Chương 4
There was a pause.
“All right.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I ended the call.
Dominic was standing several feet away.
He had heard enough.
“You need to go.”
“I’ve been trying.”
He looked toward Marco.
“Have one of the drivers take her car behind them.”
“I said no.”
Dominic rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“You’re really going to fight me on transportation?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know you.”
That stopped him.
Behind him, Vanessa laughed softly.
“At least she’s finally said something intelligent.”
Dominic turned his head.
“Upstairs.”
“I’m staying.”
“No.”
“This is my engagement party.”
“It was.”
“My father is here.”
“Then he can take you home.”
Her expression changed at the mention of her father.
There it was again.
That tightness.
That calculation.
I looked around.
Most of the guests had left.
A handful remained near the foyer.
One older man stood by the fireplace with a drink untouched in his hand.
Silver hair.
Dark navy suit.
He had Vanessa’s eyes.
He watched me with an attention that made my skin prickle.
“Is that your father?” I asked.
Vanessa did not answer.
The older man did.
“Charles Whitmore.”
His voice was warm.
Too warm.
He crossed the room and offered his hand.
I did not take it.
His smile barely changed.
“You must be Avery Carter.”
My stomach dropped.
Dominic looked at him.
“How do you know her last name?”
Charles glanced at the delivery bag.
“I assume it’s on the receipt.”
“It isn’t.”
Everyone went still again.
Charles’s smile disappeared.
Marco looked at the printed receipt lying near the side table.
He picked it up.
“First name only.”
Vanessa said, “This is getting theatrical.”
Charles looked at her.
“Vanessa.”
Just her name.
Nothing else.
She shut up.
That frightened me more than anything she had done.
Dominic moved closer to Charles.
“How do you know her?”
“I don’t.”
“You knew her last name.”
“I may have heard Vanessa mention it.”
“No,” I said.
Charles looked at me.
I could hear my own heartbeat.
“She never knew my last name.”
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
I kept going.
“She asked once.”
I looked directly at her.
“You called me Avery because it was on the order.”
Her face had gone pale.
“You asked whether Carter was my last name.”
A memory came back with ugly clarity.
Not dramatic.
Not mysterious.
Just Vanessa standing at the service door two weeks earlier, checking her phone while I held two paper bags.
Carter, she had said.
That your last name?
I had answered yes.
She had shrugged like it meant nothing.
At the time, I thought she was making conversation badly.
Now Charles Whitmore was staring at me like a problem that had survived longer than expected.
Dominic looked between them.
“Why did you ask?”
Vanessa gave a brittle laugh.
“I don’t remember every conversation I have with delivery people.”
“I do,” I said.
She glared at me.
“Congratulations.”
Marco’s phone rang.
Nobody spoke while he answered.
“Yes.”
He listened.
His expression changed.
“Send it.”
He ended the call.
Dominic watched him.
“Well?”
Marco looked at Charles.
Then at Vanessa.
“The SUV is registered to Whitmore Holdings.”
Something cold moved through my stomach.
Charles set his untouched drink on the mantel.
“That proves nothing.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“It proves the vehicle belongs to your company.”
“We have dozens of company cars.”
“Who was driving it?”
“I have no idea.”
Marco glanced at his phone.
“The plate has been logged entering this property twelve times in the last two months.”
Vanessa said, “Because it’s my father’s company.”
Marco did not look at her.
“Security records show it usually came after midnight.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“With who?”
“I’m checking.”
Charles’s tone remained level.
“Dominic, this is becoming ridiculous.”
“Then help me make it simple.”
“There is nothing to explain.”
“Your company’s SUV followed Avery here.”
“According to a camera angle and a frightened young woman.”
I looked at him.
“I’m not frightened.”
That was a lie too.
He smiled faintly.
“Yes, you are.”
My hand curled around my phone.
Charles saw it.
His smile deepened by almost nothing.
“You should go home to your mother.”
The room disappeared for half a second.
Not literally.
My vision narrowed until all I saw was him.
“How do you know about my mother?”
Vanessa whispered, “Dad.”
Charles did not look away from me.
“Vanessa mentioned her.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I can ask her.”
I turned toward Vanessa.
“Did you tell him?”
Her lips parted.
Nothing came out.
Dominic stepped between Charles and me.
His posture changed.
Not threatening.
Protective.
That somehow scared me more.
“Marco,” he said, “lock the gates.”
Charles laughed once.
“You’re locking me in?”
“I’m locking everyone in until I understand why your people have been following her.”
“You don’t have that authority.”
“In my house, I do.”
“You think this is your house?”
The words came out softly.
Dominic went still.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Just for a second.
Marco noticed.
So did I.
Charles continued.
“You have expensive walls and men who call you sir.”
He adjusted one cuff.
“That is not the same thing as owning what happens inside them.”
Dominic’s face lost all expression.
“Careful.”
Charles smiled.
“There he is.”
I did not understand the history between them.
I did not have time to.
Mom was alone forty miles away.
I pushed past Dominic.
“I’m leaving.”
Marco stepped toward me.
“Ma’am.”
“Do not block me.”
“I’m not.”
He looked genuinely uncomfortable.
“But if that SUV is connected to your mother’s clinic—”
“I said I’m leaving.”
Dominic caught up beside me.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
I stopped.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“Then hear mine.”
I looked him in the eye.
“Do not turn concern into control.”
He stared at me.
A beat passed.
Then another.
“All right.”
He took a breath.
“You drive.”
I frowned.
“I follow.”
“No security team?”
May you like
“One car.”
“No one comes into my apartment.”
