Chapter 3 - The Woman Everyone Trusted
Mara refused to speak for six hours.
She sat in a chair inside the underground security room, hands bound in front of her, her once-neat uniform stained from the struggle. Two guards stood outside the door. Marco D’Angelo, Dominic’s head of security, watched her through the one-way glass.
“She wants you angry,” Marco said.
Dominic stood beside him with his arms folded. “She nearly killed my nephew.”
“She wants you reckless.”
“That would be wise advice if I were someone else.”
Marco gave him a hard look. “You’re trying to become someone else.”
Dominic said nothing.
Upstairs, Evelyn sat beside Noah’s crib in the temporary medical suite Dr. Benson had set up. The physician had arrived within twenty minutes of the lockdown and was now reviewing samples from the laundry room.
Noah was asleep, but his breathing remained fragile.
Dr. Benson held up the vial Evelyn had hidden.
“You were right,” he said. “Oleander derivative. Diluted, but repeated exposure could absolutely cause these symptoms.”
Evelyn’s jaw tightened.
“Could it have killed him?”
The doctor looked at Noah.
“Yes.”
The answer sat heavily in the room.
Dominic entered a moment later.
His shirt sleeves were rolled up. The gun was gone, but the tension in his body had not eased.
Dr. Benson looked between them. “I’ll need to report this to the authorities.”
Dominic nodded. “Do it.”
The doctor hesitated.
That answer clearly surprised him.
“So the police will be involved?”
“Yes.”
Dr. Benson left with the evidence.
Evelyn watched Dominic carefully. “You’re really calling them?”
“My nephew was poisoned in my house.”
“You’ve handled problems quietly before.”
“I know.”
She studied his face.
He had not apologized yet.
Perhaps men like Dominic Vale did not know how.
But the fact that he had chosen the police over private retaliation meant something.
“Thank you,” she said.
Dominic looked toward Noah. “Don’t thank me for doing what I should have done from the beginning.”
Evelyn’s expression softened slightly.
“You believed Mara.”
“Everyone did.”
“You believed her more than you believed me.”
He accepted that without argument.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
Before she could respond, Marco appeared in the doorway.
“Boss,” he said. “You need to hear this.”
In the security room, Mara was no longer smiling.
She looked pale now. Nervous.
On the table in front of her sat a disposable phone recovered from the lining of her shoe.
Marco pressed play on an audio message.
A man’s voice filled the room.
Deep. Calm. Distorted electronically.
“By tomorrow night, the child must be gone. If Vale suspects anything, use the fiancée. He already distrusts her. Make it look emotional.”
The recording ended.
Evelyn felt Dominic’s eyes move toward her.
Mara saw it too.
“That’s what I told you,” she said. “She was always the plan.”
“Whose voice is that?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic stepped closer to the table. “Wrong answer.”
Mara swallowed.
“I was contacted through someone at the staffing agency.”
“Who?”
“I never met him.”
“Who?”
“I swear—”
Dominic leaned forward, resting both palms on the metal table.
Mara began to cry.
But this time, no one believed her.
“He called himself Mr. Gray,” she whispered. “He knew everything. Your schedules. Noah’s medical history. Your brother’s route the night he died. He knew Evelyn was coming into the family.”
“Why Noah?” Evelyn asked.
Mara looked at her with hatred.
“Because he is the only heir Dominic loves enough to break for.”
Dominic’s face went still.
Mara continued, voice shaking now. “Your brother was planning to sell his shares in the Vale shipping business. He wanted out. He wanted to move his wife and Noah somewhere safe. Mr. Gray said that couldn’t happen.”
“You helped murder my brother?” Dominic asked.
Mara sobbed.
“I only gave them the route. I didn’t know there would be an explosion.”
“You knew enough.”
“I needed the money!”
Dominic’s eyes were empty.
“How much?”
Mara looked down.
“Fifty thousand.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Two lives.
A family destroyed.
For fifty thousand dollars.
Mara suddenly lifted her head.
“But I didn’t do this alone,” she said quickly. “There is someone else in the estate. Someone close to you.”
Marco’s expression darkened. “Name.”
“I don’t know the name. I only know he has access to the west gate records and the private cameras.”
Dominic’s phone rang.
He answered without taking his eyes off Mara.
“What?”
The voice on the other end spoke rapidly.
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Keep him there,” he said. “I’m coming.”
He ended the call.
Marco looked at him. “What happened?”
“Police found the owner of the organic market Mara claimed she used.”
“And?”
“He’s dead.”
Evelyn felt a chill.
“Mr. Gray is cleaning up,” she said.
Dominic nodded.
Mara began to panic.
“You can’t leave me here! He’ll kill me!”
Dominic stared at her.
“You should have thought about that before you put your hand over a baby’s mouth.”
Mara’s face crumpled.
But then she said something that stopped everyone.
“He knows about Evelyn’s license.”
Evelyn went still.
Mara smiled weakly through her tears.
“He knows why she really lost it.”
Dominic turned toward Evelyn.
“What does she mean?”
Evelyn’s face became unreadable.
Mara leaned back in her chair.
May you like
“Oh,” she whispered. “You didn’t tell him.”
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