Chapter 4 - Elena’s LetterDominic read the letter three times.
I read it twice.
Each reading somehow made the room colder.
Elena had written it six weeks before her death.
She didn’t name the person she feared.
Instead, she wrote about numbers.
Accounts.
A company called Northlake Holdings.
Payments made through shell corporations.
Construction contracts.
Politicians, attorneys, executives.
And one repeated initial.
R.
She claimed someone inside the Moretti organization had been moving millions of dollars through companies Dominic believed were legitimate.
When Elena discovered it, she confronted someone.
She didn’t say who.
But she wrote one sentence beneathlined twice:
Do not trust anyone simply because they share our name.
Dominic stood at the window, letter clenched in one hand.
“How did I not know?”
I didn’t answer.
This wasn’t the kind of question anyone else could answer.
Marco entered after Dominic called him.
He read the letter.
His expression changed only once.
At the name Northlake.
Dominic noticed.
“You recognize it.”
Marco hesitated.
“Your father used Northlake twenty years ago.”
“For what?”
“Asset transfers.”
“Legal?”
Marco’s silence answered.
Dominic swore.
“Who still has access?”
“Financial archive? You, Victoria, your uncle Raymond, and executive counsel.”
I remembered the initial.
R.
“Raymond?”
Dominic looked at me.
“My father’s younger brother.”
“Does he live nearby?”
“Manhattan.”
“Was he close to Elena?”
Dominic’s expression became strange.
“He hated her.”
Before I could ask why, the office door opened again.
Adrian stood there.
“Are we in trouble?”
Dominic folded the letter.
“No.”
“Because we found Mommy’s thing?”
“No.”
“Are you mad?”
Dominic looked at his son.
Then something shifted.
He walked toward him, crouched, and said, “I’m glad you found it.”
Adrian searched his father’s face as though testing the truth.
“Really?”
“Really.”
The boy nodded.
Then looked at me.
“Claire says secrets make your stomach hurt.”
I blinked.
“When did I say that?”
“Yesterday, when Caleb swallowed the Lego and wouldn't tell anybody.”
Dominic slowly turned toward me.
“Caleb swallowed a Lego?”
“It passed.”
“HOW DO YOU KNOW?”
“Let’s stay focused.”
For perhaps the first time since meeting him, Dominic laughed.
It was short.
Almost startled.
But real.
Adrian stared at his father.
Then smiled.
The moment lasted only seconds.
Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
We all watched him.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Lock the gates.”
Dominic was instantly serious.
“What happened?”
Marco ended the call.
“Someone accessed the east property.”
“Where?”
“Old greenhouse.”
The mansion sat on almost forty acres.
The greenhouse hadn’t been used in years.
Security cameras showed a person in a hooded jacket entering through a service entrance before dawn.
No footage showed them leaving.
My stomach dropped.
“The phone call.”
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Move the children into the secure wing.”
“The what?” I asked.
“Panic room.”
Apparently billionaires had entire panic wings.
Within minutes, the mansion changed.
Doors locked.
Security guards appeared everywhere.
The children sensed the fear immediately.
Caleb started asking questions.
Benjamin became quiet.
Adrian watched his father.
Lily took my hand.
“Mom, are we going home?”
I wanted to say yes.
Instead I realized leaving might be more dangerous than staying.
“I don’t know yet.”
Dominic crouched beside the four children.
“We’re playing a game.”
Adrian rolled his eyes.
“We’re six, Dad. Not stupid.”
Lily whispered, “I’m eight.”
“Thank you, Lily.”
Dominic sighed.
“There may be someone on the property who shouldn’t be here.”
Caleb’s eyes widened.
“A robber?”
“Maybe.”
“Do robbers have guns?”
My heart stopped.
Dominic answered carefully.
“The security team is making sure everyone is safe.”
Adrian looked toward me.
“Is Claire leaving?”
“No,” Dominic said immediately.
I looked at him.
He looked back.
The certainty in his answer surprised both of us.
We entered the secure wing.
It wasn’t a bunker.
It looked like a luxurious family room with reinforced doors.
Food.
Bathrooms.
Emergency communications.
Beds.
The boys had apparently used it before.
That fact bothered me.
“Why do they know this room?”
I asked Dominic quietly.
“After Elena’s funeral, I received threats.”
“Against the boys?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t mention that when hiring me.”
“No.”
“Interesting omission.”
“I didn’t expect any active danger.”
“And now?”
“I do.”
The children started building a fort from sofa cushions.
Lily joined them.
Perhaps children are better at surviving fear because imagination provides somewhere else to go.
Dominic’s phone rang.
Marco.
They had found the intruder.
Or rather what the intruder had left.
A laptop.
A key.
And another envelope.
Dominic wanted me to remain with the children.
This time I agreed.
Fifteen minutes later he returned.
His face told me something had gone wrong.
“What?”
He held out the envelope.
My name was written across it.
CLAIRE DONOVAN.
My hands went cold.
Inside was a single photograph.
Lily and me leaving our apartment three days earlier.
Taken from across the street.
On the back:
YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO MATTER.
Dominic took the photograph from my hand.
“I’m getting you both out of the state.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
“This isn’t negotiable.”
“You’re right. It isn’t. She’s my daughter.”
“And someone is watching her because of me.”
“Which means running home alone doesn’t solve anything.”
“I have locations no one knows about.”
“Someone knew where my daughter went to school after I worked here one day.”
His expression tightened.
“Then whoever is doing this had access to your background report.”
“Who had access?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
I understood.
“Your family.”
“Possibly.”
Lily called from across the room.
“Mom! Look!”
She and the boys had built a massive blanket fort.
Caleb stuck his head out.
“Claire, you have to be queen.”
“Why?”
“Because Lily says moms are automatically queens.”
“I never said that,” Lily protested.
“You implied it.”
Despite everything, I smiled.
Then Adrian crawled out.
He walked to Dominic.
“Dad, you can be king.”
Dominic stared at him.
Adrian looked uncertain.
“You don’t have to.”
“No.”
Dominic put his phone away.
“I’d like to.”
For twenty minutes, a billionaire CEO sat beneath a blanket fort wearing a plastic crown while four children argued over imaginary dragons.
Marco eventually appeared in the doorway.
He looked almost embarrassed to interrupt.
“Sir.”
Dominic crawled out.
I followed.
“We identified the key,” Marco said.
“What does it open?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Manhattan.”
Dominic immediately reached for his coat.
“I’m coming,” I said.
“No.”
“Elena left the letter. Someone left something addressed to me. Those events are connected.”
“You have children to protect.”
“So do you.”
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Recognition.
I lowered my voice.
“You keep trying to solve everything by locking people away while you go face danger alone.”
“That’s my responsibility.”
“No. That’s your habit.”
He stared at me.
Behind us, Adrian whispered to Lily:
“They’re fighting like married people.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
I nearly choked.
“We are absolutely not—”
Lily replied, “My mom only argues with people she likes.”
“Lily!”
“What?”
Dominic actually smiled.
Then Marco cleared his throat.
“There’s another issue.”
Neither of us laughed anymore.
“The safe-deposit box is registered to Elena Moretti.”
“So?”
“She didn’t open it.”
Dominic frowned.
“Who did?”
Marco looked at him.
“Your brother.”
Dominic’s face went blank.
I hadn’t known he had a brother.
Apparently neither had the boys.
Adrian stepped from behind us.
“You have a brother?”
Dominic didn’t move.
May you like
Finally, he said:
“I used to.”
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