Chapter 4 - Tommy Came Home With A Secret
Tommy arrived three days later.
He did not come willingly.
Vincent's men brought him to the estate just after midnight.
Charmian was asleep when the door opened.
She woke to voices.
Her brother.
She ran downstairs.
“Tommy!”
He looked at her.
For a moment, his face collapsed.
“Charm.”
She hugged him.
He stiffened.
Then held her.
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did I.”
She pulled back.
“Where have you been?”
Tommy looked toward Vincent.
Then away.
“I messed up.”
“You always mess up.”
“I know.”
“You signed my name.”
He looked at her.
“I didn't.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
Vincent stepped forward.
“He didn't sign it.”
Charmian stared.
“Then who did?”
Tommy laughed bitterly.
“Gabriel.”
“Why?”
“Because he needed you scared.”
“Why?”
Tommy hesitated.
“Because you have something.”
Charmian frowned.
“I don't.”
Tommy looked at Vincent.
“Yes, you do.”
Vincent's expression hardened.
“What?”
Tommy swallowed.
“Your mother's notebook.”
Charmian froze.
“My mother didn't have a notebook.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I gave it to you.”
“No.”
“You were ten.”
He stared at her.
“She told me to hide it in your schoolbag.”
Charmian searched her memory.
A red notebook.
A flower sticker.
She had thought it contained recipes.
She remembered carrying it for years.
Then losing it.
She looked at Tommy.
“Where is it?”
His expression broke.
“Your father took it.”
“My father?”
Tommy nodded.
“After Mom died.”
“Where is he?”
Tommy looked at Vincent.
“Dead.”
Charmian's breath caught.
“No.”
“He isn't.”
Silence.
Vincent stepped closer.
“You said he left.”
“He did.”
“Then?”
Tommy rubbed his face.
“He became involved with the Costa organization.”
Vincent went still.
“My father?”
“No.”
“Yours.”
Tommy nodded.
“Your father used mine.”
Charmian stared.
“My father was a courier.”
“He was more than that.”
Tommy lowered his voice.
“He discovered that the Costa family and the Petrovs had been moving money through college foundations and hospitals.”
Vincent's expression hardened.
“Why hospitals?”
Tommy looked at Charmian.
“Because people don't question charity.”
Charmian felt sick.
Her mother's death.
Her father's disappearance.
The debt.
School.
Everything suddenly connected.
“Why did they want me?”
Tommy looked down.
“Because your mother discovered something.”
“What?”
“She found a list.”
“Names?”
“Yes.”
“Of who?”
“Judges.”
“Police.”
“Doctors.”
“Politicians.”
“Everyone.”
Charmian's voice shook.
“What happened to the list?”
“She gave it to someone.”
“Who?”
Tommy looked at Vincent.
“His father.”
Vincent's face became expressionless.
“My father?”
“He was supposed to expose the Petrovs.”
“But he didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted more money.”
Vincent turned away.
Charmian saw his fists tighten.
Tommy continued.
“Your mother discovered what he did.”
“And?”
“She threatened to go public.”
Vincent looked at him.
“What happened to her?”
Tommy's eyes filled.
“Someone killed her.”
Charmian felt the room disappear.
She had known her mother was dead.
She had never known why.
She had spent years accepting the official explanation.
But now the truth stood in front of her.
It wasn't illness.
It wasn't fate.
It wasn't bad luck.
Someone had decided her mother was inconvenient.
Vincent stepped toward Tommy.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You better.”
Tommy swallowed.
“There was a man.”
“Name?”
“Elias Costa.”
Vincent froze.
His uncle.
His father's younger brother.
Everyone believed Elias had died in a car accident seventeen years ago.
Vincent stared at Tommy.
“Elias is dead.”
“He isn't.”
Silence.
Tommy reached inside his coat.
He removed an old photograph.
Vincent took it.
Elias stood beside Gabriel Petrov.
And behind them was Sloan Mercer.
Vincent's blood went cold.
Sloan was not a stranger.
She was the lawyer who had handled several of Vincent's largest acquisitions.
A woman he had trusted.
A woman who had access to everything.
Charmian saw his face.
“What?”
Vincent didn't answer.
He looked at Tommy.
“How long have you known?”
“Four years.”
“You let my people search for Elias.”
“I was afraid.”
“You let Charmian suffer.”
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
Vincent's voice became deadly quiet.
“By letting them torture her?”
Tommy flinched.
“I made mistakes.”
“You made choices.”
Tommy lowered his head.
“I know.”
Charmian stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Vincent looked at her.
She was crying.
But she was standing.
“I'm tired.”
Vincent's expression softened.
She looked at Tommy.
“You're going to tell me everything.”
“I will.”
“All of it.”
“Yes.”
“Then you're going to help fix what you broke.”
Tommy nodded.
Vincent studied Charmian.
She was no longer frightened.
Something in her had changed.
He liked it.
He didn't know whether he had earned the right to admire it.
But he did.
That night, Charmian returned to school.
The next morning, a professor announced that her missing exam had been restored.
And by afternoon, every Petrov account in the city had been frozen.
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Vincent had begun a war.
He just hadn't told Charmian how large it was.
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