Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO KNEW MY FATHER|
Dominic didn't wait for me to answer.
He forced the apartment door open with a key and stepped inside.
I grabbed the nearest object, a ceramic vase, and held it in front of me.
"Don't come closer!"
Dominic raised both hands.
"Easy. I'm not here to hurt you."
"You broke into my apartment!"
"I have permission from the building manager to access the emergency lock. Mr. Russo arranged it."
"Of course he did."
Dominic glanced at the vase.
"That's a nice piece. I'd rather not have it broken over my head."
I put it down.
He checked the windows, then pulled the curtains closed.
"Get your medication, identification, and anything you need for the next few days."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Then I'll stand here until you change your mind."
I hated that he sounded completely serious.
I packed a small bag.
As I placed my phone charger inside, I noticed a photograph on my bedside table.
It showed me with my father outside a little house in Queens.
Dominic stopped.
"Who's that?"
"My father."
He looked at the photograph for several seconds.
"What was his name?"
"Michael Shaw."
Dominic's expression changed.
"Michael Shaw was your father?"
I frowned.
"Why?"
He looked toward the hallway.
"Nothing."
"That doesn't look like nothing."
Before he could answer, his phone rang.
He listened for several seconds.
Then his face became hard.
"Understood."
He turned toward me.
"We're leaving."
"What happened?"
"Someone entered the building."
We descended through the rear stairwell.
Outside, a black SUV waited with its engine running.
Dominic opened the rear door.
I climbed inside.
The convoy moved immediately.
For twenty minutes, nobody spoke.
Then I asked the question that had been bothering me.
"How did Luca Russo know my name?"
Dominic looked at me through the rearview mirror.
"He remembers people."
"That's not an answer."
"No. It isn't."
We arrived at an enormous estate outside the city.
Tall iron gates opened automatically.
Beyond them stood a stone mansion surrounded by trees, security cameras, and armed guards.
I stepped out.
"This is where he lives?"
"Yes."
"How many people work here?"
"Thirty-two."
"And how many are armed?"
Dominic gave me a brief look.
"Most of them."
I closed my eyes.
Wonderful.
Inside, a woman in her sixties approached.
"I'm Mrs. Bennett. I manage the household."
She looked at my overnight bag.
"Another guest?"
"Miss Shaw will be staying in the east wing," Dominic said.
Mrs. Bennett's expression tightened.
"Mr. Russo hasn't authorized anyone to use those rooms."
"He has now."
She looked at me with unmistakable suspicion.
Before I could introduce myself, a voice came from the staircase.
"Emma."
Luca stood above us.
He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
A clean bandage covered his ribs.
He looked much healthier than he had at the hospital.
But his eyes were colder.
"Come upstairs."
I followed him.
Inside his private office, he pointed toward a chair.
"Sit."
"I would prefer an explanation."
"You'll get one."
He opened a drawer and removed a photograph.
My father.
The same man from the picture in my apartment.
But this photograph was different.
My father stood beside a younger Luca Russo.
They were shaking hands outside a warehouse.
I stared at it.
"Where did you get this?"
Luca leaned against his desk.
"Your father worked for my family twenty years ago."
My heart began pounding.
"My father was a mechanic."
"He was also an accountant."
"That's impossible."
"He kept records for my father's shipping company."
I looked at the photograph again.
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"Because he discovered something."
"What?"
Luca's expression darkened.
"Someone inside the Russo organization was stealing money and arranging murders. Your father found the evidence."
I swallowed.
"Is that why he died?"
Luca didn't answer.
He simply placed another photograph on the desk.
It showed my father's car after the accident that had killed him.
May you like
And standing beside the wreckage was a man I recognized from the hospital.
The man who had photographed my apartment.
