Chapter 4 - Vanessa's Last Game
The message instructed me to return to the Moretti mansion.
The same ballroom.
Midnight.
Alone.
Naturally, Dominic hated the plan.
“You're not walking into that house without protection.”
“They're expecting me.”
“They're expecting a delivery driver.”
I looked at him.
“That's useful.”
Dominic understood.
At 11:58, I entered through the service door.
No guards.
No staff.
The mansion felt abandoned.
Vanessa waited in the ballroom wearing black now.
Her father stood beside her.
Richard Whitmore was silver-haired, calm, and perfectly dressed.
“You look like Daniel,” he said.
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I held up the flash drive.
“My mother stays safe.”
Richard smiled.
“Your mother was never the objective.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“You were.”
I looked at her.
“Seven weeks.”
She smiled.
“Seven miserable weeks.”
“You kept requesting me.”
“Father wanted to know whether Daniel had told you anything.”
“So you treated me like garbage to see how I'd react?”
“No.”
Vanessa smiled.
“That part I enjoyed.”
Richard sighed.
“Vanessa.”
“What? We're finished pretending.”
I looked at Richard.
“Did you kill my father?”
His smile disappeared.
“I arranged a problem to disappear.”
My throat tightened.
“You murdered him.”
“He became inconvenient.”
Behind me, a door quietly opened.
Richard didn't notice.
Dominic had arrived.
I kept Richard talking.
“What was on the drive?”
“Evidence your father should never have collected.”
“Evidence against you?”
“Against many people.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Give it to him.”
I held up the drive.
“You slapped me because you knew who I was.”
Her expression sharpened.
“I slapped you because you needed reminding.”
“Of what?”
“That people like you don't belong in rooms like this.”
I smiled.
“That hasn't worked out very well for you.”
Vanessa lunged.
This time, I was ready.
She grabbed my hair.
I trapped her wrist, turned, and brought her down onto the marble in one controlled movement.
Almost exactly like before.
Vanessa screamed.
“You psycho!”
I released her.
“You really should stop trying that.”
Richard reached inside his jacket.
Dominic's voice thundered across the ballroom.
“Don't.”
Richard froze.
Dominic emerged from the shadows with Marco and two security men.
Richard slowly lowered his hand.
“You recorded this?”
Dominic looked toward the chandelier.
“Every word.”
Richard laughed.
“You think police will touch me?”
A second voice answered from the doorway.
“Some will.”
Detective Elena Ruiz entered with two state investigators.
Richard's confidence finally cracked.
Dominic had bypassed the compromised local department and sent Dad's files directly to state authorities.
Richard looked at me.
“Your father made the same mistake.”
I stepped closer.
“No.”
“What?”
“He trusted the wrong people.”
I looked toward Dominic.
“I didn't.”
Richard Whitmore was arrested at 12:17 a.m.
Vanessa was taken away twenty minutes later after investigators connected her to the surveillance of my mother.
As they led her through the ruined ballroom, Vanessa stopped beside me.
“This isn't over.”
I looked at her.
“For you?”
I glanced at the investigators.
“I think it is.”
She was taken outside.
Dominic and I remained beneath the chandeliers.
The same marble floor where she'd made me kneel hours earlier.
Dominic looked at me.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Good answer.”
I looked at him.
“My father is still dead.”
“I know.”
“Winning doesn't change that.”
“No.”
For once, Dominic Moretti didn't try to fix something money couldn't repair.
He simply stood beside me.
Then my phone rang.
Hospital.
I answered immediately.
The doctor spoke for thirty seconds.
My knees almost gave out.
Dominic caught my arm.
“What?”
I looked at him.
May you like
“They found a donor match for Mom.”
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