Chapter 12 - TESSA'S FATHER DIDN'T DIE NATURALLY
Daniel Mercer had died four years earlier.
Heart attack.
At least that was what Tessa had been told.
Caleb Shaw's appearance changed that.
Hospital visitor logs confirmed he had entered Daniel's room using a false name.
Three days later, Daniel died.
His medical chart recorded cardiac arrest.
But his tox screen had never been completed.
Tessa sat beside me in silence.
I knew grief.
But hers looked different.
Mine burned outward.
Tessa's collapsed inward.
“I spent four years blaming him,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“For giving up.”
She looked down.
“He stopped fighting after he got sick. I was angry.”
I reached for her hand.
It was the first time I touched her without needing help.
She looked at our hands.
Neither of us moved away.
The federal case accelerated.
Elaine was arrested.
Arya tried to leave the state.
She was stopped at a private airport with two passports and four hundred thousand dollars in cash.
Caleb Shaw agreed to cooperate.
And Dominic finally returned.
He entered my study alone.
No guards.
No weapon.
No excuses.
I sat behind my father's old desk.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You stole from me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Elaine wanted me dead.”
Dominic's eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
I wanted to hit him.
Six months earlier, I would have.
Instead, I asked the only question that mattered.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought I could handle it.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“That sounds familiar.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Then his face broke.
“I thought if I gave Elaine what she wanted slowly, I could protect you while building enough evidence to put her away.”
“You failed.”
“Yes.”
The word sat between us.
No defense.
No excuse.
Just truth.
He placed a key on my desk.
“What's that?”
“Safe deposit box.”
“What's inside?”
“Everything.”
The box contained ledgers, recordings, bank statements, and one sealed envelope addressed to me.
Inside was a handwritten letter from Arya.
Not recent.
Dated eight months before my shooting.
Elaine,
Vincent still hasn't changed the estate plan. If the marriage happens first, I'll have legal standing. If something happens before the wedding, I get nothing.
I read the next sentence twice.
We need to move the date.
May you like
Arya hadn't merely known about the plot.
She had helped schedule my murder.
