Chapter 3 - THE SECRET ANNA KEPTDominic had faced death often enough to recognize its sound.
He looked worse.
When Gabriel's security team brought him into Dominic's private office twenty minutes later, Julian's expensive shirt was soaked with rain and blood. One eye was swollen. His hands were zip-tied behind him.
Yet the old crooked smile remained.
“Hello, brother.”
Dominic stood beside the window.
Sophie was sleeping in the adjoining library under the supervision of Dr. Evelyn Shaw, a trusted physician who had treated the Vale family for years.
Dominic had not wanted Sophie out of his sight.
But he needed answers.
And some answers weren't meant for a five-year-old.
“You're dead,” Dominic said.
Julian laughed weakly.
“Apparently not.”
Dominic crossed the room and punched him.
Julian hit the floor.
Gabriel did not interfere.
Dominic rarely lost control.
That frightened people more than anger did.
Tonight, however, control was becoming increasingly difficult.
Seven years earlier, Julian's car had exploded on the West Side Highway.
Police found enough burned evidence to identify him.
Dominic had stood at a grave beside his mother.
He had watched her collapse.
She died eight months later.
Heart failure, doctors said.
Dominic always believed grief finished what age had started.
Now Julian wiped blood from his mouth.
“I probably deserved that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“Also probably true.”
Dominic grabbed him by the collar.
“Where is Anna?”
Julian's smile disappeared.
“I don't know.”
Dominic struck him again.
This time harder.
Julian sagged against the rug.
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“If Sloane wanted him dead, Julian may be more useful conscious.”
Dominic released his brother.
Julian coughed.
“Thank you, Gabriel. Always the reasonable one.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“I recommended shooting you downstairs.”
Julian stopped smiling.
Dominic poured water into a glass.
He placed it on the table.
“You get that when you start talking.”
Julian leaned against a chair.
“You haven't changed.”
“You vanished for seven years.”
“For a reason.”
“Then give me one.”
Julian looked toward the closed library door.
“The girl.”
Dominic's voice hardened.
“Leave her out of this.”
“I can't.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
Julian took a breath.
“Sophie is why I'm alive.”
Silence.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Julian looked at Gabriel.
“Untie me.”
“No.”
“Dominic—”
“No.”
Julian sighed.
“Fine.”
He shifted painfully against the chair.
“Seven years ago, I discovered Victor Sloane had people inside our organization.”
Dominic remained expressionless.
“Who?”
“More than one.”
“Names.”
“I didn't know all of them.”
“Then why fake your death?”
“Because one of them was close to you.”
That landed.
Dominic stared at him.
“How close?”
Julian hesitated.
“Family close.”
Gabriel's expression tightened.
Dominic walked slowly around the desk.
“Continue.”
“I found financial records connecting Sloane to offshore accounts we thought belonged to us. Someone had been diverting money. Information too. Routes. Meetings. Judges. Police contacts.”
“And you told nobody.”
“I told Anna.”
Dominic stopped.
“Why?”
“Because she was investigating the same thing.”
Anna Bennett had once worked as a forensic accountant.
She met Dominic during an audit of one of his legitimate companies.
She was brilliant.
Stubborn.
Fearless enough to tell Dominic Vale he was wrong during their second conversation.
He had loved her within six months.
Then she disappeared.
Julian continued.
“Anna found a pattern nobody else noticed. Money moved every time you changed security protocols. Someone was selling Sloane information almost immediately.”
Dominic's eyes darkened.
“You expect me to believe Anna knew you were alive?”
“She helped arrange it.”
Dominic crossed the room faster than Julian expected.
He seized his brother by the throat.
“You let our mother bury you.”
Julian struggled.
“I had—no choice—”
“My mother died believing her son was dead.”
“I know.”
“You don't know anything.”
Gabriel pulled Dominic backward.
“Enough.”
Dominic pushed him away but released Julian.
Julian fell to his knees, coughing.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Julian whispered, “I watched the funeral from a van three blocks away.”
Dominic froze.
“I watched Mom hold your arm.”
His voice cracked.
“You think I don't live with that?”
Dominic looked away.
Julian swallowed.
“If I'd appeared, Sloane would've known we were onto him. Anna would've been exposed. You would've been next.”
Dominic turned back.
“She disappeared six months later.”
Julian nodded.
“She discovered something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic laughed without humor.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“She wouldn't tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because she stopped trusting me.”
Julian looked toward the library.
“And maybe she was right.”
Before Dominic could answer, Gabriel's phone rang.
He listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
Gabriel looked at Dominic.
“We found Anna's apartment.”
“And?”
“It's destroyed.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Body?”
“No.”
Relief flickered.
Then Gabriel continued.
“But there are signs of a struggle. Blood in the kitchen. Two shell casings. Surveillance system ripped out.”
“Neighbors?”
“One heard screaming around six.”
Dominic checked the clock.
Nearly nine-thirty.
Three hours.
“Get traffic cameras.”
“Already happening.”
Julian suddenly spoke.
“You won't find her that way.”
Dominic turned.
“You know where she is?”
“No. But Sloane knows how you work. He'll make you waste time searching streets.”
“What do you suggest?”
Julian looked at the key in Dominic's hand.
“Open the box.”
Dominic glanced down.
The silver key.
Anna's key.
Seven years earlier, Dominic had rented a safe-deposit box in a small private bank near Bryant Park.
It contained emergency cash, passports, and documents.
He and Anna jokingly called it their “run-away box.”
Only two keys existed.
Dominic lost his during a robbery years ago.
Anna kept hers.
Or so he'd believed.
“Why would she send this?”
Julian stared at him.
“Maybe because what she hid inside is worth killing for.”
Dominic lifted his phone.
“Prepare cars.”
Gabriel nodded.
Julian pushed himself to his feet.
“You need me.”
“No.”
“I know Sloane.”
“So do I.”
“Not the way I do.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You've been working for him?”
Julian didn't answer quickly enough.
Dominic understood.
“You son of a bitch.”
“It wasn't what you think.”
“You spent seven years inside his organization?”
“I spent seven years trying to destroy it.”
“Without telling me.”
“You couldn't know.”
“Stop telling me what I could know!”
A small voice came from the doorway.
“Dominic?”
Everyone turned.
Sophie stood there wearing one of Dominic's white dress shirts over her damp clothes.
It reached her knees.
Dr. Shaw stood behind her apologetically.
“She woke up.”
Dominic's anger vanished instantly.
He crossed the room.
“What happened?”
Sophie rubbed one eye.
“I had a bad dream.”
Dominic crouched.
“About your mom?”
She nodded.
He hesitated.
Then held out his hand.
Sophie took it.
“Can I ask you something?” Dominic said.
Another nod.
“Before your mother sent you here, did she give you anything besides the key?”
Sophie thought.
“No.”
“Did she say anything about a bank?”
“No.”
“A box?”
“No.”
She suddenly frowned.
“But she told me a story.”
“What story?”
“About a princess.”
Julian looked up.
Dominic noticed.
“What princess?”
Sophie climbed onto the sofa.
“The princess had to hide something from the bad king.”
Dominic sat across from her.
“What did she hide?”
“A picture.”
“What kind of picture?”
Sophie shrugged.
“She said the princess put it where winter lives in summer.”
Dominic looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel looked confused.
Julian didn't.
His face had gone pale.
Dominic turned toward him.
“You know what that means.”
Julian hesitated.
“Anna used to call the cold-storage archive in the old Vale Tower basement ‘winter.’”
Dominic slowly stood.
Vale Tower had been closed for renovations for nearly five years.
Only a handful of employees still had access.
“What's in that archive?”
Julian swallowed.
“Original accounting records.”
Dominic stared at him.
Records from the year Julian supposedly died.
Records Anna had audited.
Gabriel's phone buzzed again.
He answered.
Then his posture stiffened.
“What now?”
Gabriel ended the call.
“The safe-deposit bank was robbed thirty minutes ago.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Anything taken?”
“One box.”
He already knew.
“Ours.”
Gabriel nodded.
Sophie squeezed Dominic's hand.
He looked down at her.
“Did Mom do something wrong?”
“No.”
“Then why are bad people chasing her?”
Dominic sat beside her.
“Because sometimes good people find bad secrets.”
Sophie considered that seriously.
“Are you a good person?”
No one in the room moved.
Dominic looked at the child.
He could have lied.
He had lied to judges.
Police.
Business partners.
Enemies.
He couldn't lie to her.
“I've done bad things.”
Sophie frowned.
“But will you help my mom?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can be good tonight.”
Something inside Dominic fractured.
He gently squeezed her hand.
“Yes,” he said quietly.
“I can be good tonight.”
Then a security alarm sounded.
Gabriel touched his earpiece.
“What?”
A guard shouted through the radio.
Gunshots cracked somewhere downstairs.
Gabriel pulled his weapon.
“They're inside.”
Dominic stood, positioning himself between Sophie and the doorway.
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
The lights suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Sophie screamed.
Dominic reached for her.
Then the emergency lights flashed red.
A shape moved in the corridor.
Gabriel fired.
The figure fell.
Another appeared.
Dominic grabbed Sophie and pulled her behind the desk.
Julian shouted.
“There's a service exit behind the bookcase!”
Dominic looked at him.
“How do you know?”
Julian smiled grimly.
“Because I helped build this floor.”
Gabriel fired again.
“Move!”
Dominic pressed a hidden switch.
A bookshelf slid open.
Julian stared at the passage.
“Get Sophie out.”
Dominic pushed her toward Gabriel.
She resisted.
“No!”
“Sophie.”
“You're coming!”
“I'll be right behind you.”
She grabbed his jacket.
“Promise?”
Dominic looked into her terrified eyes.
“Promise.”
Gabriel pulled Sophie into the passage.
Julian followed.
Dominic turned back toward the hallway.
Three armed men appeared through the smoke.
Dominic raised his weapon.
The first man shouted:
“Vale! Sloane wants the girl alive!”
Dominic fired.
The man dropped.
The second ducked behind a column.
The third yelled something that stopped Dominic colder than any bullet could have.
“She's his daughter!”
Dominic froze.
One fatal second.
A shot shattered the glass beside his head.
Dominic returned fire and dove behind the desk.
But the words remained.
She's his daughter.
Anna disappeared six years ago.
Sophie was five.
Dominic stared at the hidden passage.
His heart pounded.
Impossible.
Or perhaps the truth had been standing barefoot in front of him all evening.
The attacker's voice came from the hallway again.
“Sloane knows, Vale!”
May you like
Another shot.
“He knows that little girl is yours!”
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