Chapter 6 - The Secret Behind the Rabbit
Dominic didn't accuse Marco.
That frightened me.
He simply told the bank manager we were finished and drove us to a secure apartment nobody on his regular staff knew about.
Lucy stayed with Rosa under separate protection.
I hated being away from her.
Dominic insisted.
“If Marco is compromised, he knows every location I use.”
“Do you believe he killed Daniel?”
“I believe evidence can be manufactured.”
“His photograph wasn't manufactured.”
“No.”
“Then?”
“Marco was nineteen when that photograph was taken.”
“So?”
“He worked for my father.”
“Doing what?”
“Whatever my father told him.”
That answer didn't help.
We inserted the second memory card into an offline laptop.
Daniel appeared on video.
Alive.
My husband sat in the front seat of his car.
He looked exhausted.
“Elena.”
I covered my mouth.
Dominic turned away slightly, giving me privacy without leaving.
“If you're watching this, I need you to understand something. I didn't tell you because I thought ignorance would protect you.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“I was wrong.”
Daniel explained Creston.
The theft.
The hidden accounts.
Voss.
Thomas.
Millions siphoned from Moretti businesses.
But then he said something unexpected.
“Dominic Moretti doesn't know.”
Dominic looked at the screen.
“His father suspects, but he's sick. Thomas Vale controls most of the paperwork now.”
Daniel lifted a ledger.
“Thomas is stealing from both criminals and legitimate companies. Voss handles intimidation.”
My hands clenched.
Then Daniel said:
“If anything happens to me, Marco Santoro may be the only person inside Moretti's organization you can trust.”
I stared at Dominic.
Marco wasn't the traitor.
He was Daniel's ally.
The distorted caller had lied.
Daniel continued.
“Marco gave me the church photograph. He helped me copy the records.”
Dominic exhaled.
Then Daniel's expression changed.
“If Thomas finds out Marco helped me, he'll kill him too.”
The recording ended.
I sat frozen.
“Call Marco.”
Dominic did.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Dominic called the mansion.
Marco had left forty minutes earlier.
“Where?”
Nobody knew.
Then a message arrived from Marco's number.
COME ALONE.
An address followed.
Dominic stared.
“Trap.”
“Obviously.”
“I'm going.”
“So am I.”
“No.”
I folded my arms.
“You're wasting time.”
“Elena.”
“Daniel died because everyone decided what I should know. I'm done being protected with ignorance.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
“Stay behind me.”
“That is the most agreement you're getting.”
We went.
The address led to an abandoned Creston Freight warehouse.
Dominic brought men but kept them outside.
Inside, we found Marco.
Alive.
Tied to a chair.
His face bruised.
“Boss.”
Dominic cut him loose.
“Who?”
“Voss.”
“Where?”
“Gone.”
“Thomas?”
Marco nodded.
“He's running.”
“Why bring you here?”
“To make you think I betrayed you.”
Marco looked at me.
“Daniel trusted me.”
“I know.”
His eyes widened.
“You found the video.”
“Yes.”
Marco lowered his head.
“I should've saved him.”
“What happened?”
“Daniel called me the night he died. Said Voss had found him. I was twenty-one. I was scared. I told him to go to the police.”
My throat tightened.
“He never made it.”
“No.”
“Did Voss sabotage the brakes?”
Marco nodded.
“I found the mechanic later.”
The truth landed quietly.
Daniel had been murdered.
I had imagined learning that truth would make me scream.
Instead, I felt empty.
Dominic stood beside me.
His hand touched mine.
Not possessive.
Not dramatic.
Just there.
I held it.
Marco noticed.
He wisely said nothing.
Then he gave us something important.
“Thomas isn't after the money anymore.”
“What does he want?” Dominic asked.
“The ledger.”
“We have copies.”
“He doesn't know that.”
“Why Lucy?”
“Because Voss saw Daniel hide something in the rabbit before the crash. They couldn't find the rabbit afterward.”
I remembered.
I had taken it home from the hospital.
They had been searching for it for years.
“Why wait?”
“Thomas thought it was lost.”
“Until?”
“Until Elena started working for you.”
Dominic understood.
Thomas had seen my name on staff records.
Then he'd connected me to Daniel.
Everything began.
The cars.
The hospital.
The daycare.
Lucy.
Dominic's anger became frighteningly quiet.
“We finish this.”
Marco nodded.
“We need Thomas to believe there's only one copy.”
A plan formed.
Dangerous.
Simple.
We would give Thomas what he wanted.
Or appear to.
Dominic called him.
Thomas answered.
“You've become difficult to reach.”
Dominic said, “I have the ledger.”
Silence.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want?”
“You disappear. Elena and Lucy are untouched.”
Thomas laughed.
“You've become sentimental.”
Dominic looked at me.
“Maybe.”
Thomas agreed to meet.
Old St. Christopher's Church.
Midnight.
Where the photograph had been taken years earlier.
It was theatrical.
Men like Thomas apparently enjoyed symbolism.
Dominic arranged surveillance.
Police weren't called.
Not yet.
But Daniel's files had been anonymously delivered to federal investigators that afternoon.
Thomas didn't know.
The meeting was only to obtain his confession and ensure Voss could no longer reach us.
Before leaving, I called Lucy.
“Mommy!”
“Hi, baby.”
“Mr. Moretti there?”
“Yes.”
“Tell him Bunny misses him.”
Dominic heard.
“I miss Bunny too.”
Lucy giggled.
Then she became serious.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Watching man came back.”
My blood froze.
“What?”
Dominic grabbed the phone.
“Lucy, where are you?”
“At Mr. Moretti's house.”
“Where is Rosa?”
“Sleeping.”
Dominic's face drained.
“Lucy, listen to me. Go into the bathroom and lock the door.”
“But—”
“Now.”
We ran.
The mansion was twenty minutes away.
Dominic drove it in twelve.
Security at the gate was unconscious but alive.
The front door stood open.
“Lucy!”
No answer.
We reached the guest suite.
Rosa lay on the floor breathing.
Drugged.
Not injured.
The bathroom door was locked.
“Lucy?”
A tiny voice answered.
“Mommy?”
I almost collapsed.
“Open the door.”
She did.
I lifted her.
Dominic checked the room.
“Where's Bunny?”
Lucy pointed toward the window.
“The man took him.”
My heart sank.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
“What did he say?”
She thought.
“He said thank you.”
Dominic's phone rang.
Thomas.
“You should have accepted the first warning.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“You have Voss.”
“I have what I need.”
“No, you don't.”
Silence.
Dominic smiled without warmth.
“The card in the rabbit was a copy.”
Thomas breathed once.
Then the line disconnected.
Lucy suddenly tugged my sleeve.
“Mommy.”
“What?”
“The watching man dropped something.”
She opened her hand.
A silver watch with a black face.
On the back was engraved an address.
Dominic recognized it.
“Where is that?”
He looked toward me.
“My father's old house.”
We left Lucy under armed protection.
This time I kissed her three times.
“One extra?”
she asked.
“Two.”
Dominic and I drove to the old Moretti property with Marco.
The house had been abandoned since Salvatore's death.
The front door was open.
Inside, lights burned upstairs.
We heard voices.
Thomas.
Voss.
Dominic signaled Marco.
We moved toward the staircase.
Then a floorboard creaked behind us.
A gun clicked.
Voss's voice came from the darkness.
“Don't move.”
Dominic slowly raised his hands.
I turned.
Voss stood behind us.
But he wasn't aiming at Dominic.
He was aiming at me.
Then Thomas stepped from the upstairs hallway carrying Daniel's stuffed rabbit.
He smiled.
“Elena Bennett.”
May you like
He began descending.
“You look remarkably calm for a widow who's finally meeting the man responsible for her husband's death.”
