Chapter 3 - Thirty Million Reasons to Lie
Dominic reached the flash drive before anyone else.
Harper reached the blood.
Not physically.
Her mind did.
A tiny red drop against polished marble.
Madison's scream still echoed in her head.
"Where is she?"
Dominic put the drive into his pocket.
"Harper."
"Where is Madison?"
"We don't know."
"Then find her."
His eyes met hers.
"I intend to."
Caleb shoved past Marco.
"This is Victor."
Victor's men moved.
Dominic's moved faster.
Within seconds, what remained of Harper's engagement party had become a silent standoff.
Guests were being directed toward exits by club security.
Harper's mother was crying near the ballroom doors, trying to reach her.
Harper started toward her.
Dominic caught her elbow gently.
"Not yet."
"That's my mother."
"And someone just fired a weapon in a crowded room."
"She needs me."
"She needs you alive."
Harper hated that he was right.
Dominic signaled to Marco.
"Get Mrs. Foster out through the kitchen. Two cars. No stops."
Harper looked at him.
"You know my mother's name?"
"I know yours."
"That wasn't my question."
He didn't answer.
Marco approached Harper's mother, speaking quietly.
After a moment, her mother looked toward Harper.
Harper nodded.
Go.
Her mother reluctantly followed him.
Caleb noticed.
"You trust him now?"
Harper turned.
"No."
"Then why are you letting his people take your mother?"
"Because your decisions have been excellent tonight."
Caleb flinched.
Good.
Some tiny part of Harper wanted him to hurt.
Not physically.
Just enough to understand that breaking someone's trust wasn't a moment.
It was demolition.
Victor stepped closer.
"Give me the drive."
Dominic looked at him.
"No."
"It belongs to me."
"Then explain what's on it."
Victor's expression hardened.
"You don't make demands of me."
Dominic smiled faintly.
"Tonight is full of surprises."
Harper stepped between their lines of sight.
"This isn't about either of you."
Both men looked at her.
"It was handed to me."
"Harper," Dominic warned.
"No. Madison looked at me when she said it was proof."
Caleb stared at her.
"Give it to me."
Harper laughed.
"Absolutely not."
"You don't understand what's on there."
"Apparently nobody thinks I understand anything."
She held out her hand toward Dominic.
"The drive."
He studied her.
Then removed it.
Marco, returning from escorting Harper's mother, looked alarmed.
"Boss."
Dominic placed the drive in Harper's palm.
"Your choice."
Nobody expected that.
Especially Harper.
She closed her fingers around it.
Victor's voice became quiet.
"That device could get you killed."
Harper looked at him.
"So could marrying Caleb."
Caleb's jaw tightened.
Dominic almost smiled again.
Harper hated noticing.
"We need a computer," she said.
"Not here," Dominic replied.
"My apartment."
Caleb said, "No."
Harper ignored him.
Dominic shook his head.
"Also no."
"Why?"
"The message told you not to go home."
"So?"
"So whoever sent it knows where you live."
"Then where?"
Dominic paused.
"My place."
Harper stared.
Caleb immediately stepped forward.
"Absolutely not."
Dominic looked at him.
"I don't remember asking."
"Harper isn't going anywhere with you."
Harper turned to Caleb.
"You lost voting privileges when you slept with Madison."
"This isn't jealousy."
"Good, because that would be embarrassing."
"Dominic Vale is dangerous."
She looked toward Dominic.
"Yes. I had gathered that from the firearms."
Dominic's expression remained composed.
Caleb lowered his voice.
"You have no idea what he does."
Dominic answered.
"And yet she knows exactly what you did."
That shut Caleb up.
Harper looked at Dominic.
"Will my mother be safe?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"Because Marco's taking her somewhere even I don't know."
Harper frowned.
"You don't know where your own man is taking her?"
"That's the point."
Marco nodded.
"For tonight, only Mrs. Foster and I will know."
Harper studied Dominic.
Criminal or not, he understood security.
"Fine."
Caleb grabbed her arm again.
This time Dominic didn't move.
Harper did.
She pulled free and slapped Caleb.
The sound cracked across the half-empty ballroom.
Everyone froze.
Harper's hand stung.
Caleb stared at her.
She had never struck anyone before.
She didn't regret it.
"Touch me again," she said, "and I won't need Dominic's help."
Dominic's eyebrows lifted slightly.
Harper turned and walked toward the service exit.
His men followed.
Dominic fell into step beside her.
"That was convincing."
"Don't make me regret trusting you for the next hour."
"I'll aim for two."
She looked at him.
There was the faintest edge of humor in his expression.
For some ridiculous reason, it steadied her.
They exited through a private garage.
A black SUV waited.
Harper stopped.
"How cliché."
Dominic opened the rear door.
"Would you prefer a yellow convertible?"
"Tonight? Honestly, yes."
He waited.
Harper got in.
Dominic followed.
The vehicle moved.
Only when the club disappeared behind them did Harper realize Caleb hadn't come.
She should have felt devastated.
Instead, she felt relief.
"Where's Caleb?"
"Marco has him."
Harper turned sharply.
"You kidnapped him?"
"He's drinking espresso in my office."
"Against his will?"
"Probably."
"Dominic."
"He knows too much to walk into the street after someone just abducted Madison."
Harper looked out the window.
"Do you think she's alive?"
"Yes."
"You answered quickly."
"Because whoever took her wanted the drive."
"Which she dropped."
"Exactly."
"If they wanted her dead..."
"They wouldn't need to take her."
Harper's stomach twisted.
Not comforting.
But logical.
Twenty minutes later, the SUV entered an underground garage.
Dominic's home occupied the top floors of a converted historic building overlooking the river.
Harper expected gold lions and velvet.
Instead, everything was restrained.
Stone.
Dark wood.
Books.
Huge windows.
A kitchen that actually looked used.
"You live here?"
Dominic removed his jacket.
Harper tried not to look at the tattoos along his forearms.
"Usually."
"Where do crime bosses live on weekends?"
He looked at her.
She waited.
Then he actually laughed.
Quietly.
It transformed his face.
For one second, he looked simply like a man.
Then it disappeared.
"You finally asked."
"Asked what?"
"What I am."
"I already know enough."
"No, you suspect."
"Are you going to tell me?"
Dominic walked toward a secure office.
"I run businesses."
"Legal ones?"
"Some."
"That's reassuring."
"Would lying reassure you more?"
Harper followed him.
"No."
"Then don't ask questions unless you want honest answers."
She stopped.
Dominic turned.
"Did you kill whoever bled on that napkin?"
His expression didn't change.
"No."
"Do you know who did?"
"Yes."
"Why was it in your meeting?"
"One of my men was attacked this afternoon. He used it after stitching his own hand."
Harper blinked.
"That's it?"
"What were you imagining?"
"Something much worse."
"I assumed."
He unlocked the office.
Two computers sat on a desk.
Dominic pulled one forward.
"This machine isn't connected to the building network."
Harper inserted Madison's drive.
Encrypted.
Dominic frowned.
"Password."
A single text file appeared.
READ ME FIRST.
Harper clicked.
Three lines.
HARPER—
IF YOU HAVE THIS, CALEB LIED TO BOTH OF US.
THE PASSWORD IS THE PLACE WE FIRST MET.
Harper closed her eyes.
"College library."
Dominic looked at her.
"Romantic."
"We fought over the last copy of an economics textbook."
"Less romantic."
Harper typed EASTONLIBRARY.
Wrong.
She tried EASTON.
Wrong.
Then she remembered.
The book.
Corporate Financial Fraud.
Harper almost laughed.
"Of course."
She typed the ISBN.
The drive opened.
Folders filled the screen.
Bank records.
Contracts.
Photographs.
Audio files.
A directory titled H.F.
Harper clicked.
Her own photograph appeared.
Driver's license.
Social Security information.
Signature samples.
Her old tax returns.
She covered her mouth.
"They stole my entire identity."
Dominic leaned closer.
"Not just identity."
A spreadsheet listed transfers totaling thirty million dollars.
All routed through HF Asset Management.
Harper read the beneficiary column.
One account.
Then another.
Then another.
"Where did it go?"
Dominic stared.
"These accounts aren't Victor's."
"Yours?"
"No."
"Then whose?"
He didn't answer.
Harper scrolled.
The final beneficiary was hidden behind an alias.
WREN HOLDINGS.
Dominic became completely still.
"You know it."
He stepped away.
"Dominic."
He picked up his phone.
"Lucas. Get here."
"What is Wren Holdings?"
He didn't answer.
"Dominic."
He turned.
"It's connected to someone who disappeared fifteen years ago."
"Who?"
"My father."
Harper stared.
She knew almost nothing about Dominic Vale.
But something in his voice changed when he said father.
Not affection.
Something colder.
"Your father is alive?"
"He's supposed to be dead."
Harper looked back at the screen.
Thirty million dollars.
Caleb.
Madison.
Victor.
Dominic's dead father.
This had started before tonight.
Long before.
Another folder caught her eye.
M.C.
"Madison Clarke."
She opened it.
Photographs appeared.
Madison entering hotels.
Meeting Caleb.
Meeting Victor.
Then one photograph made Harper stop.
Madison sat across from Dominic.
Harper turned slowly.
"When was this?"
Dominic looked at the screen.
His face changed.
"Three months ago."
"You knew Madison?"
"She contacted me."
"You never told me."
"You didn't ask."
Harper stood.
"That's your defense?"
"No."
"Then start explaining."
Dominic remained still.
"Madison came to me because she suspected Caleb was laundering money."
"She knew?"
"Some of it."
"She was sleeping with him."
"I didn't know that."
"Did you know who I was before tonight?"
Silence.
Harper felt her chest tighten.
"Dominic."
"Yes."
The word hurt more than it should have.
"You knew my name when I entered the room."
"Yes."
"You pretended you didn't."
"I needed to know what you knew."
Harper stepped back.
"So the accident wasn't an accident."
"I didn't bring you into that room."
"But you knew exactly who I was."
"Yes."
She grabbed her purse.
Dominic moved toward the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Anywhere else."
"Harper—"
"No. Caleb lied. Madison lied. Now you."
"I omitted information."
"That's lying in a tailored suit."
His jaw tightened.
She reached the office door.
Dominic didn't stop her.
"Before you leave, look at the last file."
Harper almost refused.
Then something in his voice made her turn.
A folder sat at the bottom.
H.F.—FINAL.
Harper clicked it.
A video loaded.
Madison appeared.
No makeup.
Terrified.
The timestamp was yesterday.
"If you're watching this," Madison said, "then something went wrong."
Harper stopped breathing.
Madison continued.
"Harper, I need you to know the affair wasn't why I got close to Caleb."
Harper stared.
"I thought he was moving money through your name, and I was right. I should have told you. I didn't because I discovered something worse."
Madison looked off camera.
Then back.
"Caleb didn't choose you by accident."
Harper's skin went cold.
"He was told to meet you."
Harper glanced at Dominic.
He looked equally stunned.
Madison leaned toward the camera.
"Someone has been watching Harper since she was nineteen."
The video cut.
A second file appeared automatically.
One photograph.
Harper at nineteen years old, leaving her college dorm.
Across the bottom was a typed note.
TARGET CONFIRMED.
Beside the photograph stood a man Harper recognized instantly.
Her father.
The father who had died when she was twelve.
Harper whispered, "That's impossible."
Then Dominic's security alarm began to scream.
A camera feed flashed onto the wall.
Someone was standing outside his penthouse door.
The man slowly looked directly into the lens.
May you like
Harper's knees almost gave out.
Her dead father smiled at the camera.
