Chapter 1 - the dead sister
Six hours earlier, Dominic Vance believed he understood every threat that could enter his home.
He was wrong.
At 8:10 that morning, he sat at the head of a long walnut table overlooking the gardens of the Long Island estate his father had purchased thirty years earlier.
Marcus Kane stood near the windows reading from a tablet.
“Rosetti wants another meeting.”
“No.”
“They are offering twelve percent more on the Brooklyn property.”
“No.”
Marcus lowered the tablet.
“You didn’t even ask how much that is.”
“If they were willing to pay twelve percent more this morning, they were willing yesterday. They lied yesterday. I don’t reward people for telling me the truth late.”
Marcus smiled slightly.
It was the kind of answer he expected from Dominic.
For nineteen years Marcus had been beside him.
First as driver.
Then bodyguard.
Then adviser.
Eventually the man everyone understood spoke with Dominic’s authority.
Dominic trusted very few people.
Marcus had always been one of them.
That morning, however, Marcus had been distracted.
Dominic noticed because Dominic noticed everything.
“You keep checking the driveway.”
Marcus glanced toward the windows.
“Habit.”
“No.”
Marcus looked at him.
Dominic leaned back.
“You’re waiting for somebody.”
A pause.
Then Marcus laughed.
“You really don’t turn it off, do you?”
“Turn what off?”
“Suspicion.”
“It is why I’m alive.”
Marcus placed the tablet on the table.
“Vanessa is supposed to arrive before noon. I assumed you wanted the gate ready.”
Dominic’s expression cooled.
“I never told you Vanessa was coming.”
The pause lasted less than a second.
Most men would not have noticed it.
Dominic did.
Marcus recovered quickly.
“She told me yesterday.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
Vanessa Hale had been his fiancée for eleven months.
Beautiful, educated, socially connected, daughter of Senator Richard Hale.
Their engagement had been celebrated by newspapers that described it as the union of two powerful New York families.
The newspapers did not understand how accurate that description was.
Dominic’s influence existed in private rooms.
Richard Hale’s existed behind podiums.
Together they appeared untouchable.
That was precisely what Sophia Vance disliked about the marriage.
His mother had never trusted Vanessa.
Not from the first dinner.
Not from the first smile.
Not even after Dominic placed a six carat diamond on Vanessa’s finger.
Sophia had said only one thing.
“She looks at this family as if she is inspecting property she intends to inherit.”
Dominic had dismissed it as jealousy.
Sophia had replied, “One day you’ll learn that old women are only called paranoid until everyone else catches up.”
At 8:24 that morning, Sophia entered the dining room barefoot.
Dominic looked at her feet.
“Where are your slippers?”
“Emma is washing them.”
Dominic frowned.
“You have twenty pairs.”
“I like those.”
“You own this house.”
“Exactly. Which means I can walk barefoot if I want.”
Marcus smiled.
Dominic stood and kissed his mother on the cheek.
Sophia looked toward Marcus.
The smile disappeared from her face.
Marcus noticed.
“Morning, Mrs. Vance.”
Sophia nodded.
“Marcus.”
Dominic looked between them.
Something had changed.
He felt it immediately.
“What?”
Sophia turned to him.
“Nothing.”
Dominic hated that word.
Nothing was what people said when something was too dangerous to discuss.
Before he could question her, Emma Reed entered carrying coffee.
Emma had worked at the estate for three years.
She was young, quiet and almost invisible when she wanted to be.
Sophia adored her.
Vanessa treated her like furniture.
Dominic had mostly known Emma as the person who remembered how his mother liked her tea.
That morning Emma nearly dropped the silver tray when she saw Marcus.
Dominic caught the movement.
Again.
Too many small things.
Marcus.
Sophia.
Emma.
“Did something happen last night?” Dominic asked.
Emma immediately lowered her eyes.
“No, sir.”
Sophia looked at her.
Dominic saw it.
A warning.
Marcus saw it too.
Dominic’s instincts sharpened.
“What happened?”
Sophia sat down.
“Dominic, I need to speak with you privately.”
Marcus began to leave.
Sophia stopped him.
“Not here.”
Dominic frowned.
“Where?”
“At St. Agnes.”
The name startled him.
St. Agnes was an old church in Queens where his father had once taken him as a child.
The Vances had not used it in years.
“Why there?”
Sophia reached across the table.
Her hand trembled slightly when she touched his.
“Because there are some conversations that should not happen inside this house.”
Dominic felt the temperature in the room change.
Marcus remained expressionless.
Emma looked frightened.
Dominic said, “What conversation?”
Sophia opened her mouth.
The front doors slammed somewhere beyond the dining room.
A woman’s voice echoed through the hall.
“Dominic?”
Vanessa.
Sophia immediately pulled her hand away.
Dominic turned.
Vanessa entered seconds later in a fitted red dress.
Too elegant for morning.
Too confident for a woman arriving unannounced.
She crossed the room and kissed Dominic.
Then smiled at Sophia.
“Good morning.”
Sophia did not return the smile.
Vanessa glanced at Emma.
“Coffee.”
Emma moved toward the service table.
Sophia spoke quietly.
“She has a name.”
Vanessa turned.
“What?”
“You always call her girl, maid or coffee. Her name is Emma.”
Vanessa smiled.
“I know.”
Sophia stared at her.
Vanessa continued.
“I simply don’t need to use it.”
Dominic exhaled.
“Vanessa.”
“What?”
“Enough.”
Her expression shifted immediately into sweetness.
“Of course.”
Marcus picked up his tablet.
“I’ll leave the family to breakfast.”
Sophia’s head snapped toward him.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Marcus stopped.
Sophia stood.
Her face had gone pale.
Dominic moved closer.
“Mom?”
Sophia looked at Marcus as if seeing him differently.
Then she glanced toward Vanessa’s handbag.
Dominic followed her gaze.
Nothing unusual.
Red leather.
Gold clasp.
Vanessa noticed.
“What are you staring at?”
Sophia did not answer.
Instead she turned to Dominic.
“Go to St. Agnes.”
“Mom.”
“Today.”
Her voice was urgent now.
“Go to the third pew on the left. Underneath it there is a loose floorboard.”
Vanessa became completely still.
Marcus’s eyes shifted.
Sophia saw both reactions.
And realized her mistake.
Dominic did too.
“What is under the floorboard?”
Sophia whispered, “Proof.”
The lights went out.
The entire dining room dropped into darkness.
Emma screamed.
A chair scraped.
Dominic heard footsteps.
Then his mother shouted.
“Dominic, don’t let them find the ledger.”
The emergency lights came on three seconds later.
May you like
Sophia was gone.
So were Vanessa and Marcus.
