Chương 14
Mrs. Patel handed him the broom.
“You are tall.”
He took it.
Lena watched him sweep.
“You told Chen about Aaron,” he said without looking at her.
“Yes.”
“You told her about Bianca’s files.”
“Yes.”
“She obtained a court order this morning.”
“Good.”
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“I gave the police information about a kidnapping.”
“You gave compromised institutions a map to every person connected to me.”
“Some of them kidnapped your child.”
“Some have nothing to do with Vincent.”
“Then an investigation can separate them.”
Dominic stopped sweeping.
“You believe that because you have never watched an informant’s name leak before dinner.”
“And you believe control is the same as safety because no one around you is allowed to say otherwise.”
Mrs. Patel took the broom from him.
“Argue upstairs,” she said. “You are frightening customers.”
There were no customers. The laundromat had closed because of the broken window.
They went to Lena’s apartment.
Dominic remained near the door.
“You were terminated from Bellweather,” he said.
“That isn’t news.”
“Frank received twelve thousand dollars three days ago through a consulting company connected to Vincent.”
Lena stared at him.
“He was paid to fire me?”
“To speak publicly and provide your employment records.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because he has gambling debt.”
“Frank hates casinos.”
“Online sports betting.”
Lena sat at the table.
The betrayal felt embarrassingly personal. Frank had complained about delivery fees, napkin costs, and people who took too many lemons from the iced-tea station. He had given her a fifty-dollar grocery card one Christmas and deducted it from everyone’s tips without telling them. She had understood him as cheap, vain, occasionally decent, and mostly harmless.
She had not understood him as someone who would sell her.
Dominic placed a folder on the table.
“Vincent is trying to build a public version of events in which you were hired to find Lily.”
“I know.”
“He will connect the money, your debt, your presence at the house, and any inconsistency in your statements.”
“I haven’t changed my statement.”
“Memory changes under pressure. He needs only one difference.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Come back to the house.”
“No.”
“It is secure.”
“You hid Aaron somewhere secure.”
His expression tightened.
“Vincent tried to reach him last night.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Then give Aaron to Chen.”
“He refused.”
“He’s your prisoner.”
“He can leave.”
“Can he?”
Dominic did not answer quickly enough.
Lena stood.
“You don’t get to come here angry because I told the truth.”
“I came because Lily hasn’t eaten since you left.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“No.”
The blunt agreement hurt more than manipulation would have.
“She thinks I broke my promise,” Lena said.
“She thinks everyone leaves after telling her they won’t.”
“Her mother died.”
“Yes.”
“Did Bianca know you wouldn’t help her?”
Dominic’s face changed.
Lena immediately regretted the cruelty, but did not take it back.
“She asked me to choose,” he said. “I told her I needed time.”
“How much?”
“She died nine days later.”
The room went silent.
“I’m sorry,” Lena said.
He looked toward the window.
“So am I.”
Lena sat again.
“What does Aaron want?”
“A new identity, money, and protection for his sister.”
“Can Chen offer that?”
“Possibly.”
“Then let him decide after speaking to her without you in the room.”
Dominic looked at her.
“If I turn over Aaron and Bianca’s files, I lose control of every outcome.”
“Yes.”
“Lily could lose me.”
“Yes.”
“You say that easily.”
“No.” Lena’s voice cracked, and she hated it. “I say it because you keep pretending the choice is between being with her and abandoning her. You are already showing her that love means everyone else pays for your protection.”
Dominic looked down.
Mrs. Patel knocked once and opened the door without waiting.
“Police downstairs,” she said.
Detective Chen entered behind her.
“We have a problem,” Chen said.
Aaron Velez was gone.
Daniel had been guarding the apartment where Dominic kept him. At eleven thirty that morning, Daniel received a message from Dominic’s encrypted account ordering him to transport Aaron to another location.
The message was false.
Daniel followed it anyway.
Two blocks into the route, another vehicle blocked him. Aaron fled during the confusion. No shots were fired. No one was injured. By the time Daniel realized the order had been spoofed, Aaron had disappeared into an industrial district.
“Vincent has him,” Dominic said.
“We don’t know that,” Chen replied.
“He knew the account structure.”
“So did people in your security office.”
“Who report to Vincent.”
“Some report to you.”
Dominic took out his phone.
Chen stepped closer. “Do not start a private search.”
“He will kill him.”
“And your people charging across the city may do the same.”
“You have patrol officers who leak.”
“I also have federal support now.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“You involved them.”
“You involved them when you kept evidence related to Bianca’s death.”
He looked at Lena.
She felt the accusation even though he did not speak it.
Chen said, “We traced the blocked call to Lena through a temporary routing service. Payment came from North Meridian. We also recovered building footage showing one of Vincent’s assistants delivering the cash box.”
“That gives you enough to arrest him,” Lena said.
“For witness tampering and obstruction, possibly. Not the kidnapping yet.”
“Then arrest him for what you have.”
“He has disappeared.”
Dominic turned toward the door.
Chen blocked him.
“Where would he take Aaron?”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
“Think.”
“I am thinking.”
“No. You’re preparing to react. Think like the man who raised him.”
Dominic’s face became dangerous.
Chen did not move.
Lena looked at the florist receipt in her memory. For B. I am still trying. Bianca. White tulips. The maintenance records. North Meridian properties.
“Where did Bianca meet the federal attorney?” Lena asked.
Both of them turned.
Dominic said, “I don’t know.”
May you like
“You said she was contacting one.”
“I found emails after she died. The meeting location was removed.”
