Chapter 3: The Dead Man
The stranger stopped beneath the chandelier.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Dominic stared at him as though the dead had walked straight through his front door.
“Daniel?””
The man’s eyes found mine.
Older. Thinner. Silver threaded through his dark hair. A narrow scar ran from his temple toward his left ear.
But I knew those eyes.
I had seen them in photographs hidden in my mother’s closet.
I had seen them in the bathroom mirror every morning of my life.
My knees nearly gave out.
“No.””
The word came from me before I could stop it.
The stranger took one step forward.
“Rachel.””
I grabbed Lily and lifted her into my arms.
“Don't.””
His face tightened.
“Please.””
“My father is dead.””
“I know what you were told.””
“You're not him.””
His gaze dropped to Lily.
Something broke across his expression.
“She has your eyes.””
“Don't look at my daughter.””
He immediately looked away.
That small obedience frightened me more than an argument would have.
Dominic moved between us.
“You have thirty seconds to explain why I buried an empty coffin twenty-four years ago.””
Daniel stared at him.
“You knew the coffin was empty.””
The ballroom erupted in whispers.
Dominic’s face hardened.
“I knew nothing.””
“That's a lie.””
Marco stepped forward.
“Careful.””
Daniel ignored him.
“You knew I disappeared.””
“I knew you vanished after the Harbor Nine investigation.””
“You helped me vanish.””
“No.””
“Yes, Dominic.””
Dominic slammed his palm against the table.
“I gave you money because you said Rachel and her mother were in danger. Three days later, your car was found underwater.””
My breath caught.
All my life, I'd been told my father died in that car.
Daniel looked at me.
“The car was supposed to be empty.””
“Supposed to be?””
“The man helping me staged the crash.””
“Who?””
Daniel turned toward Ethan.
Ethan's confidence disappeared.
“My brother,” Daniel said.
Dominic went still.
“Vincent?””
Daniel nodded.
Dominic stared at his nephew.
Ethan backed away.
“My father had nothing to do with this.””
Daniel almost laughed.
“Your father built it.””
“Built what?”” I demanded.
Daniel looked at me again.
“A laundering network hidden inside Moretti shipping contracts.””
Ethan pointed at him.
“He's lying.””
“Your father used shell companies to move money through port redevelopment projects,” Daniel continued.
“I found the accounts. I was Dominic’s auditor then.””
Dominic looked at me.
“Your father came to me with evidence. I told him I would handle Vincent myself.””
“And instead,” Daniel said, “Vincent learned I had the records.””
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I never told him.””
“Someone did.””
The woman with the tablet approached.
“Mr. Moretti, security has sealed the house.””
Daniel shook his head.
“That won't help.””
Dominic turned.
“Why?””
“Because Ethan didn't put that sedative in the cake to hurt you.””
Ethan whispered, “Shut up.””
Daniel looked at him.
“You should have listened to your father.””
Dominic stepped toward Daniel.
“Then why drug me?””
Daniel’s answer came quietly.
“To get you upstairs.””
A chill ran through the room.
“Upstairs?”” I asked.
Daniel pointed toward the second-floor gallery.
“Your private office.””
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“The vault.””
Ethan suddenly lunged for the staircase.
Marco caught his jacket and dragged him back.
“Get off me!””
Dominic barely looked at him.
“What’s in my vault?””
Daniel answered.
“The original Harbor Nine ledger.””
Dominic frowned.
“There is no ledger in my vault.””
“Yes, there is.””
“How would you know?””
“Because I put it there.””
Dominic stared at him.
“When?””
“Tonight.””
My heart hammered.
“You were already inside?””
Daniel nodded.
“I've been inside since six.””
I looked toward the staff corridor.
Lily had wandered away from me briefly while I was checking place settings.
She had said she'd seen “a man.””
“You're the man Lily saw.””
Daniel's eyes moved toward her.
“Yes.””
I tightened my grip around her.
“What did you say to her?””
“Nothing.””
“Then why did she follow Ethan?””
Daniel hesitated.
Lily answered.
“Grandpa told me bad ring.””
Every person near us turned.
My blood went cold.
“You spoke to her?””
Daniel closed his eyes.
“One sentence.””
“You told my three-year-old daughter to follow a grown man?””
“No. I saw Ethan opening the ring near the kitchen. Lily was beside the service door. I told her not to touch anything he touched.””
“And then you disappeared?””
“I had no choice.””
“You always have a choice!””
My voice cracked.
Twenty-four years of birthdays without him, school plays with an empty chair, my mother crying behind locked bathroom doors—all of it crashed into that sentence.
Daniel looked destroyed.
“I know.””
“No, you don't.””
“Rachel—”
“My mother died believing you abandoned us.””
His face changed.
“What?””
I stared at him.
“You didn't know?””
“When?””
“Six years ago.””
Daniel gripped the edge of a chair.
“No one told me.””
“You were dead. Remember?””
Silence.
Then Dominic spoke.
“Open the vault.””
Marco looked at him.
“Sir?””
“Now.””
Dominic headed toward the staircase.
Daniel followed.
I stayed where I was.
Then Ethan called after them.
“You open that vault and everybody in this house goes down.””
Dominic stopped.
Ethan smiled.
“My father wasn't the only Moretti taking money.””
Dominic turned slowly.
Ethan nodded toward Daniel.
“Ask him whose signature is on the final page.””
Daniel's face went gray.
Dominic saw it.
“Whose?””
Daniel said nothing.
“Daniel.””
Still nothing.
Finally, my father looked at me.
May you like
And whispered:
“Rachel's.””
