Chapter 4 - The Uncle Who Came Back From the Dead
Dominic Rowe had disappeared without a body.
In the Rowe family, that was considered proof enough.
For fifteen years, Vincent had believed his uncle was dead.
Now Dominic was sending messages through men Vincent could not trace.
The first arrived at 7:00 a.m.
Tell Vincent I am tired of watching him waste what belongs to us.
The second arrived an hour later.
Bring Claire to the Meridian Hotel.
Come alone.
Vincent crushed the paper in his fist.
Claire watched him from across the breakfast table.
“You're not going.”
“You are not going.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“It doesn't matter.”
“Everything matters now.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You're my wife.”
Claire sighed.
“And you keep saying that like it means you can put me in a locked room.”
“I am trying to keep you alive.”
“I know.”
“Then listen.”
“No.”
Vincent almost smiled from frustration.
“You are impossible.”
“You married me.”
“Eight years ago, you were easier.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Eight years ago, you were more honest.”
That silenced him.
They went to the Meridian together.
The hotel had been abandoned for years, but the ballroom doors were open.
Dominic stood beside the windows.
He was older than Vincent remembered.
Gray hair.
A walking cane.
A thin scar along his cheek.
He looked at Claire.
Then smiled.
“So this is the woman who owns half the battlefield.”
Vincent stepped between them.
“Stay away from her.”
Dominic chuckled.
“You always did mistake aggression for authority.”
Claire stepped around Vincent.
“You asked me to come.”
Dominic looked pleased.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your husband is standing on top of a collapsing empire and doesn't know which floor is already burning.”
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
“What do you want?”
“What's mine.”
“Everything was divided years ago.”
“By your father.”
“You forfeited your claims.”
“Because I was accused of betraying him.”
“You did betray him.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“I tried to save him.”
Vincent froze.
Dominic turned to Claire.
“Your father knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Vincent's father planned to kill him.”
Vincent stared at his uncle.
“That is a lie.”
Dominic removed a photograph from his coat.
He handed it to Claire.
There were three men in the picture.
Vincent's father.
Claire's father.
Dominic.
And a fourth man in the shadows.
Claire recognized him immediately.
Nolan Price's father.
Dominic spoke softly.
“Your father's death wasn't natural.”
Claire's world tilted.
“My father died in a car accident.”
“That is what they told you.”
Vincent looked at Dominic.
“Why now?”
“Because the people responsible are back.”
Dominic pointed to Claire.
“And they need her signature to unlock something your father hid.”
Claire's hands trembled.
“What?”
“An account.”
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
“What account?”
Dominic smiled.
“The one containing every record of your family's operations.”
Claire looked at Vincent.
“Is that why I'm protected?”
“Yes,” Dominic said before Vincent could answer. “Your father transferred the controlling authority into Claire's family line.”
Vincent's expression hardened.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you weren't ready.”
Dominic coughed.
For a moment, he looked weak.
Then he whispered:
“Neither was she.”
A gunshot exploded from outside.
The ballroom windows shattered.
Vincent grabbed Claire and pulled her to the floor.
Marcus and two security men returned fire.
Dominic fell against the wall.
“Go!”
Vincent dragged Claire through the side corridor.
They ran down a service staircase.
The sound of gunfire echoed behind them.
Outside, snow whipped through the alley.
They reached the armored SUV.
Claire climbed in.
Vincent followed.
Neither spoke until they were three blocks away.
Finally Claire said:
“Your uncle saved us.”
Vincent stared forward.
“Yes.”
“You don't believe him.”
“I believe someone wanted him dead.”
“That's not an answer.”
Vincent clenched his jaw.
“I don't know what to believe.”
Claire looked at him.
“Then we're in the same position.”
That night, Vincent received a call from Marcus.
“They found Dominic.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In a private clinic.”
“Status?”
“He's hurt, but stable.”
Claire looked up.
Vincent ended the call.
“We're going.”
At the clinic, Dominic was lying in bed with a bandage around his shoulder.
Claire sat beside him.
“Tell me the truth.”
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“He will hate me for it.”
“He already does.”
Dominic smiled.
“Fair enough.”
He explained everything.
Years earlier, Claire's father had discovered a hidden financial network used by several criminal families.
He had secretly created a legal structure protecting the records.
The controlling rights could only pass through his daughter.
Claire.
Vincent's father discovered the arrangement.
Rather than seize it, he agreed to protect Claire and eventually transferred several Rowe assets to a trust bearing her name.
But someone had betrayed the agreement.
Nolan's father.
He had attempted to seize the records.
Claire's father died while trying to prevent the theft.
Dominic tried to expose the betrayal.
He was blamed instead.
Vincent's father ordered him killed.
Dominic escaped.
For years, he worked from the shadows.
“And Madison?” Claire asked.
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“That woman was recruited by someone who wanted access to him.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“She knew what she was doing?”
Dominic shook his head.
“Not all of it.”
Claire stared at Vincent.
He looked ashamed.
That was important.
But not enough.
Later, in the parking garage, Vincent stopped Claire.
“I am sorry.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
Claire looked at him.
“You don't have to keep apologizing.”
“What should I do?”
“Stop asking me what to do.”
He nodded.
“I will.”
Claire walked away.
Then stopped.
“Vincent.”
“Yes?”
“I haven't decided whether our marriage survives.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“But I haven't decided it ends either.”
Hope flickered in his eyes.
Claire saw it.
“Don't confuse uncertainty with forgiveness.”
“I won't.”
She left.
Vincent watched her go.
For the first time, he understood that winning Claire back could not be about controlling the outcome.
May you like
He would have to become someone she could choose.
And before he could do that, he had to survive the people trying to destroy them both.
