Chapter 4 - WHAT DOMINIC’S MOTHER KNEW
Dominic returned to the estate carrying the red coat himself.
Nobody at the dining table was eating anymore.
His mother rose when she saw him.
Teresa Caruso was sixty-eight, elegant, silver-haired, and still capable of silencing a room with one look.
Her eyes dropped to the coat.
The color left her face.
Dominic stopped across from her.
“You recognize it.”
Teresa sat slowly.
Camille entered behind him.
Then Hannah.
Dominic’s younger brother, Nicholas, stared from Hannah to Camille.
“What happened?”
Dominic ignored him.
“Mother.”
Teresa looked at the coat again.
“Where did you find that?”
“Locker thirty-seven.”
Her eyes closed.
Nicholas stood.
“What locker?”
“Sit down.”
“Dominic—”
“Sit.”
Nicholas did.
Dominic placed the child’s drawing on the table.
Teresa stared at it.
Then at the hospital bracelet.
Her hands began to shake.
That frightened Dominic.
He could remember his mother standing beside his father’s grave without shaking.
“Saint Gabriel’s,” he said.
Teresa looked up.
“You heard the recording.”
It wasn’t a question.
Camille whispered, “You knew about it?”
Teresa gave her a tired look.
“I knew Elena had made one.”
Dominic leaned both hands on the table.
“Start talking.”
Teresa’s mouth tightened.
“You think this is simple.”
“I think my sister may be alive.”
“She is.”
Nicholas made a sound like someone had struck him.
Dominic didn’t move.
He had heard it from Camille.
But hearing his mother say it made eleven years of grief become something uglier.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
Teresa looked at both sons.
“Eleven years.”
Nicholas stood so fast his chair fell over.
“No.”
Teresa’s eyes filled.
“Nicky—”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice was quieter.
“Why?”
Their mother looked toward the men at the far end of the table.
“Everyone out.”
Nobody moved until Dominic nodded.
Within thirty seconds, only family, Camille, Hannah, and Michael remained.
Teresa folded her hands.
“Elena was pregnant when she disappeared.”
Dominic stared at her.
Nicholas sank back into his chair.
“She never told me.”
“She planned to.”
Teresa looked at Dominic.
“But your father found out first.”
The room went silent.
Dominic’s father, Vittorio Caruso, had been dead seven years.
He had been hard.
Controlling.
Sometimes cruel.
But Dominic had spent his entire life believing that whatever else Vittorio had been, he loved his children.
Teresa continued.
“Elena wanted to leave Philadelphia. She wanted nothing to do with the family business.”
“Who was the father?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic didn’t believe her.
Teresa saw it.
“I truly don’t.”
“What does Richard have to do with this?”
Her face changed.
There.
Dominic saw it.
“Mother.”
“Richard helped your father find her.”
“After she disappeared?”
“Before.”
Camille inhaled sharply.
Teresa nodded.
“Elena went to Saint Gabriel’s under another name. She was terrified your father would take the baby from her.”
“Why would he?”
“Because Elena threatened him.”
Dominic frowned.
“With what?”
“Records.”
Teresa looked toward the Foundation benefit papers still scattered on the table.
“Your father had been taking money through charitable accounts. Elena discovered it.”
Dominic felt sick.
The Caruso Foundation had been Elena’s idea.
Scholarships.
Women’s shelters.
Medical grants.
“You’re saying he stole from it.”
“He used it to move money. Elena wanted to expose him.”
Nicholas whispered, “And Dad made her disappear?”
Teresa’s eyes snapped toward him.
“No.”
For the first time, certainty entered her voice.
“He frightened her. He controlled her. He sent Richard to watch her.”
She swallowed.
“But he did not make her disappear.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic’s anger flared.
“Eleven years, Mother.”
“I know.”
“You let me search rivers.”
“I know.”
“You watched me identify women in morgues.”
Teresa’s voice broke.
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena begged me to protect her son.”
Dominic stopped.
Teresa pointed to the bracelet.
“Matthew.”
The boy had a name.
Matthew.
“He was born at Saint Gabriel’s four months after Elena vanished.”
Nicholas whispered, “Where is he?”
Teresa looked down.
“I don’t know anymore.”
Dominic stared at her.
“You lost him?”
“No.”
“What does that mean?”
“Elena placed him with someone she trusted.”
“Who?”
“She never told me.”
Hannah had been silent.
Now she looked at the drawing.
“Then how did the coat get to the station?”
Teresa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Hannah looked at her.
“But you recognized it.”
Teresa’s eyes moved to her.
“Elena sent me a photograph once. Matthew was wearing that coat.”
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
The same year as the drawing.
Hannah’s attention moved to the damaged paper.
“And Richard?”
Teresa’s face hardened.
“Richard eventually learned about the boy.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
The date on the hospital bracelet.
Dominic understood.
“That’s why Elena resurfaced.”
Teresa nodded.
“She called me. Said Richard had found something. She was moving Matthew again.”
Camille whispered, “Then she ended up at St. Catherine’s.”
Teresa looked startled.
“What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
For once, Teresa’s shock appeared genuine.
Dominic rubbed a hand over his face.
Every answer was opening another hole.
Michael entered from the hallway.
“Security footage.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What?”
“Richard didn’t leave through the gates.”
“Then where is he?”
“We tracked him to the old carriage house.”
Nicholas stood.
“I’m coming.”
Dominic looked at him.
Nicholas’s eyes were wet.
“If Elena is alive, I’m done sitting at tables while everybody lies to me.”
Dominic nodded.
The four men crossed the courtyard.
Hannah remained with Camille and Teresa.
Five minutes later, Dominic entered the carriage house.
Richard Vale was sitting against the wall.
His expensive suit was soaked with blood along one sleeve.
His silver watch lay broken beside him.
Dominic approached carefully.
Richard looked up.
“I wondered how long it would take.”
“Who attacked you?”
Richard laughed weakly.
“You still think I’m the worst man in the room.”
“You watched my sister.”
“Yes.”
“You helped my father find her.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Matthew.”
Richard’s face changed.
“Not soon enough.”
Dominic crouched.
“Where is he?”
Richard looked toward Nicholas.
Then back at Dominic.
“I was trying to protect him.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“From whom?”
Richard reached into his jacket.
Michael moved.
“Slowly.”
Richard pulled out a photograph.
He handed it to Dominic.
A school picture.
A boy, maybe eleven.
Dark hair.
Serious eyes.
Around his neck hung Elena’s crescent pendant.
On the back was an address.
Hannah’s address.
Dominic stared.
Richard whispered:
May you like
“Matthew has been living across the hall from Hannah for three years.”
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