Chapter 6 - The Room Where They Became a Family)
Dante left the guests on the lawn.
Thomas Cole and the bodyguards kept Javier near the terrace.
No one touched him unless he tried to leave.
Dante had no intention of turning the mansion into a spectacle.
He also had no intention of allowing Javier to disappear.
"Samuel. Clara. With me."
Leo stepped forward.
"Dad."
Dante crouched in front of him.
"Are you hurt?"
"My shoulder hurts a little."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"Mia?"
The girl shook her head, then wrapped both arms around his neck.
"Don't go."
Dante held her.
"I need five minutes."
"Uncle Javier is scary."
"I know."
"You'll come back?"
"Always."
Thomas Cole knelt beside the children.
"I've got them."
Dante stood.
Before entering the mansion he looked at Javier.
Javier gave him a strange smile.
"You think Elena left you a miracle?"
Dante said nothing.
"You couldn't save her."
Dante continued walking.
That was the reaction Javier wanted.
He did not get it.
The room where Dante and Elena had become a family was not their bedroom.
It was the small west sitting room.
Twelve years earlier Dante had proposed there.
Two years later they brought newborn Leo home from the hospital and spent their first night as frightened parents sleeping beside his bassinet in that room.
When Mia was born they did the same thing.
Elena used to call it the beginning room.
The room had been remodeled after her death.
But one thing remained.
An old grandfather clock.
Samuel looked at the receipt.
"Seven seventeen."
Dante stared at the clock.
It was 4:42.
Clara whispered.
"Set the hands."
Dante opened the glass case.
He moved the minute hand to seventeen past seven.
A click sounded inside the base.
Samuel crouched.
"There."
A narrow panel had opened.
Inside was a small black ledger wrapped in plastic.
Clara exhaled.
Dante did not move.
Three years.
For three years he had wondered what Elena was thinking during the final days of her life.
Why she had seemed distracted.
Why she had asked unusual questions about insurance policies.
Why she had insisted he update guardianship documents for the children.
He had thought she was anxious.
Now he understood.
She had been preparing for danger.
He lifted the ledger.
The first pages contained dates and transfers.
Javier's initials appeared beside dozens of entries.
But another set of initials appeared repeatedly.
R.H.
The same initials from Elena's recording.
Samuel turned pages.
"Here."
A payment to Raven Crest Consulting.
Another.
Another.
Then a handwritten notation.
H.V. confirmed brakes.
Clara covered her mouth.
"Harrison Vale."
Samuel nodded.
Dante's hands remained still.
"Find him."
Samuel looked up.
"Now?"
"Now."
Samuel made the call.
The former investigator had retired to New Hampshire.
Samuel's assistant located a current address within fifteen minutes.
Dante kept reading.
Near the final pages Elena's notes changed.
Less financial.
More personal.
Javier knows I copied everything.
He thinks I gave it to Dante.
I did not.
Not yet.
I need proof of what Raven Crest paid for.
Then another entry.
Harrison met Javier at Harbor Garage.
Asked Thomas to pull city camera footage.
Dante frowned.
"Thomas?"
Clara looked at him.
"She trusted him."
Dante turned another page.
The final written entry was dated the morning before Elena died.
If Harrison tells me the truth tonight, this ends.
If he doesn't, Dante needs to know that the person Javier fears most is not me.
The sentence stopped there.
No name followed.
Samuel read it twice.
"Who did Javier fear?"
Dante did not know.
Clara did.
Or thought she might.
"His father."
Dante looked at her.
"Uncle Vincent died nine years ago."
"Yes."
"So how could Elena mean him?"
Clara walked toward the window.
"Because Javier never feared Vincent while he was alive."
Dante waited.
Clara turned.
"He feared what Vincent left behind."
Before Dante could ask another question, Thomas Cole called.
"Dante."
"What happened?"
"Javier tried to leave."
"Is he still there?"
"Yes."
A pause.
"But that's not the problem."
"What is?"
Thomas lowered his voice.
"Someone just drove through the south gate."
"Who?"
"A man asking for Clara."
Clara became pale.
Dante put the phone on speaker.
Thomas continued.
"He says his name is Harrison Vale."
Samuel stared at Dante.
Dante asked, "Why is he here?"
Thomas answered.
"He says he heard Javier was in trouble."
May you like
Another pause.
"And he says if Javier sees him, Javier will know Elena didn't die the way everyone thinks she did."
