Chapter 5 - THE FIRST LIE VINCENT EVER TOLD
Vincent arrived at the warehouse before dawn with Leo and two trusted men.
The storage unit listed in Claire's locket was hidden behind a false wall.
Inside were boxes of financial records, a dusty tape recorder, and a sealed envelope bearing Elizabeth Hayes's handwriting.
Vincent opened the envelope carefully.
Anthony,
If you're reading this, then Richard has discovered the account.
I have enough evidence to expose him, but he knows about Claire. If anything happens to me, promise you'll protect her.
Vincent stopped reading.
The letter continued.
Do not tell your son everything. He is too young to understand the danger, and Richard will use him against you.
Vincent's hands tightened around the paper.
He had been twenty-three when his father died.
Old enough to understand danger.
Old enough to inherit an empire.
But apparently not old enough to know the truth.
Leo found a second envelope beneath the recorder.
Inside was a photograph of Anthony standing beside a younger Richard Vale.
Between them stood a little boy.
Vincent recognized himself.
On the back, his father's handwriting read:
The day I learned Richard had a son.
Vincent stared at the image.
"Richard had a son?"
Leo examined the photograph.
"Looks like it."
"Find him."
Within an hour, the name appeared in a decades-old school record.
Nathan Vale.
Now forty-one, Nathan had spent years moving between private security companies and offshore investment firms.
His last known employer was a company that managed assets for the Moretti family.
Vincent felt a cold wave of anger.
Someone connected to his father's killer had been working inside his organization.
Meanwhile, Claire sat in her townhouse, reading her mother's notebook while Lily napped upstairs.
A knock sounded at the door.
She opened it to find a woman in a navy suit.
"Mrs. Moretti? My name is Dana Brooks. I'm a federal investigator."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"What's this about?"
Dana presented her credentials.
"We're investigating financial crimes connected to the Moretti shipping companies. Your name has appeared in several protected trust records."
"I haven't managed those companies."
"We know. We're interested in what your mother left behind."
Claire hesitated.
Then she showed Dana the notebook.
The investigator read several pages before her expression changed.
"Where did you get this?"
"From my mother's nurse."
Dana closed the notebook.
"Mrs. Moretti, this may be evidence in a murder investigation."
Claire swallowed.
"Can you prove my mother was murdered?"
"We can investigate."
Dana paused.
"But if the records are authentic, your mother may have been killed because she discovered an operation that never truly ended."
She placed a photograph on the table.
A man stood outside Claire's townhouse the previous evening.
His face was partially hidden beneath a baseball cap.
Claire recognized the coat.
The same man had been watching Lily's preschool.
Dana pointed to the photograph.
"Do you know who this is?"
Claire shook her head.
Dana's expression hardened.
"His name is Nathan Vale."
May you like
Then she added the words that made Claire's blood run cold.
"He's been following your daughter for eleven days."
