Chapter 8 - THE CONFESSION BURIED WITH A MONSTER
Dominic Vale had been dead nine years.
Adrian had never visited his grave after the funeral.
Not once.
He stood beside it at midnight while cold rain soaked his coat.
Mara stood beside him.
“You don’t have to do this yourself.”
“Yes, I do.”
The cemetery staff and attorneys had arranged the legal exhumation under emergency authority.
Inside the coffin, beneath Dominic’s left hand, investigators found a sealed metal cylinder.
Adrian stared at it.
His father had literally taken his confession to the grave.
Inside were handwritten journals.
Financial records.
And a videotape.
They watched it at the estate.
Dominic Vale appeared on screen.
Older.
Sick.
Smaller than Adrian remembered.
“My sons will hate me for this.”
Adrian gave a humorless laugh.
“You’re late.”
Mara sat beside him.
Dominic confessed to bribery, extortion, illegal gambling operations, and facilitating violence.
He named Victor Sloane repeatedly.
Then his voice changed.
“Jonah Quinn came to me with proof that Victor had begun killing independently.”
Mara’s eyes filled.
“I gave Jonah everything I had.”
Dominic looked directly into the camera.
“If Jonah is dead, Victor knows.”
Mara reached for Adrian’s hand.
He let her.
Then Dominic said something unexpected.
“Adrian, if you see this, do not protect my name.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
“Burn it.”
Silence filled the room.
“Tell the truth about me. Pay every family that can be found. Let the Vale name survive honestly or let it die.”
Adrian looked down.
Mara squeezed his hand.
The video continued.
Dominic admitted something else.
Victor had threatened Evelyn for years.
She had protected him partly out of loyalty.
Partly out of fear.
“He knows what she did when she was nineteen,” Dominic said.
Adrian frowned.
“What did she do?”
The answer came thirty seconds later.
Evelyn had killed someone.
A young man named Thomas Sloane.
Victor’s biological son.
According to Dominic, Thomas discovered Victor’s corruption and planned to testify.
Evelyn confronted him.
An argument became violent.
Thomas fell from a balcony.
Victor helped cover it up.
From that moment forward, he owned her.
Mara looked toward Adrian.
“So Evelyn wasn't protecting him.”
“Not entirely.”
“She was trapped.”
“And she trapped other people to save herself.”
Mara nodded sadly.
Both things could be true.
Then Noah entered.
“We got a call.”
“From Victor?”
“No.”
“Evelyn.”
Everyone turned.
“She escaped him.”
“Where is she?”
“Unknown.”
“What did she say?”
Noah handed Adrian a recording.
Evelyn’s voice sounded terrified.
“Victor is going after Mara.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“He already did.”
“No. You don’t understand.”
Static crackled.
Then Evelyn continued:
“He knows Dominic named Mara in the trust.”
Mara went pale.
“He isn’t trying to kill her anymore.”
Adrian looked toward her.
“Then what?”
May you like
Evelyn’s answer came through the speaker.
“He’s going to marry her.”
