Chapter 3 - What Her Father Died Protecting
Avery wanted to call the police.
Dominic didn’t stop her.
He simply asked one question.
“What will you tell them?”
“The truth.”
“That my missing fiancée and my uncle may have hidden evidence inside a delivery order without your knowledge?”
“Yes.”
“And when they ask for the evidence?”
Avery went silent.
Linda spoke from the table.
“Find it first.”
Avery turned.
“Mom.”
“Your father died because someone wanted something hidden.”
Linda looked at Dominic.
“If this is connected, we finish it.”
Dominic nodded.
Avery hated that they suddenly sounded like allies.
“Fine. Where do we start?”
“The deliveries.”
Dominic’s team recovered Avery’s app history.
Seventeen orders.
Seventeen nights.
Seventeen carefully timed distractions.
Then Avery noticed something.
“The restaurants.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“What about them?”
“Vanessa ordered from different restaurants every time.”
“So?”
“Except this one.”
She pointed.
“Bellini’s. Four times.”
Dominic called Marco.
Twenty minutes later, they were driving toward Chicago.
At Bellini’s, the manager remembered Vanessa.
More importantly, he remembered Avery.
“She always requested the same packaging,” he said.
“What packaging?” Dominic asked.
“Double-bottom catering boxes.”
Avery stared at him.
“Those cost extra.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“For temperature control.”
Dominic asked, “Do you have one?”
The manager brought out a box.
Avery examined it.
She pulled the cardboard insert free.
There was a narrow hollow space underneath.
Dominic looked at her.
“Enough room for a flash drive.”
Avery suddenly remembered.
“Wait.”
She rushed toward the door.
“My car.”
Back in Cicero, Avery tore through the trunk.
She found nothing.
Then Linda called from upstairs.
“Avery!”
They ran inside.
Linda stood beside a kitchen cabinet holding a flattened food box.
“I was saving it for recycling.”
Avery grabbed it.
Bellini’s.
September twenty-second.
She ripped out the insert.
Something tiny dropped onto the floor.
A black flash drive.
Nobody moved.
Dominic finally said, “Your mother just saved us several years of trouble.”
Linda smiled faintly.
“I raised a delivery driver. We don’t throw away good boxes.”
Dominic almost smiled.
They opened the drive on an isolated laptop.
Invoices filled the screen.
Shipping manifests.
Bank transfers.
Hospital equipment.
Names.
Dates.
Photographs.
Then Avery saw one name.
VICTOR CARTER.
Her hand froze over the keyboard.
A recording file sat beside it.
She clicked.
Her father’s voice filled the room.
“If anyone finds this, Salvatore Moretti knows about the shipments.”
Avery stopped breathing.
Victor continued.
“I told Dominic’s father. He promised to investigate. If something happens to me—”
Static.
Then:
“Tell Linda I’m sorry.”
Linda covered her mouth.
Avery closed the laptop.
She didn’t cry.
She couldn’t.
Not yet.
Dominic stood beside her.
“My uncle killed your father.”
“We don't know that.”
“We know enough.”
His phone rang.
Marco.
Dominic answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He looked at Avery.
“They found Vanessa.”
“Where?”
“At one of Salvatore’s warehouses.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Avery exhaled.
Dominic didn’t.
“There’s more.”
Marco spoke.
Dominic listened.
Then looked at Avery.
“Vanessa says Salvatore has ordered your mother taken tonight.”
Avery stood.
“When?”
“During dialysis.”
Linda checked the clock.
Her appointment was in forty minutes.
Avery grabbed her keys.
Dominic caught her arm.
“You're not going alone.”
Avery looked down at his hand.
“Take it off.”
He did.
“Then we go together.”
“You think because you’re Dominic Moretti everyone does what you say?”
“No.”
He picked up the flash drive.
“But I think whoever killed your father has spent eight years believing nobody would ever come looking.”
May you like
His gaze hardened.
“Tonight, he learns differently.”
