Chapter 6 - The Mafia Boss I Thought Was Protecting Me Had His Own Secret
Dominic didn't react.
That frightened me more than if he had.
Elliot smiled.
“Tell her.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Tell her what?”
“You know.”
My father spoke.
“Dominic saved us.”
Elliot laughed.
“Did he?”
I looked at Dominic.
“Did you know my mother?”
“Yes.”
The answer hit me.
“You knew her.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She came to me.”
“Why?”
“She believed Samuel Royce was planning to kill you and your father.”
“And what did you do?”
“I helped her.”
Elliot laughed again.
“You helped her disappear.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“That was necessary.”
“For what?”
My voice shook.
“Tell me.”
Dominic looked at me.
“Your mother asked me to make a deal.”
“What deal?”
“She wanted you protected.”
“From Royce?”
“Yes.”
“Then why hide her?”
“Because Royce had people watching the house.”
“You could have told me.”
“You were fifteen.”
“That wasn't your decision.”
“No.”
He looked away.
“Your mother made it.”
I felt betrayed anyway.
“How long have you known me?”
He didn't answer immediately.
“Since you were sixteen.”
I stared.
He had known.
For fourteen years.
All those years when I believed nobody noticed.
Someone had.
He had.
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew what my father was doing.”
“Some of it.”
“And you watched me work in that storage room.”
“Yes.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Why?”
“Because I promised your mother.”
“What promise?”
“That if the Mercer family came after you, I would protect you.”
“That's all?”
His eyes met mine.
“No.”
My heart stopped.
Dominic took a breath.
“I also promised myself I would never interfere with your life unless I had to.”
“Then why now?”
“Because the people my enemy sent after you became more powerful than I expected.”
Elliot stepped forward.
“You see? He doesn't love you.”
Dominic turned.
“You should leave.”
“Or what?”
“Or I stop being polite.”
Elliot smiled.
“Still pretending you're different.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“I never pretended.”
Elliot left.
We were silent.
Then I turned to Dominic.
“Is there more?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
He looked toward my father.
“Your mother's second ledger is real.”
My heart sank.
“What's in it?”
“Payments made to people inside your father's company.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
I stared.
He continued.
“Rebecca.”
She covered her face.
“Gerald Pike.”
Then he looked at me.
“And me.”
I stopped breathing.
“You took money from my mother?”
“No.”
“Then why is your name there?”
“Because she paid me.”
“For what?”
“To protect you.”
I sat down.
Dominic knelt in front of me.
“She paid me to put a surveillance team around your school.”
My eyes burned.
“I never knew.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
“Everyone kept deciding what I was allowed to know.”
“I know.”
“I hate that.”
“I know.”
“Then stop doing it.”
His voice softened.
“I will.”
That was the first promise he made that I believed.
We retrieved the second ledger through one of Dominic's contacts.
It was kept in a safety deposit box.
My mother's handwriting appeared on the first page.
I trust Dominic because he understands what fear does to families.
Then another sentence.
I do not trust Charles because he will sacrifice himself before he admits he is frightened.
I looked at my father.
It described him perfectly.
The ledger showed that Charles had been funneling money into protective accounts.
Not stealing.
But something else appeared.
A transfer.
$600,000.
To Samuel Royce.
I looked up.
“What's this?”
My father looked shocked.
“I never made that payment.”
Dominic took the page.
“Then someone forged this too.”
I studied the transaction date.
Four days before my mother's death.
I checked the metadata.
The ledger had been modified digitally after my mother wrote it.
“Wait.”
I enlarged the document.
There.
A file-access timestamp.
Sixteen years later.
Someone had inserted the transfer recently.
Dominic's eyes sharpened.
“This isn't your mother's original.”
“Then who altered it?”
The answer came through my phone.
A message.
COME TO WHITMORE HOUSE.
COME ALONE.
Then another.
YOUR STEPMOTHER HAS THE ORIGINAL.
I looked at Rebecca.
Her face had gone white.
“I don't.”
“Rebecca.”
She shook her head.
“I swear.”
A gunshot rang outside.
The window shattered.
Dominic pulled me to the floor.
Security returned fire.
My father dropped behind a table.
Rebecca screamed.
Then everything went silent.
Dominic looked through the broken window.
“Sniper.”
“Who?”
“Unknown.”
My father looked at Rebecca.
“Where is the original ledger?”
She began crying.
“Anne gave it to me.”
I stared.
“What?”
“She gave it to me the night before she died.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought Charles was being watched.”
“Where did you hide it?”
Rebecca walked to a cabinet.
She removed a small wooden box.
Inside was a notebook.
My mother's real handwriting.
No digital additions.
No inserted pages.
No false transfers.
Just truth.
The final page contained three names.
Samuel Royce.
Gerald Pike.
And Elliot Mercer.
Under Elliot's name, my mother had written:
He is not acting alone.
And under that:
The fourth person is inside the Whitmore family.
I looked at my father.
Then Rebecca.
Then my sisters.
Madison.
Lauren.
Emily.
One of them.
Dominic's hand tightened around mine.
“Don't accuse anyone yet.”
“I know.”
But one terrible realization had already settled inside me.
Someone at our family dinners had been feeding information to the people trying to destroy us.
And they knew exactly what time I left work.
Exactly where I sat.
Exactly how to make the first shot miss me.
May you like
That meant the betrayal was closer than I thought.
Much closer.
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