Chapter 2 - The Fiancée Who Needed a Witness
The morning after the party, Avery woke to someone pounding on her apartment door.
She checked the clock.
7:12 a.m.
Linda called from the kitchen.
“Avery?”
“I’ve got it.”
Avery opened the door.
Dominic Moretti stood in the hallway.
No entourage.
No umbrella.
Just a black coat and those unsettling gray eyes.
Avery immediately started closing the door.
“No.”
Dominic caught it with one hand.
“I haven't asked anything.”
“Whatever it is, no.”
“Vanessa disappeared last night.”
Avery stopped.
“What?”
“Forty-three minutes after you left.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
“It became your problem when someone searched your car.”
Avery froze.
She rushed downstairs.
The passenger door hung open.
The glove compartment had been emptied.
The trunk was unlocked.
Her delivery bags had been cut apart.
“My God.”
Dominic stood behind her.
“They weren’t looking for money.”
“How do you know?”
“Because your emergency cash is still beneath the spare tire.”
Avery spun around.
“How do you know about that?”
“My people checked after whoever did this left.”
“You had people watching my car?”
“After last night? Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“Someone broke into your vehicle three hours later. I’d call it useful.”
Avery stared into the ruined trunk.
“What were they looking for?”
“That’s what I need you to tell me.”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
Avery looked at him sharply.
“I deliver food. I don’t investigate your fiancée.”
“Vanessa requested you seventeen times.”
“Because she hated me.”
“Vanessa hates hundreds of people.”
“Comforting.”
“She requested only you.”
Avery’s anger faded.
Dominic continued.
“Did she ever give you anything?”
“No.”
“Put anything in your car?”
“No.”
“Ask you to carry something unusual?”
Avery shook her head.
Then stopped.
“What?”
“The gloves.”
Dominic waited.
“She always made me wear disposable gloves.”
“So?”
“Except twice.”
“When?”
Avery thought.
“The night of September twenty-second. And last night.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“What happened September twenty-second?”
“She made me wait outside.”
“How long?”
“About thirty minutes.”
“Last night?”
“Twenty-five.”
Dominic pulled out his phone.
“Marco.”
A man answered immediately.
“Check every security log from September twenty-second. Focus on periods when Miss Carter was waiting outside.”
He ended the call.
Avery folded her arms.
“You think she used me as some kind of distraction?”
“I think Vanessa liked having the cameras pointed at you.”
“Why?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
Linda appeared at the building entrance.
“Avery?”
Dominic looked toward her.
Avery stepped between them instinctively.
“Mom, go upstairs.”
Linda ignored her.
“You’re Dominic Moretti.”
Dominic seemed surprised.
“We’ve met?”
“No.”
Linda stared at his face.
“But I knew your father.”
Avery turned.
“What?”
Dominic’s expression became unreadable.
Linda looked suddenly pale.
“Inside.”
“Mom—”
“Now.”
They went upstairs.
Linda sat at the kitchen table.
Dominic remained standing.
Avery closed the door.
“Start talking.”
Linda looked at Dominic.
“Your father owned Moretti Freight when my husband died.”
Dominic nodded.
“Victor Carter.”
Avery stared at him.
“You know my father’s name?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dominic hesitated.
“Because Victor Carter’s death was never an industrial accident.”
Silence.
Linda closed her eyes.
Avery’s voice dropped.
“What did you just say?”
Dominic reached inside his coat and placed an old photograph on the table.
Victor Carter stood beside several freight containers.
Beside him was Dominic’s father.
And behind them stood a much younger man Avery recognized from the Moretti estate.
Dominic’s uncle, Salvatore.
“My father discovered someone using our freight network to move stolen medical equipment,” Dominic said.
Avery looked at him.
“Medical equipment?”
“Dialysis components. Surgical devices. Hospital electronics.”
Linda gripped the table.
Dominic continued.
“Victor found discrepancies in the manifests. He brought them to my father.”
“And then he died.”
“Yes.”
Avery stood.
“You knew?”
“I knew Victor died. I didn't know what he'd discovered until recently.”
“What does Vanessa have to do with this?”
Dominic’s phone rang.
He answered.
Marco spoke rapidly.
Dominic’s eyes went cold.
“Send it.”
He placed his phone on the table.
Security footage played.
Avery’s car sat outside the mansion.
Avery stood beneath the service awning.
Inside the house, Vanessa crossed a hallway.
She entered Dominic’s private office.
Three minutes later, Salvatore Moretti joined her.
Avery whispered, “Your uncle.”
Dominic nodded.
On-screen, Vanessa carried a small black drive.
Avery looked at him.
“They were using my deliveries.”
“As cover.”
“Why?”
“Because every time you complained at the door, security focused on you.”
Avery stared at the screen.
Vanessa hadn’t humiliated her simply for entertainment.
She had turned Avery into a distraction.
Again and again.
Dominic’s phone buzzed.
A message appeared.
A photograph.
Avery’s blood went cold.
It showed Linda entering her dialysis clinic.
Underneath were six words.
BRING THE DRIVE OR SHE DISAPPEARS.
Avery looked at Dominic.
“I don't have any drive.”
May you like
Dominic looked toward her ruined delivery bags.
“Maybe Vanessa thinks you do.”
