Chapter 5 - THE MOTHER DOMINIC NEVER QUESTIONED
Dominic did not shoot Sebastian.
That surprised everyone.
Especially Sebastian.
Instead, Dominic lowered the gun.
“Explain.”
Laura stepped between them.
“Not here.”
Dominic looked around.
“Why?”
Sebastian answered:
“Because someone followed you.”
Marco immediately touched his earpiece.
“Perimeter check.”
A guard responded.
Then another.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Dominic grabbed Elena.
“Down!”
The front window shattered.
Marco returned fire.
Laura screamed.
Sebastian pulled a weapon from beneath the table.
Dominic aimed at him.
Sebastian shouted:
“If I wanted you dead, you would've died years ago!”
Another bullet ripped through the wall.
Dominic hated that the logic made sense.
They moved toward the basement.
Sebastian opened a hidden steel door.
“What is this?” Elena asked.
“Safe room.”
Laura whispered:
“We've needed it.”
Once inside, Sebastian locked the door.
Marco checked cameras.
Three armed men moved through the house.
Their faces hidden.
One carried a wolf ring.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Who are they?”
Sebastian stared at the screen.
“People who don't want Elena remembering.”
Dominic turned.
“Start talking.”
Sebastian sat.
“Your father Alexander discovered someone inside the Vale organization was selling routes and law-enforcement protection to rival groups.”
“Frank Brooks.”
“He helped.”
“Who was the traitor?”
Sebastian looked at Dominic.
“Your mother, Camille.”
Dominic laughed once.
“No.”
Camille Vale had raised him after Alexander died.
She had spent years telling Dominic that Sebastian was responsible.
She died of cancer four years earlier.
Sebastian continued.
“Camille believed your father was weak.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“My mother adored him.”
“She adored power.”
“She nearly destroyed herself after his death.”
“Guilt does strange things.”
Dominic stood.
“You're lying.”
Elena watched him.
The most feared man in Colorado suddenly looked like a son being told his childhood was fake.
Sebastian continued quietly.
“Alexander planned to leave the criminal business.”
Dominic stopped.
“What?”
“He wanted to move the legitimate companies into your name and dismantle the rest.”
Dominic stared.
“He never told me.”
“You were twenty-six.”
“So?”
“You wanted the empire.”
That landed.
At twenty-six, Dominic had wanted power more than anything.
Sebastian looked toward the floor.
“Camille knew Alexander's plan would make her vulnerable. She had alliances, debts, people who depended on the organization continuing.”
“So she killed him?”
“No.”
Dominic frowned.
“I thought you said—”
“I said she was involved.”
Sebastian looked at Elena.
“Your father Frank discovered Camille was paying someone.”
“Who?”
Sebastian answered:
“Elias Kane.”
The same former security man Marco had identified at the Christmas party.
Dominic's face hardened.
“Kane was nineteen then.”
“And already dangerous.”
Elena asked:
“What happened that night?”
Sebastian exhaled.
“Alexander asked me to meet him at the warehouse. He believed I was helping Camille.”
“Were you?”
“No.”
“I arrived angry. We fought.”
“You had a gun.”
“Yes.”
Elena remembered.
Sebastian pointing it.
But not firing.
“Then Camille arrived.”
Dominic whispered:
“No.”
“She begged Alexander to reconsider.”
Sebastian's eyes darkened.
“He refused.”
“What happened?”
“Kane appeared behind him.”
Elena closed her eyes.
The second shadow.
Yes.
“I remember.”
Dominic looked at her.
She whispered:
“He was younger.”
Sebastian nodded.
“Kane fired first.”
Dominic's face went pale.
“Then why did Elena remember you?”
“Because I fired at Kane immediately afterward.”
Two gunshots.
Two shooters.
Different targets.
Sebastian continued.
“Alexander was already dying.”
“Camille?”
“She ran.”
“Frank?”
“Dragged Elena out before the fire.”
Elena stared at Laura.
“And you?”
Laura began crying.
“I was outside.”
Elena's face hardened.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“For fifteen years?”
“Yes.”
“Why fake your death?”
“Because Camille found out Frank had told me.”
Elena looked away.
Every parent in her life had turned secrecy into a weapon.
Dominic asked:
“Why marry Sebastian?”
Laura looked at him.
“Protection.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Laura flinched.
Sebastian continued.
“We spent years collecting evidence against Kane and the people who helped Camille.”
Dominic's phone vibrated.
Marco checked security.
“The attackers are retreating.”
Sebastian nodded.
“They got what they wanted.”
“What?”
He pointed toward the upstairs office.
“A drive.”
Dominic frowned.
“What drive?”
“The last copy of Camille's records.”
Dominic's expression darkened.
Then Sebastian looked at Elena.
“And Frank's testimony.”
Elena stared.
“My father's testimony is here?”
Sebastian nodded.
“Recorded fifteen years ago.”
“Why didn't he give it to police?”
“Because the police chief was on Camille's payroll.”
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Who?”
Sebastian answered.
“Former Chief Harold Crane.”
Elena's blood turned cold.
Crane.
Vanessa Crane.
Dominic's fiancée.
Sebastian saw the realization.
“Yes.”
“Vanessa's grandfather?”
“Father.”
Dominic stared.
Harold Crane was Vanessa's father, not grandfather.
Retired law enforcement.
Respected.
Powerful.
Dominic whispered:
“Vanessa knew?”
Sebastian shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Then Elena's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered cautiously.
A woman whispered:
“Elena Brooks?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Hannah Crane.”
Dominic looked at her.
Vanessa's younger sister.
Hannah's voice trembled.
“You don't know me, but I need help.”
“What happened?”
A muffled sob.
“My father knows Dominic found Sebastian.”
Elena's grip tightened.
“Where are you?”
“At the Crane house.”
Another breath.
“He's going to kill Vanessa.”
Dominic went completely still.
Hannah whispered:
“Because Vanessa was never supposed to marry Dominic.”
Elena frowned.
May you like
“What?”
“She was supposed to get close enough to destroy him.”
