Chương 11
“Who hired you?”
Martin’s expression changed.
Not fear.
Annoyance.
“You still think this is about money.”
“What is it about?”
Martin looked at Ethan.
“Consequences.”
Ethan flinched.
I stepped forward despite myself.
“Don’t touch him.”
Martin looked back at me.
“You really do make everything harder.”
He reached inside his jacket.
Dominic moved.
So did I.
But the object Martin pulled out was not a gun.
It was Dominic’s second phone.
Dominic stopped.
I stared at it.
Martin smiled.
“You were right about one thing.”
He held the phone up.
“This was never about getting his phone.”
Dominic’s face changed.
Martin tapped the screen.
“It was about making sure the right one stayed in the house.”
Dominic stared at the phone in Martin’s hand.
“That device never left my office.”
Martin smiled.
“That is what made it useful.”
I looked at Dominic.
“What is on it?”
“Nothing that helps him.”
Martin laughed softly.
“You keep saying things before you know them.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“Dad.”
Dominic did not take his eyes off Martin.
“I’m here.”
Martin held the phone up between two fingers.
“This one connects to the internal security archive.”
Gabriel’s earlier words came back to me.
Property systems require separate credentials.
Dominic’s voice stayed level.
“You cannot access the archive without biometric authentication.”
“I didn’t need to.”
Martin looked toward the ceiling.
“I needed the phone active inside the secure network while someone else accessed it.”
My stomach dropped.
“Someone else is still in the house.”
Martin’s smile disappeared.
“Now you’re catching up.”
Dominic shifted his weight.
“Who?”
“You ask that as if a name fixes anything.”
“It usually helps.”
“No.”
Martin looked at Ethan again.
“In your family, names usually make things worse.”
The sentence struck Dominic in a way I did not understand.
His eyes narrowed.
“You know my family.”
“I know what they did.”
I glanced toward the corridor behind us.
Gabriel was somewhere around the bend.
Too far to see.
Maybe close enough to hear.
Martin noticed.
“If Gabriel comes around that corner, I break the boy’s neck before he gets a shot.”
Ethan went rigid.
“Don’t.”
Martin looked down at him.
“I don’t want to.”
The calmness was worse than shouting.
Lily pressed both fists against her eyes.
“I want Mommy.”
“I know, baby.”
“Now.”
“I’m coming as soon as I can.”
Martin’s hand tightened on Ethan’s shoulder.
“No, you’re not.”
I looked at him.
“You said you wanted me.”
“I said you were supposed to be the story.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
“Then let Lily come to me.”
He laughed once.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because she is three.”
“So?”
“So she cannot help you.”
“She already ruined everything.”
His eyes hardened when he looked at her.
Lily stopped crying.
Not because she was less afraid.
Because she heard the anger.
I stepped forward.
Martin’s free hand disappeared into his jacket.
“Stop.”
I did.
“Let her come to me.”
“No.”
“Take me instead.”
Dominic turned his head slightly.
“Claire.”
I ignored him.
“Take me.”
Martin studied me.
“That was always the idea.”
“Then do it.”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because Dominic still thinks he controls the order of events.”
Dominic’s voice was cold.
“I control whether you leave here alive.”
Martin smiled.
“There he is.”
The exterior door behind him rattled faintly in the wind.
I could smell damp earth from outside.
Somewhere beyond that door was the maintenance road.
If Martin got the children through it, the estate would become trees and darkness.
“Who is inside the house?” I asked.
Martin looked at me.
“Your sister should have explained more.”
“She didn’t have time.”
“She had plenty.”
“You hit Daniel before she could.”
“That was Daniel’s fault.”
“No.”
I let the word sit.
“He told you to release her.”
“He interfered.”
“He acted like a decent person.”
“Same thing, sometimes.”
Dominic’s expression shifted.
Not much.
Enough.
He was listening for something beneath Martin’s words.
I saw it.
“You know him,” I said.
Martin’s eyes flicked toward Dominic.
Not long.
Long enough.
Dominic saw it too.
“You know Daniel.”
Martin scoffed.
“Everyone knows everyone in a house like this.”
“That is not what she meant.”
“Then she should speak more clearly.”
Dominic took a slow breath.
“What happened to your brother?”
Martin’s face changed.
The utility bay seemed to lose all sound.
I looked at Dominic.
Martin’s hand tightened around the phone.
“You don’t get to say that.”
Dominic did not move.
“What happened to Michael?”
Ethan stared up at Martin.
Martin’s jaw worked once.
“You don’t remember him.”
“I remember the name.”
“No.”
“I remember a Michael Trent.”
Martin’s eyes burned.
“That was my brother.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“He worked for my father.”
“He drove for him.”
“For how long?”
“Eleven years.”
“And?”
“And he died because your father decided one employee was cheaper than one scandal.”
I looked at Dominic.
His face had gone very still.
“Dominic.”
He did not answer me.
Martin laughed without humor.
“He never told you.”
“My father told me very little that was useful.”
“Convenient.”
“What happened?”
“You know what happened.”
“No.”
“You inherited everything he built.”
“That does not mean I inherited his memory.”
Martin’s mouth twisted.
“My brother was arrested carrying a gun registered to one of your father’s companies.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Seventeen years ago.”
“He was convicted?”
“He took a plea.”
“Why?”
“Because he had a wife and a four-year-old daughter.”
Martin’s voice began to shake.
“Because your father told him that if he accepted responsibility, the family would be taken care of.”
I saw Dominic’s jaw tighten.
“Were they?”
Martin smiled.
“Three months.”
“What?”
“Three months of mortgage payments.”
His thumb rubbed slowly against the phone case.
“Then nothing.”
Dominic said nothing.
“My brother died in prison.”
The anger left Martin’s voice.
That made it worse.
“Stabbed in the laundry room over a debt he didn’t owe.”
Ethan looked at his father.
“Dad?”
Dominic’s gaze remained on Martin.
“I did not know.”
May you like
“Of course.”
“I was twenty-three.”
