dominic looked at his mother.
“You knew this?”
Isabella’s eyes filled.
“I knew some of it.”
“Everyone knows some of it.”
His voice cracked like a whip.
“I’m tired of pieces.”
Isabella flinched.
Dominic stepped toward her.
“Did Elena leave voluntarily?”
“Yes.”
“Did Father know?”
“Eventually.”
“Did you?”
Isabella looked down.
“Yes.”
Celeste made a sound of disbelief.
“You knew she was alive?”
“For a while.”
Celeste stepped back.
“You let us think she was kidnapped.”
“I was trying to keep all of you alive.”
Dominic stared at his mother as though seeing a stranger.
“The ransom.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“Was staged.”
Mara whispered, “By whom?”
Rosa answered.
“Vittorio.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Why?”
“To create a story everyone would believe.”
Celeste looked sick.
“So the two million?”
“Was payment.”
Dominic remembered Mara’s father’s file.
Three days after Elena disappeared.
Two million dollars.
“To whom?”
Rosa looked at Isabella.
“Tell him.”
Isabella’s mouth trembled.
Dominic stepped closer.
“To whom?”
She whispered, “Peter.”
Mara went completely still.
Dominic looked at her.
Then back at his mother.
“My father paid Mara’s father two million dollars?”
“Yes.”
“For hiding Elena?”
“No.”
Rosa’s eyes narrowed.
Isabella’s voice broke.
“For getting her out of the country.”
Mara put a hand over her mouth.
Dominic stared.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I swear.”
Rosa stepped in.
“She’s telling the truth.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He turned back to Isabella.
“What happened next?”
His mother sat down hard on the edge of a chair.
“Peter called me six months later.”
Mara’s face changed.
“What did he say?”
Isabella looked at her.
“He said Elena was gone.”
Dominic’s chest tightened.
“Gone where?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“Dead?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
“He never said dead.”
Rosa crossed her arms.
“Because she wasn’t.”
Dominic turned.
“You know that?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I saw her.”
Celeste gasped.
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
Dominic stepped toward Rosa.
“Where?”
“Montreal.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She asked me not to.”
“That wasn’t your decision.”
“It was hers.”
“She was my sister.”
“And terrified of you.”
The room went silent.
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Careful.”
Rosa didn’t blink.
“She wasn’t afraid you’d hurt her.”
“Then what?”
“She was afraid you’d bring her home.”
That stopped him.
Rosa continued.
“She believed if she came back, everything would start again. The money. The family war. The people who wanted the records.”
Mara looked at Dominic.
“And now someone wants them again.”
Rosa nodded.
“Exactly.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“The gala.”
“Yes.”
“What about it?”
Rosa looked at Mara.
“They think Peter gave you the last copy.”
Mara stared.
“He didn’t.”
“They don’t believe that.”
“And the dresses?”
Rosa’s expression softened for the first time.
“A distraction.”
Dominic’s anger sharpened.
“Explain.”
“They needed Mara insecure.”
Celeste stared at her.
“Why?”
“So she would withdraw from the gala.”
Dominic understood first.
“If she doesn’t attend, she won’t be beside me.”
“Yes.”
“And if she isn’t beside me—”
“She’s easier to isolate.”
Mara’s face paled.
Dominic looked toward Bianca.
She had remained silent near the library doors.
Bianca shook her head.
“I swear I didn’t know that.”
Dominic ignored her.
“Why use my family?”
Rosa answered, “Because the cruelty was already there.”
Nobody spoke.
That was worse.
Rosa looked at Bianca.
“At first they only amplified what people already thought.”
Bianca looked ashamed.
“Then they started feeding comments into the family.”
“How?” Celeste asked.
“Anonymous gossip. Fake stylist messages. Magazine rumors. People repeating things they thought came from somewhere else.”
Mara sat down slowly.
“So some of it was real.”
Rosa nodded.
“Yes.”
“And some of it was planted.”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“But either way, my wife was the target.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Celeste.
Celeste lowered her eyes.
Bianca started crying again.
Dominic didn’t care.
“What do they want from Mara now?”
“The Bellweather archive.”
“She doesn’t have it.”
“Then they’ll keep trying until they believe her.”
Mara looked at Rosa.
“Who are they?”
Rosa hesitated.
Dominic saw it.
He stepped closer.
“Name them.”
“I can give you one.”
“One?”
“One that matters.”
“Who?”
Rosa looked toward the front window.
Then at the security chief.
“Turn off every camera.”
Dominic frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if they’re watching, I’m already dead.”
His security chief glanced at Dominic.
Dominic nodded.
The man moved to the control panel.
One by one, the camera feeds went black.
Rosa waited.
Then she reached inside her coat.
The security chief raised his weapon again.
Rosa slowly pulled out a small envelope.
She handed it to Mara.
“For you.”
Mara took it cautiously.
“What is it?”
“Something your father left with me.”
Her hands trembled.
Dominic watched.
Mara opened the envelope.
Inside was a key.
Old brass.
A number was stamped into it.
Mara stared.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Rosa said, “Peter told me if anything happened to him, I was to give that key to his daughter only if the Serranos started asking about Elena.”
Dominic frowned.
“My family never asked.”
Rosa looked at him.
“Until tonight.”
Mara turned the key over.
“There’s nothing else?”
“Not in the envelope.”
“What does it open?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic didn’t believe her.
Rosa saw it.
“I really don’t.”
“Then why keep it twelve years?”
“Because Peter saved Elena.”
That answer changed Mara’s face.
Rosa looked at her.
“And because I owed him.”
Mara swallowed.
“My father died nine years ago.”
“I know.”
“Were you at his funeral?”
“Yes.”
“The woman in the photograph.”
“Yes.”
Mara stared.
“You were driving Bianca.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t the security cameras show you?”
Rosa’s expression hardened.
“Because someone inside this house removed me from the feed.”
Dominic turned slowly toward his security chief.
The man’s face tightened.
“Boss, I didn’t—”
“I know.”
And he did.
This man had worked for him for fifteen years.
More importantly, he had looked genuinely confused earlier.
Dominic scanned the room.
Isabella.
Celeste.
Bianca.
Mara.
Rosa.
Staff.
Guards.
Someone inside.
“Who has access to the camera system?” Dominic asked.
His chief answered.
“Me. You. Mr. Hale in the control room.”
Dominic frowned.
“Hale is off tonight.”
“No, sir.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What?”
“He came in two hours ago.”
“Why?”
“Said you requested it.”
“I didn’t.”
The security chief’s face changed.
Dominic was already moving.
“Control room.”
He crossed the foyer.
Mara followed.
He turned.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“If someone is inside this house targeting me, I’m not staying alone.”
Dominic looked at Rosa.
“Stay with her.”
Mara shook her head.
“I don’t know her.”
“Neither do I.”
“Exactly.”
Dominic exhaled sharply.
“Fine.”
He pointed to his security chief.
“You lead.”
They moved down the corridor toward the service wing.
The control room door was closed.
No light showed underneath.
The security chief tried his access card.
Red.
He tried again.
Red.
“Locked from inside.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Hale.”
No answer.
The chief knocked.
“Hale!”
Silence.
Then a faint sound.
A chair scraping.
Mara stopped.
Dominic motioned her behind him.
The chief drew his weapon.
Dominic entered the emergency override code.
Nothing.
“Someone changed it.”
Rosa had followed after all.
She whispered, “They know we’re here.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You said they.”
Rosa stared at the door.
“Yes.”
Dominic’s phone vibrated.
A message.
No number.
Just text.
STOP LOOKING FOR ELENA.
Then another.
OPEN LOCKER 317 AND MARA DIES.
Mara saw it.
Her face went pale.
Dominic looked at the brass key in her hand.
Then the control room door clicked.
Unlocked.
The handle slowly turned from the inside.
May you like
The door opened three inches.
And a man Dominic had buried seven years earlier whispered, “Son.”
