Chapter 2 - THE BOX MY HUSBAND NEVER OPENED
We left through the private entrance.
Dominic kept his coat around my shoulders while two security officers walked several steps behind us.
I expected questions.
Instead, he said nothing until we reached the waiting SUV.
Then he opened the door for me.
“Get in.”
I climbed inside.
He followed.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked, “How much do you know?”
Dominic looked out the window.
“About the box?”
I nodded.
“Not enough.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I knew your father left something with you.”
“You never asked.”
“No.”
“Why?”
He finally looked at me.
“Because you asked me not to.”
That was Dominic.
He could control an entire room with a glance, but when it came to me, he respected boundaries I had never expected him to respect.
I touched the shaved side of my head.
“I wanted to be Elena.”
“You are Elena.”
“Not Elena Vale.”
He understood.
I had married Dominic two years earlier, but I had never told the public who I really was.
My father, Richard Hayes, had built Hayes Continental, a private transportation and logistics company worth hundreds of millions.
After his death, I inherited a controlling voting trust.
But I wanted nothing to do with the family business.
My older brother, Daniel, had taken over the company.
Or so I thought.
The SUV turned toward our home.
Dominic's phone rang again.
This time, he answered on speaker.
“Talk.”
His security chief said, “We found the entry point.”
“Anything missing?”
“No.”
“Then why were they here?”
A pause.
“We found something else.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
Dominic frowned.
“Of what?”
“Your wife.”
I looked at him.
The security chief continued.
“It's a photograph of Elena from eleven months ago.”
My heart sank.
Eleven months ago.
That was when I had started working at the Monarch Room.
“Where did they get it?” I asked.
Silence.
Then the security chief said, “From inside your private study.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“Nobody enters that room.”
“I know.”
The call ended.
We reached the house five minutes later.
The front gate was closed.
Security officers surrounded the property.
Inside, my private study had been searched.
Drawers were open.
Books had been removed from shelves.
My desk had been turned upside down.
But the small wall safe behind a painting remained untouched.
I walked toward it.
Dominic followed.
“You think they were looking for this?”
“No.”
I touched the painting.
“They knew about it.”
I entered the code.
The safe opened.
Inside was the black box.
I removed it carefully.
Dominic watched.
“You've never opened it?”
“Not since my father died.”
“Why?”
“Because he told me not to.”
I placed the box on the desk.
The lock was old.
I used the small key attached to my father's letter.
Click.
The lid opened.
Inside were three things.
A red leather ledger.
A flash drive.
And a photograph.
I picked up the photograph first.
My hands began to shake.
It showed my father standing beside three men.
One was Dominic's father.
The second was Daniel.
The third was Preston Hale's father.
I looked at Dominic.
“Why were they together?”
He didn't answer.
I opened the ledger.
The first page contained one sentence in my father's handwriting:
If Elena ever discovers what happened to me, trust no one in the Hayes family.
My breath caught.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Turn the page.”
I did.
The next pages contained payments.
Dates.
Account numbers.
Names.
And one repeated phrase:
Project Monarch.
My eyes widened.
The restaurant.
The Monarch Room.
Dominic's expression changed.
“That name isn't a coincidence.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Then I found the final page.
There was a handwritten note.
Daniel did not inherit the company. He stole it.
I stared at the words.
My brother had told me for years that Dad had chosen him to lead the company.
But apparently that was a lie.
Then the flash drive suddenly began blinking.
A message appeared on Dominic's laptop after he connected it.
ACCESS DENIED. BIOMETRIC VERIFICATION REQUIRED.
Dominic looked at me.
“What does it need?”
I swallowed.
“My fingerprint.”
I placed my thumb against the screen.
The files opened.
The first video began playing.
My father's face appeared.
He looked older than I remembered.
Tired.
Afraid.
And the first words he spoke made both of us freeze.
“Elena, if you're watching this, Daniel knows you're alive.”
I stopped breathing.
Dominic stared at the screen.
May you like
Then my father continued.
“And he's been waiting eleven years for you to come home.”
