Chapter 6 - The Night Three People Disappeared
I had listened to men beg for their lives without blinking.
But hearing my dead mother's best friend say Not anymore on a recording from the night my father died made my hands shake so badly that I couldn't hold a glass of water.
"Who else died?" I demanded.
Dominic Russo looked toward the door.
"Arthur, there are things you don't understand."
"Then stop hiding them."
Nora stood beside my desk, her grandmother's necklace resting against her collarbone.
"Did you hurt my grandmother?" she asked.
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Your grandmother interfered in business that didn't concern her."
"She was trying to protect people."
"She was trying to destroy the Vale family."
I slammed my palm against the desk.
"Enough!"
The sound made Nora flinch.
I immediately regretted it.
For years, I'd used fear to make people obey me. Now, standing before the only woman who'd made me feel human in forty-two days, I saw what that fear actually did.
I lowered my voice.
"Dominic, tell me what happened."
He hesitated.
"Your father called Evelyn to the old warehouse. He wanted the original account records."
"And?"
"She refused to give them to him."
"Then what?"
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"There was a struggle. Vincent collapsed. One of his guards was killed."
I stared at him.
"And Evelyn?"
"She escaped."
Nora exhaled shakily.
"Then you lied. You said my grandmother murdered him."
Dominic looked away.
"I said she was responsible."
"That's not the same thing," Nora replied.
I turned toward the technician.
"Can we recover anything else from the tape?"
He nodded.
"I'll examine the original recording. There may be more."
Twenty minutes later, a faint section of audio emerged beneath the static.
My father's voice.
"Dominic... what have you done?"
Then a gunshot.
Silence.
I stared at my underboss.
"That wasn't Evelyn."
Dominic stepped backward.
I slowly stood.
"That was you."
Before he could answer, the study doors opened.
My head of security, Gabriel Shaw, entered with two guards.
"Mr. Vale, we have a problem."
Dominic immediately turned toward him.
"Not now."
Gabriel ignored him.
"Someone sent a package to the front gate."
I frowned.
"What package?"
"A medical file."
He handed it to me.
Across the first page was my name.
ARTHUR VINCENT VALE.
I opened it.
The records described repeated exposure to a toxic substance associated with food preparation.
My breathing stopped.
Then I reached the laboratory report.
A recent screening had identified a drug that could cause severe nausea and digestive distress.
I looked at Dominic.
May you like
For forty-two days, I'd been unable to eat.
And my underboss had been the person supervising every meal.
