Chapter 12 - TOMMY SENT HER TO JULIAN
Dileia had believed she found the night-cleaning job through a staffing app.
She hadn’t.
Tommy arranged it before he died.
A contingency.
If he disappeared, an application under Dileia’s name would be forwarded to Thorn Tower six months later.
Why?
Because Tommy believed the evidence would eventually surface there.
He also believed Julian might listen to someone outside his world.
Someone who understood numbers.
Someone Julian could not categorize.
Dileia laughed bitterly.
“My husband planned my employment from beyond the grave.”
Marianne looked ashamed.
“I helped.”
“Of course.”
Another decision made for her.
Dileia was furious.
At Tommy.
At Marianne.
At everyone.
She quit Thorn Tower that afternoon.
Julian did not stop her.
“Good.”
She stared.
“Good?”
“You should choose where you work.”
That mattered.
Dileia returned to school.
Forensic accounting.
Night classes at first.
Then full-time after a court restitution program covered debts linked to Tommy’s hospital and investigation costs.
She refused Julian’s money.
He expected that.
Mrs. Ruth’s condition improved after medication changes, though dementia remained.
Some days she knew Dileia.
Some days she asked when Tommy was coming home.
Dileia stopped reopening the wound every time.
Instead:
“He loved you.”
That was true.
Enough.
Vincent went to federal prison.
Frank accepted a plea.
Raymond lost foundation control and faced financial charges for years of secret payments.
Salenzo cooperated.
Holloway left security work.
For three months.
Then returned as head of compliance security under an independent board.
Dileia laughed when she heard.
“Compliance Holloway?”
Julian almost smiled.
“The world is ending.”
Then Julian asked Dileia for coffee.
Not a job.
Not protection.
Coffee.
She said no.
A month later, he asked again.
“No.”
Six months.
Again.
“Maybe.”
He considered that progress.
She hated that he was right.
Then one night Ruth wandered away from the apartment.
Dileia panicked.
Police found her at the old Thorn Tower loading dock.
She sat on a bench staring at the building.
When Dileia reached her, Ruth whispered:
“Thomas left something here.”
Beneath the bench was a rusted metal keybox.
Inside:
A key.
Storage unit number 417.
Tommy’s handwriting.
Dileia opened it the next morning.
Inside was no money.
No evidence.
Just personal things.
Wedding photos.
Letters.
A watch.
May you like
And one sealed envelope addressed:
TO JULIAN THORNE, IF DILEIA DECIDES YOU DESERVE IT.
