Chapter 2 - The Dead Woman Who Knew Too MuchDominic picked Chloe up that afternoon.
This time, she got into the SUV willingly.
She had questions.
Too many.
The Moretti estate sat outside the city behind iron gates and a line of winter-bare trees.
Chloe expected intimidation.
Instead, she found old photographs.
Family photographs.
Dominic's father stood in several.
Beside him was a young woman.
Chloe stopped.
Her mother.
Rose Bennett.
Alive.
Smiling.
Holding a ledger.
“You knew her.”
Dominic stood beside Chloe.
“My father trusted her.”
“My mother never told me this.”
“She couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because she signed a confidentiality agreement.”
“For your father?”
“Yes.”
Chloe looked at him.
“What was she hiding?”
Dominic took a breath.
“My father's real business.”
She waited.
“He owned legitimate companies.”
“Hotels?”
“Construction.”
“Shipping.”
“Nightclubs.”
“And?”
Dominic looked toward the photograph.
“And a network nobody was supposed to know existed.”
Chloe understood.
Crime.
Her mother had worked for a Mafia family.
Not as a waitress.
As an accountant.
Dominic sat.
“My father wasn't always violent.”
“What happened?”
“Money.”
He explained.
A rival family, the Bellantis, had been trying to take control of Boston.
Dominic's father refused.
Rose discovered that someone inside the Moretti organization was secretly moving money.
Millions.
She traced the transfers.
Then she vanished.
“For twenty years, we thought she ran.”
“She didn't.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at Chloe.
“She was threatened.”
“By whom?”
“Someone inside my family.”
Chloe's mouth went dry.
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
He placed a file on the table.
Inside were copies of old financial records.
One account appeared repeatedly.
R. Bennett
Chloe stared.
“My mother's name.”
“Yes.”
“What was the money?”
“We don't know.”
“Did she steal?”
Dominic shook his head.
“She was moving it.”
“Where?”
“That's what someone wants to know.”
He gave her another document.
At the bottom was her mother's signature.
And beneath it:
Bennett Emergency Trust.
Chloe frowned.
“What is this?”
Dominic explained that Rose had created a hidden fund.
A fund for people trying to leave organized crime.
Witnesses.
Children.
Women.
Employees.
Anyone who wanted out.
“She helped people escape.”
“Yes.”
“And someone wanted the fund destroyed.”
“Yes.”
“Is that why she died?”
Dominic didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Chloe stood.
“I need to go home.”
“I'll take you.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't know you.”
He looked at her.
“You trusted me last night.”
“I trusted you because someone had a gun behind you.”
“Fair.”
She walked to the door.
Dominic stopped her.
“Chloe.”
“What?”
“Don't go back to your apartment.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“Your lock has been opened.”
Her blood ran cold.
“How do you know?”
“Because my man checked it.”
“When?”
“While you were sleeping.”
She stared.
“You broke into my apartment?”
“No.”
“How did you get inside?”
“The landlord let us in.”
“That is still creepy.”
“I agree.”
She hesitated.
“Where am I supposed to go?”
“My guest house.”
“No.”
“Hotel.”
“No.”
“Hotel penthouse.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“You're enjoying this.”
“A little.”
She hated that she almost smiled.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A male voice said:
“Stop looking into Rose Bennett.”
Chloe froze.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who saw what happened to your mother.”
Her pulse jumped.
“Where?”
“Meet me.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
The line ended.
Dominic took the phone from her hand.
“Who?”
She told him.
He immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“You don't get to decide.”
“I do when it's a trap.”
“You said my mother might have been killed.”
“Yes.”
“Then I need answers.”
“We'll get them.”
“I want them myself.”
Dominic looked at her.
For several seconds, they stared.
Then he said:
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“I'll take you.”
The meeting was at a deserted church.
Snow fell softly.
A man stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Nervous.
He looked directly at Chloe.
“You're Rose's daughter.”
“Yes.”
“She loved you.”
“How did she die?”
The man glanced at Dominic.
“She knew about a ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The Black Book.”
Dominic's face hardened.
The stranger continued.
“It contains the names of everyone who ever paid the Moretti family.”
“Why would my mother have it?”
“She didn't.”
“Then who?”
The stranger looked at Dominic.
“Your father.”
Dominic went still.
“He kept it.”
“Why?”
“To control everyone.”
The man reached into his coat.
A gunshot cracked.
He fell.
Chloe screamed.
Dominic pulled her behind a stone wall.
Another shot.
Then silence.
When they reached the man, he was dead.
But his hand held something.
A key.
Attached was a metal tag.
B-17.
Dominic picked it up.
“Airport storage.”
They drove there immediately.
Locker B-17 contained a box.
Inside was a black leather notebook.
The Black Book.
Chloe opened it.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
Hotels.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Judges.
Then she saw one entry.
ELIAS MORETTI — ROSE BENNETT — PROJECT NIGHTFALL
Dominic stared.
“What is Project Nightfall?”
He turned the page.
A photograph fell out.
It showed Rose holding a newborn baby.
Chloe stared.
“That isn't me.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
“No.”
Another woman stood beside Rose.
Elena Moretti.
Dominic's mother.
And between them was another baby.
Dominic's older brother.
Except he had died as an infant.
At least, that's what Dominic had always been told.
Chloe looked up.
“Dominic.”
He couldn't speak.
His brother hadn't died.
May you like
Someone had taken him.
And Rose had been involved.
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