Chapter 5 - Vanessa’s Real Face
Vanessa aimed the gun at me.
“Give me the drive.”
I stood slowly.
“You mean the flash drive?”
Her smile widened.
“All of it.”
Evelyn stepped between us.
“Put the weapon down.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You lawyers always think words matter.”
“They do when the right judge hears them.”
“You won't live long enough to find one.”
My heart raced.
“You killed my mother?”
Vanessa's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“Your mother knew too much.”
My knees weakened.
“You admitted it.”
“I didn't admit anything.”
“You just did.”
Vanessa cursed.
She had lost control.
Then footsteps sounded outside.
Dominic.
He entered the unit.
“Vanessa.”
She spun.
“You.”
He stopped.
“Put the gun down.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I never belonged to you.”
Her eyes filled with rage.
“You used me.”
“I used what you showed me.”
“You loved me.”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Vanessa's face collapsed.
“You never loved me?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“You think he loves you?”
I said nothing.
“He married you because your father ordered him to.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“That isn't true.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You told me yourself.”
“I told you whatever you needed to hear.”
She fired.
Dominic pushed me aside.
The bullet struck the storage cabinet.
Evelyn grabbed a heavy metal folder and hit Vanessa's wrist.
The gun fell.
Dominic kicked it away.
Vanessa ran.
I chased her.
She reached the parking lot.
A black car waited.
Before she could enter, police vehicles surrounded the area.
Evelyn had called them.
Vanessa was arrested.
But the story was far from over.
Inside the storage unit, we found the final piece.
A financial ledger.
The Harbor Project wasn't just money laundering.
It was a network of illegal property seizures.
Families had been forced off valuable land.
Businesses had been manipulated into debt.
Then Caruso Design had received the development contracts.
My father had been involved.
So had Dominic's father.
But Dominic's signature appeared only on documents dated after he took over.
That mattered.
Because he had inherited the machine.
Then tried to break it.
There was another name.
Rafael Bellini.
Dominic's uncle.
The man everyone believed had moved to Florida years earlier.
Except he wasn't in Florida.
He was in New York.
And he controlled the hidden trust.
Evelyn looked at me.
“Your father warned you that Dominic was trying to dismantle the network.”
“Yes.”
“Then Rafael is likely the person who wants you dead.”
I looked at Dominic.
“Do you know where he is?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“Take me to him.”
“No.”
I glared at him.
“You don't get to decide anymore.”
“I know.”
“Then let me come.”
He hesitated.
“It's dangerous.”
“So is being married to you.”
For the first time, he almost smiled.
But the humor disappeared quickly.
“Okay.”
We left that night.
Dominic took me to a private office overlooking the city.
Rafael Bellini was waiting.
He was sixty-one.
Gray hair.
Expensive suit.
A face people trusted immediately.
That was what made him dangerous.
He looked at me and smiled.
“Nora.”
I felt sick.
“How do you know my name?”
“I've known you since you were a child.”
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You were involved in her death.”
His smile faded.
“Your mother made a choice.”
“What choice?”
“She chose you over money.”
“And you punished her.”
Rafael looked at Dominic.
“You see what you've done?”
Dominic said nothing.
Rafael continued.
“You could have had everything.”
“I never wanted everything.”
“You wanted her.”
He nodded toward me.
“And now she has become your weakness.”
I stepped forward.
“No.”
Both men looked at me.
“She is not his weakness.”
Dominic turned.
I continued.
“She is the first person he's ever been afraid to lose.”
Rafael's expression darkened.
“I see.”
He reached into a drawer.
Then threw a file onto the desk.
My name was on the cover.
Inside were records from my childhood.
School reports.
Medical documents.
Photographs.
Every birthday.
Every address.
Someone had tracked me my entire life.
I looked at Dominic.
“You knew.”
“Not all of it.”
“How long?”
“Since before our wedding.”
I felt betrayed again.
Rafael smiled.
“Your marriage was supposed to make it easier.”
“Easier for what?”
“To control your father.”
I stared.
My father hadn't chosen Dominic to protect me.
Perhaps he had chosen him because he knew the Carusos would eventually come.
My entire marriage had been built inside a war I hadn't known existed.
Then Rafael said:
“Your father is alive because I let him be.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“What?”
Rafael smiled.
“He works for me.”
Silence.
Then a voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
My father stepped inside.
He looked at Rafael.
“I never worked for you.”
Rafael raised an eyebrow.
My father said:
“I worked against you.”
Everything exploded into chaos.
Rafael reached for a weapon.
Dominic moved.
Security rushed in.
My father pulled me behind him.
We escaped through a private stairwell.
Outside, Dominic looked at my father.
“How long?”
“Twenty years.”
“You knew Rafael controlled everything.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you stop him?”
“Because I was waiting for the one person he could never predict.”
He looked at me.
“You.”
I shook my head.
“This isn't about me.”
My father smiled.
“It became about you the moment you were born.”
Then he handed me a second flash drive.
“This is the original.”
I stared.
“The original what?”
“The ownership records.”
He looked at Dominic.
“Your husband's father never owned Caruso Design.”
Dominic froze.
“Then who did?”
May you like
My father looked at me.
“You.”
