Chapter 4 - THE MEMORY AT THE LAKE
Dominic reached the safe house forty minutes later.
He did not remember the drive.
Emma met him in the foyer.
Sophie was upstairs with Anthony.
Dominic searched Emma’s face.
“Tell me exactly what she said.”
Emma nodded.
“She woke from a nightmare. She said Elena was running. She said Mara was yelling. Then she said your mother held a gun.”
“Did she say Teresa fired it?”
“No.”
“That matters.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
“She said there was a man near the dock.”
“Gabriel?”
“She didn’t know his name.”
“Ring?”
“Yes.”
Dominic turned away.
Emma touched his arm.
He stopped.
It was the first time she had intentionally touched him.
“You’re assuming your mother was part of it.”
“She knew Gabriel was alive.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She helped Elena hide the ledger.”
“That means she may have been helping Elena.”
Dominic looked at her.
Emma continued.
“You said yourself that details matter.”
He had.
Now she was using his own rules against him.
Strangely, it steadied him.
“What exact words did Sophie use?”
Emma thought.
“She said, ‘Grandma had the gun because Mommy gave it to her.’”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“That changes everything.”
“Yes.”
He went upstairs.
Sophie sat cross-legged on the bed with a stuffed horse.
Dominic sat on the floor rather than towering over her.
“Hey.”
“Hi, Daddy.”
“You feeling okay?”
“My tummy hurts.”
“I know.”
He waited.
Then said, “Emma told me you remembered Mommy.”
Sophie’s eyes lowered.
“You’re not in trouble.”
“I know.”
“Do you remember giving Grandma something?”
Sophie frowned.
“Mommy gave Grandma the gun.”
“Why?”
“Because the bad man was coming.”
“Which man?”
“The ring man.”
Dominic swallowed.
“What happened next?”
Sophie squeezed the horse.
“Aunt Mara put me in the boat house.”
“Was Mommy with you?”
“No.”
“Grandma?”
“No.”
“Did you hear anything?”
The child became pale.
Dominic instantly stopped.
“That’s enough.”
Sophie whispered, “There was a bang.”
His heart twisted.
“One bang?”
She nodded.
“Then Mommy screamed.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
He had spent four years imagining Elena dying alone behind a steering wheel.
Now he knew she had been alive at the lake.
Emma stood near the doorway.
Sophie looked at her.
“I want pancakes.”
Emma smiled.
“That I can fix.”
Dominic stood.
In the hall, he spoke quietly.
“Thank you.”
“For pancakes?”
“For not pushing her.”
Emma looked at him.
“She’s not evidence. She’s your daughter.”
Something in Dominic’s face softened.
“Yes.”
Anthony approached.
“We tested the tablets.”
Dominic’s expression hardened again.
“And?”
“Benzodiazepine derivative. Low dose, but not herbal. Could cause sedation, memory disruption.”
Emma looked sick.
Dominic asked, “And the milk?”
“Same substance.”
His jaw tightened.
“Cassandra.”
“Maybe not.”
Anthony held out a report.
“The compound in the milk was different from the tablets. Similar effect, different formulation.”
“So two people were drugging her.”
“That’s what it looks like.”
Dominic turned toward the stairs.
“Bring Cassandra here.”
She arrived under guard an hour later.
Cassandra looked exhausted.
Her perfect image was gone.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
She entered Dominic’s study and saw the lab reports.
“I told you the tablets came from my father.”
“You gave Sophie prescription sedatives.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Cassandra’s eyes filled.
“Because she was screaming every night.”
“That wasn’t your choice.”
“I know.”
“You also lied about asthma.”
“That was a reason to get Emma into my study.”
Emma frowned.
“What?”
Cassandra looked at her.
“I wanted you to find the photograph.”
Everyone went still.
Emma stared.
“You threatened me for finding it.”
“I needed Dominic to believe you found it accidentally.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“You used her.”
“Yes.”
“Trevor bruised her.”
“I told him to scare her. Not hurt her.”
Trevor, sitting across the room, muttered, “Thanks.”
Cassandra ignored him.
Dominic said, “Why involve Emma?”
“Because Sophie trusts her.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is.”
Cassandra looked at Emma.
“Elena left instructions.”
Dominic froze.
“What instructions?”
“If Sophie ever began remembering the lake, the person she trusted most outside the family should be shown the photograph.”
Emma frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Elena believed everyone inside the family could be compromised.”
Dominic stared at Cassandra.
“You’ve been following my dead wife’s instructions?”
“Some of them.”
“For four years?”
“No. I only received them eight months ago.”
“From who?”
A voice came from the open doorway.
“From me.”
Emma turned.
The dark-haired woman in the photograph stood between two security guards.
Sophie’s Aunt Mara.
Alive.
Mara Vale Moretti was thinner than in the picture.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Dominic stared.
Mara looked at him.
“You look like your father.”
“That is not a compliment.”
“No.”
She stepped inside.
“It isn’t.”
Dominic’s eyes dropped to her empty hands.
“Search her.”
Anthony already had.
“She’s clean.”
Dominic looked back at Mara.
“Four years.”
“I know.”
“My wife died.”
“I know.”
“My daughter was traumatized.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
Mara’s face broke.
“I was there.”
Dominic walked toward her.
Emma saw the moment his anger nearly won.
But he stopped himself.
“You have one chance.”
Mara nodded.
“Ask.”
“Who killed Elena?”
Mara closed her eyes.
“Gabriel.”
Cassandra sat down hard.
Dominic’s voice remained controlled.
“You saw him kill her?”
“I saw him shoot her.”
The room went silent.
“He shot her beside the lake.”
Dominic stared at Mara.
“She didn’t die there.”
“No.”
“What?”
“Your mother fired back.”
Dominic’s breath caught.
“Teresa shot Gabriel?”
“Yes. In the shoulder.”
“Then what?”
“We got Elena into my car.”
Dominic struggled to process it.
“Elena was alive.”
“For forty-three minutes.”
He closed his eyes.
Mara continued, crying now.
“She kept asking about Sophie. She made me promise to hide her records. She said Gabriel had people everywhere. Police. Lawyers. Your father’s old crews.”
“Why did the police find Elena’s car in the ravine?”
“Gabriel staged it after she died.”
Dominic opened his eyes.
“How did he get her body?”
Mara shook her head.
“We were attacked on the road. I crashed. When I woke up, Elena was gone. So was Teresa.”
Dominic stared.
“You lost my wife’s body?”
“I almost died.”
“And then you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Salvatore found me and told me Gabriel would kill Sophie if he knew I survived.”
Salvatore stood near the window.
Dominic looked at him.
“You helped her vanish.”
“Yes.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Everyone protected me by lying to me.”
Mara’s face tightened.
“No. We protected Sophie.”
“And you decided I couldn’t?”
“You were grieving. Angry. And surrounded by people who still answered to your father’s system.”
Dominic looked at Cassandra.
“Why her?”
Mara answered.
“Because Cassandra’s father treated me after the crash.”
Trevor frowned.
“Our father knew?”
“Yes.”
Cassandra’s eyes filled.
“He told me Mara was his patient. He never told me the whole story.”
Dominic looked at Mara.
“The ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“My mother does?”
“No.”
“But Elena’s letter—”
“Teresa knew where Elena hid it originally.”
“Originally?”
Mara nodded.
“Gabriel found that location.”
“Then where is it?”
“Elena moved it one final time.”
“When?”
“The day she died.”
“Where?”
Mara looked toward the ceiling.
“Ask Sophie.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“She was two.”
“She was there when Elena hid it.”
Emma stepped forward.
“That’s why they’ve been drugging her.”
Everyone looked at her.
“The pills weren’t just stopping nightmares.”
Mara nodded slowly.
“They were stopping memories.”
Dominic turned to Cassandra.
“You said your father gave you the tablets.”
Cassandra looked horrified.
“He said they would help her sleep.”
Mara’s expression changed.
“Raymond gave them to you?”
“Yes.”
Mara whispered, “Oh no.”
Dominic saw it.
“What?”
Mara backed toward the chair.
“Raymond knew.”
“Knew what?”
“He knew Sophie was the key.”
A phone rang.
Cassandra looked at hers.
The screen showed:
DAD.
She answered.
“Dad?”
A man’s voice said, “Cassandra, listen carefully.”
Everyone stayed silent.
Raymond Vale continued.
“Do not trust Mara.”
Cassandra looked at her aunt.
Mara shook her head.
Raymond’s voice trembled.
“She is not Elena’s sister.”
The call disconnected.
Dominic stared at Mara.
May you like
Cassandra whispered:
“Then who are you?”
