Chapter 3 - Dominic Vale Knew My Mother’s Last Secret
We drove to a house I had never seen before.
It stood on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic, protected by iron gates and cameras.
Inside, everything was strangely quiet.
Dominic's men secured the perimeter.
Naomi was taken to a separate room.
I followed Dominic into a library.
He closed the door.
"You have questions."
"I have hundreds."
"You'll get answers."
I crossed my arms.
"Start with my mother."
He stared at the ocean beyond the window.
"My father loved very few people."
"Was my mother one of them?"
"No."
I frowned.
"They were not lovers."
Relief and confusion collided inside me.
"Then what?"
"Partners."
I said nothing.
Dominic continued.
"My father built his empire through violence. But he also built a private network. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, judges. People who helped him disappear when necessary."
"And my mother?"
"She wasn't one of them by choice."
He told me Anthony Vale had suffered a severe heart condition.
My mother had worked in the hospital and had noticed discrepancies in his medical records.
Someone had manipulated them.
Anthony discovered that the hospital had been secretly creating false identities for powerful patients.
One of those identities belonged to a woman.
A woman who was supposed to be dead.
My mother discovered the woman's true name.
"Who was she?"
Dominic shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Then why are you looking for her?"
"Because my father died trying to protect her."
I stared.
"You said he disappeared."
"He did."
Dominic admitted that Anthony had faked his death.
"He planned to leave Boston permanently."
"What happened?"
"He never made it."
"Who stopped him?"
"That's what I've been trying to discover."
He opened the black box again.
There was another object inside.
A hospital bracelet.
My mother's name was printed on it.
Date: September 14.
I stared.
My mother had died September 13.
"This is impossible."
Dominic nodded.
"Exactly."
I looked up.
"Someone created this bracelet after her supposed death."
"Yes."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
I felt dizzy.
"My mother may not have died when they said she did."
"We don't know that either."
"Then stop speaking in riddles."
He looked at me.
"You want the truth?"
"More than anything."
"Your mother's death certificate was falsified."
My heart pounded.
"How?"
"The attending physician signed it."
"Who?"
Dominic's expression became grim.
"Dr. Samuel Hart."
I took a step back.
The hospital chief.
My mother's doctor.
The man in the photograph.
"Then why has he spent years pretending to help me?"
"Because you were never supposed to discover any of this."
I thought about the hospital.
About Naomi.
About the server accessed using my credentials.
Someone had been building a trail toward me.
"Who attacked you?"
"I don't know."
"Who knew you would be at St. Bartholomew's?"
"Very few."
"Then one of them betrayed you."
Dominic nodded.
"Likely."
I looked at his wound.
"Why did you come to the hospital?"
He was silent.
Then he pulled a file from a drawer.
"My men found this in a storage unit yesterday."
I opened it.
Inside was my mother's handwriting.
A single sentence had been written across the first page.
If Dominic Vale returns, tell him Grace is not what they think she is.
My hands shook.
"What does that mean?"
Dominic stepped closer.
"I'm hoping you can tell me."
"I can't."
"Then we find out."
That night, I couldn't sleep.
At four in the morning, I walked downstairs.
I found Dominic sitting alone in the kitchen.
He was holding the compass.
"You should be resting."
"So should you."
He smiled faintly.
I sat across from him.
"Why did you ask if I was real?"
His smile vanished.
"Because when I first opened my eyes, I thought I was looking at your mother."
I stared at him.
"You knew what she looked like?"
"From photographs."
"Do I look like her?"
"Enough to make a dying man question reality."
We sat in silence.
Then he said something I hadn't expected.
"I was eleven when my father taught me to recognize danger."
"And?"
"He told me fear is easy. Trust is expensive."
I smiled sadly.
"Sounds like something he'd say."
"You know what my father told me about your mother?"
"What?"
"Never betray Eleanor Walker."
I looked away.
My mother had never told me anything about Anthony Vale.
Maybe she'd been protecting me.
Or maybe she'd been protecting him.
A noise came from the hallway.
Dominic stood immediately.
A shadow moved beneath the door.
Marcus burst in.
"Boss!"
The door exploded inward.
Gunfire ripped through the kitchen.
Dominic shoved me behind the counter.
Marcus returned fire.
Three men charged through the doorway.
Then everything went silent.
One attacker was still alive.
Dominic dragged him closer.
"Who sent you?"
The man laughed through blood.
"You think this is about you?"
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
The attacker looked at me.
"It's about her."
My blood froze.
"Who is her?"
The man smiled.
"The daughter."
Before anyone could stop him, he swallowed a small capsule.
His body went limp.
Marcus searched him.
Nothing.
No identification.
No phone.
Only a piece of paper.
Dominic unfolded it.
It contained four words.
SHE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING.
I looked at Dominic.
"I don't remember anything."
May you like
He stared back.
"Maybe that's the problem."
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