Chapter 4 - Jessica's Secret
Jessica Trent had always believed money could erase consequences.
She was about to discover it couldn't.
At the Trent mansion, she paced the marble floor while her father argued with someone on the phone.
"You said Vale wouldn't interfere."
"I said he wouldn't know."
Jessica froze.
Her father's voice dropped.
"The waitress was supposed to be humiliated, fired, and forgotten."
Dora.
Jessica suddenly understood why her father had reacted strangely when she mentioned the woman years ago.
She had thought it was curiosity.
It was fear.
Jessica stepped closer.
"Who were you talking about?"
Her father ended the call.
"Go upstairs."
"No."
"Jessica."
"Who is Dora Hayes?"
Her father's face changed.
That was enough.
"You know her."
"I know everyone who matters."
"You knew her mother."
Silence.
Jessica's heartbeat quickened.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"You're lying."
Her father slapped the table.
"Stop asking questions."
Jessica stared at him.
She had never been afraid of him.
Not until that moment.
"What does she have?"
"Nothing."
"Then why is Victor Vale protecting her?"
Her father said nothing.
Jessica took a step backward.
"You know something."
"Leave it alone."
But Jessica couldn't.
For years, she had believed Dora was beneath her.
A nobody.
A poor girl.
A target.
But now one of Boston's most powerful men had kissed Dora's hand in front of everyone.
That wasn't charity.
It wasn't pity.
It was possession.
And Jessica suddenly wanted to know why.
She began searching through old school photographs, yearbooks, newspaper clippings.
Then she found one.
A photo from senior year.
Dora stood in the back row.
Her mother stood outside the school gate.
Beside her was Elena Vale.
Jessica's stomach dropped.
She zoomed in.
There was a second person behind them.
Richard Vale.
Victor's uncle.
Jessica remembered seeing him at her father's house that same year.
She remembered hearing adults whisper.
She remembered one sentence.
The girl must never know.
Jessica sat down.
For the first time in her life, she realized she had bullied someone she never understood.
Someone whose existence had frightened adults powerful enough to make people disappear.
That evening, Jessica called Dora.
Dora answered cautiously.
"Jessica?"
"I need to tell you something."
"Why?"
"Because you're in danger."
Dora laughed bitterly.
"That's rich coming from you."
"I deserve that."
Silence.
Jessica swallowed.
"Your mother knew Victor's mother."
Dora's chest tightened.
"How do you know?"
"My father."
"Why is your father involved?"
"I don't know everything."
"You knew something before tonight."
"I found a photograph."
Jessica sent it.
Dora stared at the image.
Her mother's face.
Elena Vale.
Richard Vale.
And a little corner of a black car.
Dora recognized the car.
It had belonged to the man who used to visit her mother when she was little.
The man Dora thought was a family friend.
Her mother had called him Uncle Richard.
Dora's fingers went numb.
She remembered being six years old.
Remembered standing behind the kitchen door.
Remembered her mother crying.
Remembered Richard saying:
"If you tell the girl, she dies next."
Dora dropped the phone.
A memory she hadn't accessed in years suddenly returned.
Victor found her sitting on the floor.
"Dora?"
She looked up at him.
Her eyes were wet.
"I remember."
Victor knelt.
"What?"
"My mother was afraid of your uncle."
Victor went completely still.
"Richard?"
Dora nodded.
"She told me never to trust a man named Richard Vale."
Victor stared at her.
Then he pulled his phone out.
"Marcus."
His voice was ice.
"Cancel every meeting tomorrow."
May you like
"What happened?"
"We're going to war."
