Chapter 6 - What Rafael Knew About My Father
Victor had disappeared through a service exit.
Dominic hadn't.
Rafael's men locked him inside a guarded room.
The fire was contained.
The flash drive was destroyed.
Fortunately, Rafael had copied the files to an encrypted server.
“Of course you did,” I said.
“I dislike losing information.”
“Do you dislike losing arguments?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We finally found your flaw.”
He looked at me.
“Only one?”
Despite everything, I laughed.
It surprised both of us.
Then I remembered the words on the wall.
My mother was alive.
Or someone wanted me to believe she was.
“Tell me everything you know about my father.”
Rafael took me into his private office.
No guards.
No Serena.
Just us.
He opened another file.
Victor Callow had been investigated twice for financial crimes.
Both investigations disappeared.
“Dominic?”
“Probably.”
“Why did you lend Dad money?”
“To get close enough to prove it.”
“And marrying Serena?”
“A condition Victor proposed.”
“Why accept?”
Rafael hesitated.
“Because he believed marriage would bind our families and make me less likely to expose him.”
“And you?”
“I believed it would give me access to Callow records.”
I absorbed that.
“So Serena was leverage.”
“Yes.”
“At least you're admitting it.”
“I won't lie to you.”
I looked at him.
“Except by omission.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
There was more.
“Why did you know my name at the fundraiser?”
“I didn't.”
That surprised me.
“I learned afterward.”
“How?”
“Your father came up to me after you left.”
I remembered the photograph.
Victor had seen us.
“What did he say?”
Rafael's eyes hardened.
“He told me to stay away from you.”
“Why?”
“He said you weren't available for business arrangements.”
The words were so disgusting I almost laughed.
“He spoke about his daughters like inventory.”
“Yes.”
“And that made you curious?”
“You made me curious before he spoke.”
Something changed between us.
Quietly.
Dangerously.
“Why?”
“You offered me a mushroom pastry.”
I stared.
“That's your explanation?”
“No one had done that before.”
“Offered you food?”
“Spoken to me without wanting something.”
I looked away.
Rafael continued.
“I commissioned the painting because that night mattered to me. Nothing happened between us. I didn't expect anything to happen.”
“Then Dad offered Serena.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know he might substitute me?”
“No.”
“Were you glad?”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
My heartbeat stumbled.
Rafael stepped closer but stopped before entering my space.
“I hated the reason you were there.”
His voice lowered.
“But I wasn't sorry it was you.”
For once, I had no clever response.
His phone rang.
Security.
They had located Victor's abandoned car.
Near an apartment building in Queens.
The registered tenant was a woman named L. Carter.
My mother's maiden name had been Laura Carter.
We drove there immediately.
Apartment 4B.
Rafael knocked.
Nothing.
I tried.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then locks moved.
One.
Two.
Three.
The door opened several inches.
A woman stood behind it.
Older.
Thinner.
A pale scar crossed her cheek.
But I knew her eyes.
I had seen them every morning in my own mirror.
“June?”
My knees nearly failed.
“Mom?”
She started crying.
May you like
Then a gun clicked somewhere inside the apartment.
And a man's voice said, “Close the door, Laura...”
