Chapter 4 - Her Mother Had Been Living in the Shadows
Her mother looked older.
That was the first thing Lena noticed.
Not different.
Older.
There were silver strands through her dark hair.
Fine lines around her eyes.
But it was still the same face Lena had searched for in old photographs.
The same eyes.
The same mouth.
The same small scar near the chin.
"Mom?"
The woman stepped forward.
"Please, sweetheart."
Lena climbed from the SUV before Dominic could stop her.
She crossed the road.
For one second, she was not a secretary standing beside a mafia boss.
She was a daughter who had spent half her life believing she had been abandoned.
She slapped her mother.
The sound echoed through the street.
Her mother did not defend herself.
Lena's eyes filled with tears.
"You let me think you were dead."
"I know."
"You let me believe Dad died."
"I know."
"You watched me work for him."
Her mother looked at Dominic.
"Because he was the safest man you could have been near."
Lena shook her head.
"That's what everyone keeps saying."
She looked at Marcus.
"Then why is he here?"
Marcus smiled.
"Because the people protecting you have been lying."
Dominic stepped between them.
"You're done."
Marcus laughed.
"Still playing hero."
He raised a hand.
The armed men lowered their weapons.
Marcus looked toward Lena.
"Ask your mother what happened twelve years ago."
Lena turned.
Her mother closed her eyes.
"Michael discovered a transfer account."
"To where?"
"Offshore companies controlled by Marcus."
Marcus interrupted.
"Companies your father used."
"No," her mother said.
Her voice was firm.
"Your father blamed Michael for the missing money. Michael discovered that Marcus had been stealing from everyone."
Dominic's expression darkened.
"How much?"
"Millions."
Marcus shrugged.
"Old history."
"No," Dominic said. "Murder isn't history."
Marcus smiled.
"Your father killed my brother."
Dominic went still.
Lena had never seen him react like that.
Marcus continued.
"And you inherited his throne."
"My father was a monster."
"Yet you became exactly what he was."
Dominic's eyes turned cold.
"I became what he couldn't."
Marcus seemed disappointed.
"Still convinced you can clean the blood from your hands."
Lena stepped forward.
"This ends tonight."
Marcus laughed.
"You're adorable."
Then Lena saw it.
The small tattoo on Marcus's wrist.
A symbol.
She recognized it from the ledger.
A mark connected to the secret account.
She suddenly understood something.
"The ledger isn't the only evidence."
Everyone looked at her.
Marcus's smile disappeared.
Lena lifted the journal.
"There are digital records."
Dominic looked at her.
"You found something."
"In the back pages."
She opened them.
Numbers.
Coordinates.
A sequence of encrypted account codes.
Her mother stared.
"Michael copied the backup."
"Where is it?"
Her mother looked at Lena.
"In your house."
Lena stared.
"What?"
"The music box."
Lena remembered.
The old music box at her childhood home.
The one her mother had told her never to open.
Marcus suddenly raised his weapon.
Dominic moved instantly.
A shot cracked.
The bullet struck the SUV.
Dominic fired back.
Chaos erupted.
Marcus's men scattered.
Cecilia's team returned fire from behind the cars.
Lena's mother pulled her toward cover.
Dominic reached them.
"Get in."
They ran.
But Marcus disappeared into the darkness.
Back at the safe house, Lena found the music box packed inside the bottom of an old Rossi storage trunk her mother had secretly kept.
When Dominic opened it, a tiny compartment clicked open.
Inside was a flash drive.
Lena stared.
"That's it."
Dominic inserted it into an isolated computer.
Encrypted files appeared.
He tried to open them.
Password required.
Lena's mother whispered a phrase.
"Your birthday."
Lena typed it.
The files opened.
Bank records appeared.
Video files.
Photographs.
And one recording.
Michael Vale sat in front of a camera.
He looked exhausted.
Blood stained his shirt.
Lena covered her mouth.
Her father looked directly into the camera.
"Lena, if you're seeing this, I'm probably gone."
She began to cry.
Michael continued.
"I need you to know that none of this was your fault."
He explained everything.
He had discovered that Dominic's father and Marcus had been working together to control the Rossi organization.
But Dominic's father had betrayed Marcus.
Marcus retaliated.
Michael stole the records.
Dominic's father ordered him killed.
But one of Dominic's father's men secretly helped Michael escape.
That man was Dominic.
Young.
Terrified.
Determined.
Michael spoke directly to him in the recording.
"Dominic, I know you will inherit everything."
Michael paused.
"Do not become your father."
Dominic stared at the screen.
Lena reached for his hand.
He allowed her fingers to close around his.
The recording continued.
"I hid the truth because Marcus will stop at nothing to get these files."
Michael's face softened.
"Protect my daughter."
The screen went black.
Lena turned toward Dominic.
"You did."
He looked at her.
"I tried."
"You did."
He shook his head.
"I hired you before I knew I was already in love with you."
Lena's breath stopped.
He continued.
"I spent 2 years pretending your competence was the reason I couldn't stop watching you."
She stepped closer.
"What is the real reason?"
Dominic's answer was barely above a whisper.
"Because every room became easier to survive when you were in it."
Lena kissed him.
It was not planned.
It was not cautious.
It was the kind of kiss born from fear, relief, anger, and years of words left unsaid.
When they finally pulled apart, both were breathing hard.
Then the computer beeped.
A new file appeared.
LIVE LOCATION SHARED.
Dominic looked at the screen.
"Someone is accessing the system."
Cecilia entered.
Her face was pale.
"Marcus has taken the Rossi chairman."
Dominic went still.
"Who?"
May you like
Cecilia looked at him.
"Your uncle."
Related Stories
