Chapter 4 - The Locker at Grand Central
Dominic refused to let me leave the hospital.
I refused to stay.
“You were shot seven times.”
“Thank you. I was there.”
“You can barely walk.”
“I can walk.”
“You made it six feet.”
“Seven.”
He stared at me.
“This isn't funny.”
“Neither was marrying me.”
That ended the argument.
Mostly.
Forty-eight hours later, I left St. Catherine through a private underground entrance wearing borrowed clothes beneath a long coat.
Dominic had six men around us.
Enzo drove.
Isabella stayed behind.
At Grand Central, Dominic kept one hand near my back without touching me.
“Which locker?”
I examined the key.
“214.”
We found an old private storage section.
Locker 214 opened.
Inside was a small metal box.
No money.
No diamonds.
Just documents.
Photographs.
And a cassette tape.
Enzo picked up a ledger.
“This could destroy Costa.”
Dominic wasn't looking at the ledger.
He was looking at a photograph.
I took it.
My biological mother stood beside a younger Dominic Rossi.
He couldn't have been more than twelve.
Behind them stood Dominic's father.
I looked at him.
“You knew her.”
“My father did.”
“How?”
“Elena worked for him.”
I flipped the photograph.
Writing covered the back.
If anything happens to me, ask Carlo Rossi why.
Dominic went pale.
Carlo Rossi.
Dominic's father.
I stared at him.
“You knew about this?”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
“I swear.”
Enzo suddenly turned.
“Boss.”
Footsteps approached from the corridor.
Several.
Dominic immediately moved me behind him.
“Back exit?”
Enzo shook his head.
“Blocked.”
A familiar voice echoed through the hallway.
“Dominic.”
An older man appeared.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Victor Costa.
He wasn't carrying a weapon.
Neither were the men visible behind him.
Costa smiled at me.
“Elena's daughter.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“You leave here now.”
Costa ignored him.
“Your mother caused a great deal of trouble.”
“My mother is Ellen Bennett.”
Costa smiled.
“Loyalty. Admirable.”
Dominic's voice dropped.
“Victor.”
Costa finally looked at him.
“You really married her?”
“Yes.”
“Your father would appreciate the irony.”
Dominic stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
Costa's smile disappeared.
“Carlo ordered Elena silenced.”
My heart stopped.
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
“I simply carried out the instruction.”
“You're lying.”
Costa pointed toward the box.
“Play the tape.”
Then alarms suddenly sounded through the building.
Enzo's men appeared from the opposite corridor.
Costa backed away.
“This isn't finished.”
Dominic didn't follow him.
He looked at me.
I looked at the cassette in my hand.
“Play it.”
“Sofia.”
“Play it.”
Back at Dominic's estate, Enzo found an old cassette player.
A woman's voice filled the room.
Elena.
My mother.
“If Sofia ever hears this, then I failed to come home.”
I covered my mouth.
Dominic stood silently beside me.
“I discovered Victor Costa has been stealing from Carlo Rossi. Carlo doesn't know. Victor forged his authorization on several orders.”
Dominic looked up.
The recording continued.
“I believe Victor intends to kill me and blame Carlo.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Costa had lied.
But Elena wasn't finished.
“There is one person I trust with the original evidence.”
A pause.
“Isabella Rossi.”
Dominic and I looked at each other.
May you like
His mother had known everything.
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