Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO CAME BACK
Dominic’s weapon rose.
Gabriel smiled.
“Still dramatic.”
Teresa’s face was pale, but she was standing.
Alive.
Dominic’s eyes went to her.
“You hurt?”
“No.”
Gabriel tightened his hand against her shoulder.
“She’s fine.”
“Let her go.”
“Give me the ledger.”
Dominic’s voice stayed level.
“You don’t need a hostage to talk to me.”
“I didn’t take her as a hostage.”
Teresa suddenly said, “He saved me.”
Dominic stared.
“What?”
Gabriel released her.
She stepped away.
Dominic did not lower his weapon.
Teresa looked at him.
“The people who called you from the marina weren’t Gabriel’s.”
Dominic’s eyes shifted.
Gabriel leaned against a display case.
“They were Raymond’s.”
Anthony frowned.
“Dr. Vale?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Raymond has been cleaning up your father’s old system for years.”
Dominic looked at Teresa.
“You knew Gabriel was alive.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since Elena died.”
Dominic looked away.
Another lie.
Teresa approached.
“I thought he killed her.”
“You thought?”
“I saw him with the gun.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“I shot at the man behind Elena.”
Teresa nodded.
“I didn’t understand until later.”
Dominic looked at Gabriel.
“Mara says you shot Elena.”
“Mara saw what she expected to see.”
“Convenient.”
“I fired. Elena fell. But my bullet hit the dock.”
“Prove it.”
Gabriel looked at the ledger.
“The proof is in that book.”
Dominic searched.
Gabriel directed him toward a coded section.
Ballistics record.
Private medical reports.
The handwriting belonged to Raymond.
Incident L-4:
Subject E.M. sustained thoracic gunshot from .32 caliber.
Dominic looked at Gabriel’s gun.
“.45?”
“Always.”
Salvatore whispered, “Raymond shot her.”
Gabriel nodded.
Teresa started crying.
“I gave Raymond the gun.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
“Elena gave it to me to protect Sophie.”
“Raymond took it from you?”
“He said he was helping.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“He was always helping.”
Dominic’s mind raced.
“Why would Raymond kill Elena?”
“Because she found the child files.”
Dominic looked at the list again.
Emma.
Sophie.
Children.
“What was the program?”
Gabriel stopped smiling.
“Our father believed family loyalty could be engineered.”
Dominic stared.
“What does that mean?”
“He studied children around the organization. Which ones were observant. Which ones obeyed. Which ones resisted authority.”
Anthony muttered, “That’s insane.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at Dominic.
“Our father was insane.”
Dominic had spent half his life trying not to become the man.
Hearing it aloud still hurt.
“Why is Emma’s name here?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Salvatore said, “Patrick Hayes once worked for the Moretti shipping company.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“Thirty years ago.”
Dominic remembered Emma saying she supported her father’s mortgage.
Her father had never mentioned the Morettis.
“What did Patrick do?”
“Accounting.”
Dominic looked at the ledger.
Another person tied to the system.
Gabriel said, “Raymond is after Emma now.”
Dominic went still.
“Why?”
“Because Patrick copied something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic called Emma.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
His calm vanished.
“Anthony.”
Already dialing.
The safe house security feed failed to connect.
Dominic looked at Gabriel.
“If this is a trap—”
“It isn’t.”
They drove like hell.
At the safe house, the front gate stood open.
No guards.
Dominic entered with weapon drawn.
A chair had been overturned.
Broken glass covered the floor.
“Sophie!”
Nothing.
“Emma!”
He raced upstairs.
Mara lay unconscious in the hallway.
Alive.
Anthony checked her pulse.
Dominic ran to Sophie’s room.
Empty.
On the bed lay Emma’s phone.
Beside it was a note.
Dominic picked it up.
YOUR FATHER STOLE FROM US.
YOUR NANNY’S FATHER STOLE IT BACK.
BRING PATRICK HAYES TO THE LAKE.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE GIRLS ALIVE.
Dominic stared.
“The girls.”
Anthony looked at him.
“Emma and Sophie.”
Dominic’s breathing changed.
Gabriel entered.
“Raymond.”
Dominic turned on him.
“You knew they were coming.”
“No.”
“Then how did they get through my security?”
Gabriel looked around.
“Because someone on your team opened the gate.”
Anthony stiffened.
Dominic slowly looked at his security chief.
Anthony’s face fell.
“Boss, no.”
Dominic said nothing.
Anthony removed his weapon and placed it on the table.
“If you think it’s me, take it.”
Dominic stared.
Then checked the security log.
Gate opened with Anthony’s credentials.
But Anthony had been beside Dominic at the museum.
Cloned access.
Gabriel examined the device.
“Raymond knows your systems because his people built parts of them.”
Dominic looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve been investigating him for four years.”
“While letting me believe you were dead.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“I was trying to keep you out.”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
Dominic grabbed the note.
“Find Patrick Hayes.”
Emma woke with a pounding headache.
She was in the back seat of a moving vehicle.
Her hands were bound.
Sophie lay beside her.
“Emma?”
“I’m here.”
The child was crying silently.
Emma shifted closer.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Okay. Look at me.”
Sophie did.
“We’re going to get home.”
“Daddy?”
“He’ll find us.”
Emma had never been more certain of anything.
The car stopped.
The rear door opened.
Raymond Vale stood outside.
White hair.
Expensive coat.
Gentle doctor’s face.
“Ms. Hayes.”
Emma stared.
“You drugged Sophie.”
“I treated Sophie.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“I’m correcting a mistake.”
He ordered them out.
They were at the lake.
An old private boathouse stood near the water.
Sophie began trembling.
“No.”
Emma pulled her close.
Raymond noticed.
“She remembers.”
“You made sure she wouldn’t.”
“It was necessary.”
“For what?”
Raymond looked at Emma.
“To keep Dominic from becoming his father.”
Emma laughed in disbelief.
“You hurt a child to protect her father?”
“You don’t understand what that ledger contains.”
“I understand enough.”
He led them inside.
There was another man waiting.
Patrick Hayes.
Emma stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
Her seventy-year-old father sat tied to a chair.
His face was bruised.
“Emma.”
She ran toward him, but a guard stopped her.
Raymond smiled sadly.
“Family reunion.”
Emma looked at her father.
“What is happening?”
Patrick stared at Raymond with hatred.
“I should have killed you thirty years ago.”
Emma’s heart dropped.
Raymond sighed.
“That would have saved us both trouble.”
Patrick looked at Emma.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For never telling you why I left the Morettis.”
Emma went still.
Raymond stepped toward him.
“Tell her where the copy is.”
Patrick said nothing.
Raymond crouched.
“The ledger Dominic has is not the dangerous one.”
Emma frowned.
“There’s another?”
Patrick looked at her.
“A financial ledger can destroy careers.”
He swallowed.
“The second ledger can destroy families.”
Raymond smiled.
“At last.”
Emma whispered, “What’s in it?”
Patrick looked at his daughter.
“Birth records.”
Raymond’s smile disappeared.
Patrick continued.
“Adoptions. False deaths. Changed names.”
Emma felt sick.
“Why?”
“So Vincent Moretti could hide bloodlines.”
Raymond stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
Patrick stared at him.
“I burned it.”
“No.”
“I did.”
“You made a copy.”
Patrick smiled through a split lip.
“Maybe.”
Raymond pulled a gun.
Sophie whimpered.
Emma stepped in front of her.
Raymond looked at Patrick.
“You have ten seconds.”
Patrick’s eyes met Emma’s.
Then he said something that made the whole room stop.
“The copy belongs to Emma.”
Emma stared.
“What?”
Patrick’s voice broke.
“Because according to that ledger…”
May you like
He looked directly at her.
“You are a Moretti.”
