Chapter 13 - THE DAUGHTER JOANNE TAUGHT TO NOTICE EVERYTHING
Anthony expected Clara to panic.
She did.
She simply didn't show him.
Joanne had taught her that too.
Notice exits.
Notice hands.
Notice what frightened people tried to hide.
Anthony's gun was steady.
His breathing was not.
“You're injured,” Clara said.
“Drive.”
The federal driver had stepped outside moments earlier.
Clara was alone with him.
“I don't know how to operate this security vehicle.”
“Move.”
She slid toward the front.
Anthony followed.
Blood was seeping through his bandage from the dinner shooting.
The wound had opened again.
“You staged your own shooting badly.”
He smiled.
“Your mother talked too much too.”
“That why you killed her?”
His expression changed.
Tiny.
But Clara saw it.
“You did.”
“She should have given me the records.”
“So you ran her down?”
“Accidents happen.”
Rage surged through Clara.
She kept her hands steady.
“You know what's strange?”
“What?”
“You've spent twenty years afraid of maids.”
His smile vanished.
“Joanne.”
“Elena.”
“Mrs. Price.”
“Women carrying plates while men like you discussed millions because you thought nobody serving dinner mattered.”
His eyes hardened.
“Drive.”
Clara started the engine.
Then deliberately turned on the vehicle's internal recording system.
Anthony didn't notice.
“You framed my mother because she saw your accounts.”
“Yes.”
“You killed her because she kept proof.”
“She chose not to cooperate.”
“And Elena?”
His jaw tightened.
“She was weak.”
“You mean she wouldn't let you control her.”
Anthony leaned closer.
“Careful.”
Clara smiled.
“My mother died afraid of you.”
His expression softened with satisfaction.
Then she added:
“But she still beat you.”
That enraged him.
He grabbed her shoulder.
Exactly what she needed.
Clara slammed the vehicle into reverse.
Anthony lost balance.
The gun fired into the roof.
The rear doors opened automatically on impact.
Federal agents rushed forward.
Anthony tried to raise his weapon.
Damian appeared from the warehouse and tackled him before he could fire.
Clara screamed.
For one terrifying second, Damian pinned Anthony against the pavement.
His fist rose.
Anthony laughed.
“Do it. Show her what you are.”
Damian froze.
Clara's heart pounded.
Anthony wanted violence.
He wanted Damian to prove nothing had changed.
Damian slowly lowered his fist.
Then stood.
“Arrest him.”
Agents handcuffed Anthony.
Clara climbed from the vehicle.
Damian crossed toward her.
“You agreed to stay inside.”
“I did stay inside.”
“You were kidnapped inside.”
“Technicality.”
He stared at her.
Then pulled her into his arms.
No permission.
No distance.
Just fear finally breaking through.
Clara held him back.
For several seconds, the mafia boss and the maid stood beneath warehouse lights while federal agents hauled away the man who had destroyed both their families.
Then Anthony shouted from the police vehicle:
“Ask Damian what his father made him do at ten!”
Clara felt Damian go rigid.
She looked up.
“What is he talking about?”
Damian stepped away.
His face had gone white.
The childhood memory he claimed to have lost wasn't completely gone.
He remembered the man in the wine cellar.
May you like
And he remembered why his father had brought him there.
Vincent Costello had put a gun in ten-year-old Damian's hand.
