Chapter 5 - The Lie Between Two Families
Dominic stared at the photograph.
“That isn't possible.”
Victor smiled.
“Most useful lies begin with those words.”
Harriet picked up the picture.
Her mother held an infant.
Marco Vale stood beside her father.
On the back was a date.
Thirty-eight years earlier.
Dominic's age.
“What are you saying?” Harriet asked.
Victor leaned back.
“I'm saying Marco Vale wasn't Dominic's biological father.”
Dominic went still.
Harriet understood before Victor finished.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“Your father was.”
Dominic looked at Harriet.
If true, Dominic wasn't merely connected to the Hart family.
He was Harriet's half brother.
Harriet refused to accept Victor's word.
“Proof.”
Victor nodded toward Glenn.
Glenn placed an envelope on the table.
Birth records.
Letters.
A DNA report.
Dominic didn't touch them.
Victor enjoyed the silence.
“Your father had an affair with Marco Vale's wife. Marco discovered it after Dominic was born. Instead of destroying both families, the two men made an agreement.”
Harriet's voice was cold.
“You expect us to believe you?”
“No. I expect you to verify it.”
“Why tell us?”
“Because family loyalty is such a fragile thing.”
Harriet finally understood his strategy.
Divide them.
He had done it seventeen years ago.
He was doing it again.
She looked at Dominic.
He looked shaken.
But not angry at her.
That mattered.
Harriet turned toward Victor.
“You talk too much.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“Give me the ledger.”
“Release Ruth.”
“Ledger first.”
Harriet placed a drive on the table.
Victor nodded to Glenn.
Glenn released Ruth.
Ruth crossed quickly toward Harriet.
Victor inserted the drive into a laptop.
Files appeared.
His expression relaxed.
“You see? Reasonable people can always negotiate.”
Harriet said nothing.
Victor scrolled.
Then frowned.
The files vanished.
One after another.
“What did you do?”
Harriet smiled.
“Waitress trick.”
Victor slammed the laptop shut.
“You gave me a fake.”
“You kidnapped an old woman. I figured etiquette was already off the table.”
Glenn moved toward Harriet.
Dominic stepped in front of him.
Then Adrian entered through the kitchen.
Lucy locked the front door.
Victor looked around.
For the first time, he understood.
He wasn't controlling the room.
Harriet was.
“You wanted the three pieces,” she said. “We wanted your confession.”
Victor laughed.
“You have nothing.”
Adrian held up the recorder.
“Actually, we have seventeen years.”
Victor's expression changed.
Then the restaurant lights went out.
Gunshots cracked outside.
Glass shattered.
Harriet dropped behind a table with Ruth.
Emergency lights came on.
Victor was gone.
Glenn had disappeared too.
Dominic checked the rear corridor.
“Back exit.”
Adrian swore.
Lucy ran toward the security monitors.
A convoy left the alley.
“They're heading north.”
“Where?” Harriet asked.
Adrian studied the route.
Then realized.
“The old Hart warehouse.”
Harriet's blood turned cold.
The original warehouse had burned, but an adjacent storage facility remained.
Why there?
Ruth answered.
“Because Victor thinks there's another copy.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Is there?”
Ruth nodded.
“Your father never trusted a single hiding place.”
Harriet almost laughed.
“Of course he didn't.”
“The master ledger is beneath the original office foundation.”
“Seventeen years?”
“Sealed in concrete.”
Victor must have learned.
They drove north.
Harriet sat beside Dominic.
Neither spoke about the photograph.
Finally Dominic said, “If it's true…”
Harriet looked at him.
“You're still annoying.”
He laughed softly.
“That's reassuring.”
“And you're still the man who tipped Mateo after he broke those glasses.”
Dominic looked out the window.
“My entire life might be a lie.”
“No.”
Harriet shook her head.
“Your parentage might be different than you thought. Your life is what you did with it.”
Dominic studied her.
“You sound like an older sister.”
“Don't push it.”
They reached the warehouse district.
Smoke rose in the distance.
Harriet's stomach dropped.
Victor had set another fire.
Seventeen years later.
Same place.
Same tactic.
But Harriet was no longer twenty-five.
She ran toward the building.
Dominic followed.
Inside, Glenn and two men were breaking concrete near the old office foundation.
Victor stood nearby.
He saw Harriet.
“You really never learned to run away.”
Harriet raised the tire iron.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“That was always your problem.”
Glenn charged.
Harriet sidestepped.
The confrontation was fast and desperate, but Harriet didn't fight from rage.
She fought to create space.
To protect.
Dominic and Adrian handled the other men while Lucy moved toward the exposed foundation.
She found a metal container.
“Harriet!”
Victor saw it.
He lunged.
Harriet blocked his path.
“You're done.”
“You're a waitress.”
Harriet smiled.
“And that's what bothered you most, isn't it?”
Victor stared.
“You spent seventeen years looking for Lena Hart.”
She stepped closer.
“You never bothered to understand Harriet Lawson.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Adrian had sent the evidence to federal authorities before entering the building.
Victor heard them.
His confidence cracked.
He turned toward another exit.
Then stopped.
A figure stood in the doorway.
Glenn.
But Glenn was no longer helping him.
Victor frowned.
“What are you doing?”
Glenn's face was pale.
“I've spent seventeen years doing what you told me.”
“Then move.”
“No.”
Harriet stared.
Glenn looked at her.
“I knew who you were from the day I hired you.”
Harriet's chest tightened.
“What?”
“I was ordered to watch you.”
Victor stepped toward him.
Glenn backed away.
“But she brought me coffee when my wife was dying. Covered my shifts. Helped my kid find a job.”
His voice broke.
“She treated me like I mattered.”
Victor's expression turned contemptuous.
“You're betraying me for a waitress?”
Glenn looked at Harriet.
“No.”
Then he looked back at Victor.
“For the first decent person I've worked for in seventeen years.”
Federal agents entered.
Victor's escape disappeared.
He was arrested.
Glenn surrendered.
The master ledger was recovered.
Harriet thought it was over.
She was wrong.
At dawn, an agent approached her.
“Ms. Lawson?”
“Yes?”
“We opened the master ledger.”
Harriet waited.
The agent held a sealed envelope.
“There was something inside addressed specifically to you.”
Harriet recognized her father's handwriting.
Her hands shook.
She opened the envelope.
May you like
One sentence was written inside.
LENA, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOUR MOTHER IS STILL ALIVE.
