Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT DOMINIC’S FATHER DIED
Dominic did not believe her.
Not at first.
“My father would never do that.”
Catherine stood perfectly still.
“I didn’t say he wanted to die.”
“Then choose your words carefully.”
“He knew the car had been sabotaged.”
Silence.
Dominic’s face changed.
Catherine continued.
“Antonio discovered it before he left the marina.”
“Who sabotaged it?”
“Malcolm’s remaining partners.”
“I thought Malcolm was already dead.”
“He was.”
Catherine nodded.
“His theft involved other men. They wanted Antonio’s records destroyed.”
Rachel understood.
“The records hidden beneath the house.”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“What happened?”
“Antonio called me.”
Catherine’s voice began shaking.
“He told me someone had found Rachel’s trust documents. He was supposed to meet me at the old marina and give me the deed.”
Dominic remembered that night.
He had been twenty-nine.
His father had called him shortly after midnight.
Antonio had said only:
Take care of the house.
Dominic had assumed he meant family business.
He had never understood why the words sounded like goodbye.
Catherine continued.
“When Antonio reached the marina, he realized someone had tampered with his brakes.”
“Then why did he drive?”
“He didn’t intend to.”
Catherine looked down.
“Men arrived before we could leave.”
Rachel’s breath caught.
“What men?”
“People connected to Malcolm’s hidden accounts.”
Dominic asked, “Why not call me?”
“Because you were already being followed.”
That landed hard.
Catherine wiped her face.
“Antonio made me leave through the boat entrance. He took the car because he knew they would follow him instead of me.”
Dominic stared.
“He drove knowing the brakes would fail.”
“Yes.”
“So you call that protecting Rachel?”
“And you.”
Dominic’s eyes burned.
“My father died because nobody in this family could tell the truth.”
Catherine had no defense.
A phone rang.
Marco.
He answered.
His expression sharpened.
“Where?”
He looked at Dominic.
“Cross house. We found Eleanor’s phone.”
Dominic stood.
“Move.”
The old Cross property sat on six acres near the Connecticut-New York line.
Vivian’s father had abandoned it before his death.
The main house was dark.
Dominic arrived with Marco, Rachel, Catherine, and four security men.
Rachel had refused to remain behind.
Again.
Dominic had stopped wasting time arguing.
Eleanor’s phone lay on the front steps.
Inside, nobody answered.
Marco examined the rooms.
“Recently occupied.”
A half-empty coffee cup.
Fresh tire marks behind the garage.
But no Vivian.
No Eleanor.
Rachel noticed something on the dining-room wall.
A photograph.
Malcolm Cross with a young Vivian.
Beside them stood Eleanor.
Vivian was perhaps twelve.
Eleanor looked at the picture.
“She kept it.”
Everyone turned.
Eleanor stood in the doorway.
Alone.
Dominic crossed the room.
“What happened?”
“Vivian let me go.”
“Why?”
Eleanor looked ashamed.
“Because I told her the truth about Malcolm.”
Vivian had spent years believing Antonio Russo destroyed her father.
Eleanor finally told her everything.
Malcolm had stolen money not only from Antonio but from criminal partners who were less patient than the Russos.
Antonio had actually tried to get Malcolm out of the country before those men reached him.
Malcolm refused.
He believed he could recover one last document from Catherine.
The deed.
He died three days later.
Vivian’s revenge had been built around the wrong enemy.
Rachel frowned.
“She believed you?”
“No.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“But she started questioning what she believed.”
Dominic looked around.
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Eleanor.”
“I don’t.”
Then Eleanor removed something from her pocket.
A flash drive.
“She gave me this.”
Dominic didn’t take it immediately.
“Why?”
“She said if she discovered her father lied, she wanted you to know who helped him.”
Marco connected the drive to a secure laptop.
Dozens of scanned documents appeared.
Payments.
Hospital records.
Property transfers.
Private correspondence.
One name repeated over and over.
Leonard Shaw.
Dominic stared.
Rachel recognized it.
“Your family attorney?”
Leonard Shaw had attended the engagement party.
He was seventy-one.
He had represented the Russo family since Dominic was a child.
He had comforted Dominic at Catherine’s funeral.
He had handled Antonio’s estate.
He had approved Rachel’s hiring paperwork.
Marco whispered, “Shaw had access to everything.”
Catherine looked sick.
“He worked with Malcolm.”
Dominic’s expression turned stone-cold.
“For twenty-three years.”
Eleanor nodded.
“And Vivian only discovered it tonight.”
Rachel stared at the screen.
“So Vivian isn’t the person behind everything.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“She’s part of it.”
A new file opened.
Recent bank transfers.
Leonard Shaw had paid a private investigator nine months ago.
The investigator’s report contained photographs of Rachel.
Her apartment.
Patricia.
The Russo mansion.
Rachel felt violated all over again.
“He found me.”
Dominic read the dates.
“Before Vivian approved your employment.”
Catherine frowned.
“Then Leonard told Vivian who Rachel was.”
“Or enough to make her curious.”
Marco opened an email.
FROM: L. SHAW
TO: V. CROSS
Place the Monroe girl inside the household. Catherine will surface eventually.
Rachel’s hands went cold.
Another email.
Once Catherine appears, we recover the original deed and destroy all remaining recordings. Dominic signs after the wedding. The property becomes untouchable.
Dominic read silently.
Vivian had been manipulated too.
Not innocent.
Never innocent.
But manipulated.
Rachel whispered, “Leonard used her hatred.”
“Yes.”
“And she used me.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor suddenly looked toward the back door.
“What was that?”
A faint noise.
Marco raised a hand.
Everyone went silent.
A phone vibrated somewhere upstairs.
Dominic followed the sound.
In a bedroom, they found Vivian’s purse.
Inside was her phone.
One unread draft message filled the screen.
DOMINIC — SHAW KNOWS CATHERINE IS ALIVE. HE IS GOING TO THE MARINA. DO NOT TRUST ANYONE WHO SAYS HE CAME ALONE.
Rachel looked up.
“When did she write it?”
Marco checked.
“Four minutes ago.”
Catherine ran toward the stairs.
“The marina.”
Dominic caught her arm.
“No.”
“He knows where the deed was hidden.”
“What deed?”
Catherine looked at him.
“The original isn’t in the bank.”
Rachel stared.
“Then where?”
Catherine swallowed.
“Antonio hid it beneath the old boathouse.”
Dominic released her.
“Marco.”
They moved.
But before anyone reached the door, Vivian’s phone rang.
Dominic answered.
Leonard Shaw’s voice came through.
“Dominic.”
Dominic became still.
“Leonard.”
“Bring Catherine to the marina.”
“No.”
Shaw sighed.
“You sound like your father.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“What do you want?”
“The deed.”
“You spent twenty-three years looking for a piece of paper?”
“No.”
Shaw chuckled softly.
“I spent twenty-three years making sure nobody read what Antonio wrote on the back.”
Catherine closed her eyes.
Dominic looked at her.
“You know.”
She nodded.
“What did he write?”
Shaw answered for her.
“Something that makes the property look meaningless.”
Dominic waited.
Then Leonard said:
“Antonio confessed everything.”
The line went dead.
Rachel stared at Catherine.
“Everything about what?”
Catherine’s voice was barely a whisper.
“The night you were born.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What happened the night Rachel was born?”
Catherine looked at Rachel.
“I wasn’t the only person who believed you had to disappear.”
Rachel’s stomach dropped.
Catherine continued.
May you like
“Antonio wanted everyone—including you—to believe Rachel died at birth.”
---
