Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN HE ALMOST MARRIED
The fire in the garage was controlled before it reached the main house.
Three vehicles were destroyed.
Two guards were dead.
Nathan escaped through the eastern gate with four men.
Claire was locked inside the estate’s underground holding room.
Dominic sat across from her.
No lawyers.
No witnesses.
Only a steel table and a single light.
Claire’s wrists were secured to the chair.
She looked more offended than frightened.
“You cannot keep me here forever,” she said.
“I do not need forever.”
“You think Nathan betrayed you.”
“He did.”
“So did you.”
Claire leaned back.
“I chose the side that understood me.”
“Your brother.”
“My half-brother.”
She smiled bitterly.
“Our father had two families.”
“Nathan grew up learning how rich men hid their mistakes.”
“I grew up as one of those mistakes.”
Dominic watched her carefully.
“When did you meet Elena?”
“Before you met me.”
“How long before?”
“Two months before she died.”
Claire admitted she had approached Elena through a women’s foundation.
She presented herself as a donor relations consultant.
Her purpose was to learn how much Elena knew about Nathan’s accounts.
Elena discovered the truth too quickly.
“She trusted people,” Claire said.
“That made her dangerous.”
“You mean decent.”
“In our world, those words often mean the same thing.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Did you help kill her?”
Claire’s eyes moved toward the table.
“Nathan cut the brake line.”
“Were you there?”
“I followed in the second car.”
“Did Elena survive the crash?”
Claire looked at him again.
“For a few minutes.”
Dominic’s hand closed into a fist.
“What did Nathan do?”
“He searched her.”
“For the pendant?”
“Yes.”
“He did not find it.”
“Then he pulled you out before the fuel caught fire.”
Dominic remembered Nathan dragging him across wet pavement.
He remembered the flames.
He remembered trying to crawl back.
Nathan had held him down.
“I am saving you,” Nathan had shouted.
Now Dominic understood.
Nathan had not been saving him.
He had been keeping him away from Elena long enough for her to die.
Claire watched the realization spread across his face.
“He needed you alive.”
“Your death would have fractured the organization.”
“Your grief made you dependent.”
“He became your brother because he murdered your wife.”
Dominic stood and turned away.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he asked the question that mattered now.
“Where did Nathan go?”
Claire hesitated.
Dominic placed the silver bird pendant on the table.
Her expression changed.
“You found the card.”
“What is in the final file?”
“I do not know.”
“Nathan believed it contained Elena’s copy of the original ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The names beneath the organization.”
“Judges.”
“Port officials.”
“Police commissioners.”
“Politicians.”
“Every person Nathan has paid for seventeen years.”
“If that file opens, his entire network collapses.”
“Where would he go?”
Claire looked at the pendant.
“He needs the password.”
“And he thinks he knows where Elena hid it.”
“Where?”
“The chapel.”
Dominic’s estate had a private stone chapel built by his grandfather.
Elena used to sit there when she could not sleep.
After her death, Dominic locked it.
Nobody entered.
Claire continued.
“Nathan believes Elena carved the password somewhere inside.”
“Why has he waited five years?”
“He searched the chapel before.”
“He found nothing.”
“Now he knows Mia had the pendant.”
“He believes Mia knows the rest.”
Dominic moved toward the door.
Claire called after him.
“You should ask yourself why Elena gave the pendant to a maid.”
Dominic stopped.
“Mia was not working here when Elena died.”
“I know.”
May you like
Claire’s smile returned.
“Mia was working for Detective Sofia Reyes.”
