Chapter 10 - Warehouse Seventeen|
Dominic didn't deny knowing about Warehouse Seventeen.
That frightened me more than any excuse could have.
We sat across from each other in his study while rain hammered the windows.
Gabriel stood outside the closed door.
Lily slept upstairs in the guest nursery, watched by Ethan's tutor.
For the first time since the birthday party, I was alone with Dominic Moretti.
“Tell me everything,” I demanded.
He looked exhausted.
“Three years ago, Warehouse Seventeen burned during an overnight security inspection.”
“Jonah was there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He had discovered unauthorized access to our internal accounts.”
I stared at him.
“Accounts?”
“Financial transfers. False invoices. Payments moving through companies I didn't recognize.”
My voice rose.
“And your response was what? To send my husband into a burning building?”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“I ordered an independent audit. Jonah disappeared before we could speak.”
I folded my arms.
“Someone told me he was dead.”
“The fire department confirmed a fatality.”
“Whose body?”
Dominic hesitated.
That hesitation told me everything.
“You never saw it.”
“No.”
“You never identified him.”
“No.”
I stood so suddenly the chair scraped across the floor.
“My daughter spent three years believing her father was in heaven!”
Dominic rose.
“Mara—”
“Don't.”
My voice cracked.
“Don't stand there and tell me you understand.”
He stopped.
For a moment, I thought he might become angry.
Instead, he looked at me with something I had never seen before.
Shame.
“You're right.”
The admission stunned me.
“I should have asked more questions.”
He crossed to his desk and opened a locked drawer.
Inside was a thin black folder.
He placed it in front of me.
“These are the original records from that investigation.”
I opened it.
Photographs.
Financial statements.
An insurance report.
And a final document bearing Jonah's signature.
But the signature wasn't his.
I knew the way Jonah wrote the letter J.
He always made a long, careless curve beneath it.
This signature had no curve.
“That's forged.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Are you certain?”
“Absolutely.”
His eyes darkened.
“Someone falsified his testimony.”
I turned another page.
There was a transfer authorization dated the night of the fire.
The recipient was a charitable organization.
The same organization whose name appeared on Elena's old stationery.
The Saint Agnes Children's Foundation.
Its legal counsel was Simon Voss.
Its chairwoman was Celeste Moretti.
I stared at the names.
“Your sister-in-law and your lawyer.”
Dominic's voice became frighteningly quiet.
“And both are involved in Ethan's inheritance.”
Suddenly, the door opened.
Gabriel entered without knocking.
“Boss. We have a security breach.”
Dominic turned.
“Where?”
Gabriel looked directly at me.
“Mrs. Ellis's apartment.”
I felt my heart stop.
“Lily?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“She's safe.”
Then he placed a photograph on the desk.
It showed Lily sleeping in her bed, taken weeks before the party.
May you like
Across the photograph, someone had written:
THE FIRST CHILD WAS A WARNING.
