Chapter 2 - THE MAN BESIDE DEREK
I stared at Dominic.
“The man beside him worked for my family for eleven years.”
For several seconds, those words made absolutely no sense.
Derek was a personal trainer when I met him.
At least, that was what he told me.
He trained wealthy clients in Midtown. He complained constantly about rent. He drove a five-year-old Jeep. He bought supermarket wine and laughed whenever I suggested restaurants where appetizers cost more than twenty dollars.
There had never been anything about him that connected to men like Dominic Russo.
“What family?” I whispered.
Dominic’s expression didn’t change.
“You know what family.”
The kitchen suddenly felt too warm.
I looked around.
Everyone had returned to work.
Or pretended to.
“Can we talk somewhere private?”
Dominic nodded once.
“Upstairs.”
I didn’t move.
He noticed.
“You can bring Maria.”
That surprised me.
Most powerful men I’d known considered hesitation an insult.
Derek certainly had.
Dominic simply waited.
I looked toward Maria.
She immediately untied her apron.
“I’m coming.”
Dominic’s mouth almost curved.
“Good.”
We followed him through the restaurant.
Sorrentino’s looked different from this side of the kitchen doors. Crystal glasses caught amber light. White tablecloths covered every table. Jazz drifted quietly through the dining room.
Customers barely noticed me.
They noticed Dominic.
Conversations lowered as he passed.
At the rear of the restaurant, he opened an unmarked door revealing a staircase.
His security men remained downstairs.
Dominic led Maria and me into an office overlooking the dining room through one-way glass.
He closed the door.
Not locked.
I noticed that too.
“Sit.”
“I’d rather stand.”
“All right.”
Dominic remained standing as well.
Maria sat on a leather sofa and folded her arms.
Dominic opened a drawer and removed a tablet.
He placed it on the desk.
Security footage appeared.
The timestamp read Wednesday, 8:43 p.m.
Derek walked through Sorrentino’s front entrance.
My stomach twisted.
He looked exactly the same.
Dark jacket.
Dark hair.
That easy smile people trusted immediately.
The smile I once trusted.
Beside him stood an older man with silver at his temples.
Dominic froze the image.
“That’s Gabriel Voss.”
“Who is he?”
“He used to handle sensitive problems for my father.”
Maria shifted behind me.
I looked at her.
She knew the name.
Dominic noticed.
“Tell her.”
Maria hesitated.
“Gabriel made problems disappear.”
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
I understood anyway.
I looked back at the screen.
Derek leaned toward Gabriel.
They appeared comfortable together.
Too comfortable.
“How does Derek know him?”
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
“You said Derek didn’t fall in love with me by accident.”
Dominic’s eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He walked to a cabinet and removed a thin folder.
My name was written across it.
STELLA BENNETT.
I stared at him.
“You have a file on me?”
“I do now.”
My fear became anger.
“You investigated me?”
“After Derek came into my restaurant looking for you, yes.”
“You had no right.”
“No.”
The answer stopped me.
Dominic didn’t defend himself.
“I had a reason,” he continued. “But you’re right. I didn’t have permission.”
He slid the folder toward me.
“You should see what I found.”
I opened it.
My employment history.
Addresses.
College records.
My mother’s death certificate.
My father’s death certificate.
I looked up sharply.
“Why is my father in this?”
Dominic didn’t answer immediately.
That frightened me more than anything.
My father, Daniel Bennett, had died when I was thirteen.
Car accident.
Rainy highway.
A truck crossed the median.
That was the entire story.
Or it had been.
Dominic pulled out another photograph.
It showed four men outside a warehouse.
The image looked at least twenty years old.
One of them was Dominic’s father. I recognized him from newspaper photographs.
Beside him stood Gabriel Voss.
The third man was unfamiliar.
The fourth—
My knees weakened.
“No.”
My father.
Much younger.
Alive.
Standing beside the head of the Russo family.
“What is this?”
“Your father worked for mine.”
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“He sold insurance.”
“That was the legitimate part of his life.”
I backed away from the desk.
Maria stood.
“Stella.”
“Don’t.”
My chest tightened.
Everything inside me screamed to leave.
Dominic remained where he was.
“What did he do?”
“He was an accountant.”
I laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“My father could barely balance our checkbook.”
“He wanted you to believe that.”
“For the mafia?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“For my father.”
“That’s the same thing.”
He didn’t argue.
I looked again at the photograph.
My father had his arm around another man’s shoulder.
He looked happy.
I hated that.
“What does this have to do with Derek?”
“Daniel Bennett discovered money disappearing from several Russo-controlled businesses.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-eight million dollars.”
Maria whispered something in Spanish.
Dominic continued.
“He began documenting it.”
“And?”
“He died before he could tell my father who was responsible.”
The room went silent.
My fingers tightened around the photograph.
“You’re saying his accident wasn’t an accident.”
“I’m saying I don’t know.”
“You obviously think something.”
“I think your father hid evidence before he died.”
My heart began pounding.
“And you think I have it?”
“No.”
Dominic’s eyes became colder.
“I think Derek believes you do.”
The room tilted.
I remembered Derek going through my drawers.
My laptop.
Boxes from my childhood.
He always had explanations.
Looking for batteries.
Looking for tax documents.
Looking for his headphones.
I had thought he was controlling.
Jealous.
Obsessive.
Maybe he had been searching.
“How long?”
I barely recognized my voice.
“How long was Derek watching me?”
Dominic looked toward the tablet.
“Before you met him?”
I nodded.
“Almost seven months.”
Something inside me cracked.
Maria stood beside me.
“Oh, honey.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Seven months.
Our first meeting had happened in a coffee shop.
He bumped my table.
Spilled my drink.
Bought me another.
He made me laugh.
I had told that story dozens of times.
Our accident.
Our cute beginning.
It had never been an accident.
“Why didn’t he just search my apartment?”
“He probably did.”
“Then why date me?”
“Because he didn’t know what he was looking for.”
I thought about every conversation.
Every childhood story.
Every question about my parents.
Every time Derek asked whether my father had left anything behind.
I’d thought he was interested in me.
He had been interrogating me.
Softly.
For years.
I swallowed.
“I don’t have anything.”
“Maybe you do without knowing it.”
“I don’t.”
Dominic studied me.
“What did your father leave you?”
“Nothing valuable.”
“Think.”
“My mother kept his things.”
“What things?”
“Clothes. Photographs. Books.”
“Documents?”
“No.”
“Jewelry?”
“My dad didn’t wear jewelry except his wedding ring.”
“Keys?”
I froze.
Dominic noticed.
“What?”
I remembered something.
A ridiculous little object I had carried from apartment to apartment for fifteen years.
“My father had a key.”
“What kind?”
“Brass. Tiny.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
His expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
“I gave it to Derek.”
Silence.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Dominic’s face became completely still.
“Why?”
“Because he bought me an antique jewelry box at a flea market. The lock was broken. He saw the old key on my keychain and asked if it fit.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
“What happened to the key?”
“He said he’d take it to someone who repaired antique locks.”
“And did he give it back?”
I tried to remember.
“No.”
Dominic turned instantly.
He pulled out his phone.
“Anthony.”
Someone answered.
“Find Martinez. Now.”
He ended the call.
My stomach dropped.
“You think that key matters.”
Dominic stared at me.
“I think your father was smarter than everyone realized.”
Then someone knocked.
One of Dominic’s security men entered.
His expression was wrong.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We checked Stella’s apartment.”
My blood turned cold.
Dominic looked at him.
“Why?”
“You told us to make sure nobody was watching it.”
“And?”
The man looked at me.
“The front door was open.”
I grabbed the edge of the desk.
“Someone broke in?”
“No.”
He hesitated.
“There’s someone inside.”
“Who?”
His eyes returned to Dominic.
“A man.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“Alive?”
The security guard shook his head.
May you like
And then he said the words that made my entire body go numb.
“He’s holding a photograph of Stella.”
