Chapter 10 - WHY ELENA KNEW GRACE’S NAME
Grace laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
“I never met Elena.”
Vanessa looked equally confused.
“Her letter names you.”
“Grace Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“There are thousands.”
“She wrote St. Catherine Medical Center.”
Grace stopped.
Dominic stared.
“How?”
The answer came from Rose.
Grace’s mother recognized Elena’s photograph.
“She volunteered.”
Grace turned.
“What?”
“At the cancer center.”
Eleven months earlier, during Rose’s first round of treatment, a young woman named Elena had spent Thursday afternoons helping patients navigate assistance programs.
Grace had never met her because she worked during those appointments.
Rose had spoken constantly about her daughter.
The nurse.
The three jobs.
Nathan’s accident.
How Grace refused to quit.
Elena listened.
Then she began helping Rose investigate the Bellini charity that had handled Nathan’s legal referral.
She had discovered David Rizzo’s false identity.
That was how Elena connected the Bennetts to DeLuca records.
“She knew you were family,” Rose said.
Grace’s eyes filled.
“She never told me.”
“She was afraid.”
Dominic whispered:
“Again.”
Everyone was always afraid.
Elena had apparently decided that if she died and Dominic proved unwilling or unable to protect Leo, Grace Bennett—a distant DeLuca relative she had never met but had heard about for months—was the safest person she could name.
“She trusted a stranger?” Grace asked.
Rose smiled sadly.
“She said anyone who worked three jobs for her mother and brother understood responsibility better than most rich families she knew.”
Grace looked away before anyone saw the tears.
Dominic didn’t pretend not to notice.
Later, agents searched Bellini estate under warrant.
They recovered Elena’s journal.
Her letters.
Financial files.
And evidence connecting Carlo to the bomb.
The case was no longer family suspicion.
It was federal.
Carlo Bellini disappeared before agents arrived.
Adrian was already in custody.
Vanessa entered protective cooperation.
Anthony Rizzo was arrested trying to cross into Canada.
Dominic did something nobody in his organization expected.
He ordered every Moretti-controlled company to cooperate with investigators.
No destroyed files.
No silent witnesses.
No threats.
Marco approached him afterward.
“This could dismantle half the old structure.”
Dominic looked toward Leo asleep on the sofa.
“Good.”
“Your father built it.”
“My father also buried the truth about my mother.”
Marco nodded.
Fair enough.
Grace resumed hospital work two weeks later.
Dominic hated it.
He said nothing.
That was progress.
On her first night back, she entered a medication room and found him leaning against the wall.
“You cannot be here.”
“I donated the wing.”
“That does not make the medication room yours.”
“I was told you had a break.”
“Who told you?”
“Lucia.”
“Traitor.”
Dominic smiled.
Grace crossed her arms.
“What do you want?”
“To say thank you.”
“For?”
“Not disappearing.”
The smile left her face.
“I almost did.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“You’re dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“Your life is complicated.”
“Yes.”
“You have a six-year-old son who wakes up screaming after explosions.”
“Yes.”
“You have federal investigators walking through your businesses.”
“Yes.”
“And you look terrible.”
“That one seems unnecessary.”
Grace smiled.
Then became serious.
“I’m not Elena.”
“I know.”
“I’m not here to replace anyone.”
“I know.”
“I won’t become another person you put behind gates because you’re afraid.”
Dominic took that in.
Then:
“What if I ask whether you want to stay?”
Grace’s heartbeat changed.
Before she could answer, Marco called.
Carlo Bellini had surfaced.
Not in Canada.
Not overseas.
At St. Catherine’s.
May you like
He had entered through the oncology building under a false visitor pass.
And Rose Bennett was currently receiving chemotherapy on the fourth floor.
