Chapter 4 - The Box My Father Died ProtectingNathan walked into the light holding a gun.
I had never seen him with one before.
That shouldn't have mattered.
I'd also never seen him kiss my sister until tonight.
Apparently, there were many things I didn't know about the man I had planned to marry.
“Put it down,” Dominic said.
Nathan smiled without humor.
“Still giving orders.”
Two men stood behind him.
One held a weapon pointed toward Dominic's guards.
The other looked vaguely familiar.
Then I recognized him.
Daniel Mercer.
The federal prosecutor.
“What is he doing here?” I asked.
Mercer raised both hands.
“I'm not with Nathan.”
Nathan's gun shifted toward him.
“Don't.”
Mercer stopped moving.
Dominic's expression became dangerous.
“You brought a federal prosecutor to my property?”
Nathan laughed.
“I didn't bring him.”
Mercer spoke carefully.
“I followed Wexler.”
“Why?”
“Because he's been under investigation for fourteen months.”
I stared at Nathan.
“For what?”
“Money laundering, securities fraud, conspiracy.”
Nathan rolled his eyes.
“Alleged conspiracy.”
Mercer ignored him.
“We believe he has been moving money through charitable organizations.”
The Blake-Wexler Foundation.
My foundation.
A wave of nausea hit me.
Nathan saw it.
“Claire, I can explain.”
“You've said that all night.”
“This isn't what you think.”
“You stole money through a charity?”
“I moved money.”
“That's stealing.”
“Not from the charity.”
“Then from where?”
Nathan's eyes went toward the metal box.
“From people who deserved to lose it.”
Dominic laughed softly.
“You sound exactly like your father.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“Don't talk about him.”
“Why? Because he taught you to confuse greed with justice?”
Nathan raised the gun.
Dominic didn't flinch.
“Nathan,” I said.
His gaze moved to me.
“Put it down.”
“Open the box.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“My father specifically told me not to let you.”
Something broke in Nathan's expression.
“Your father ruined my family.”
“Richard Wexler helped kill mine.”
“You don't know that.”
“Emily heard him with Dad the night he died.”
Nathan looked toward her.
Emily stepped behind me.
“You were there?”
Her face answered.
Nathan cursed under his breath.
“What is in the box?” I asked.
He laughed bitterly.
“The truth.”
“About what?”
“Your father. Mine. Bellardi. All of them.”
Dominic looked at the box.
“Charles never told me.”
“I know.”
Nathan's smile was cold.
“That was the point.”
He took another step.
“Open it.”
I looked at Mercer.
The prosecutor was subtly moving his hand toward his jacket.
Nathan noticed.
“Don't.”
Mercer froze again.
“Claire,” Nathan said, “I don't want to hurt you.”
“That line might have worked yesterday.”
“I mean it.”
“Did you approach me because of Blake Holdings?”
Nathan's face changed.
I already knew.
“Yes.”
Emily inhaled sharply.
I felt strangely calm.
“Was meeting me planned?”
“Yes.”
“Was our relationship planned?”
“At first.”
The words went through me like ice.
“At first?”
“I didn't expect to fall in love with you.”
I laughed.
“You cheated on me with my sister.”
“I said I loved you. I didn't say I was a good man.”
Maybe that was the first completely truthful thing he'd ever told me.
“Why Emily?”
He looked at her.
“Because she was lonely.”
Emily's face crumpled.
“And because you needed her shares,” I said.
Nathan said nothing.
Emily stared at him.
“My shares?”
Nathan's silence answered.
She looked physically ill.
“You told me you wanted to leave Claire.”
“I was going to.”
“When?”
He didn't answer.
Emily whispered, “Never.”
For the first time that night, my anger toward her weakened.
Not disappeared.
But weakened.
Nathan had betrayed both of us differently.
“You used me,” Emily said.
“Yes.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Nathan's gun moved instinctively.
Dominic moved faster.
One second Nathan was standing.
The next Dominic had twisted his wrist.
The gun hit the floor.
Chaos exploded.
Mercer tackled one of Nathan's men.
Dominic's guards rushed the other.
Emily screamed.
I dropped behind the desk.
Someone fired.
Concrete shattered above my head.
Dominic drove Nathan against the wall.
Within seconds, it was over.
Nathan was on the ground.
Mercer had a knee against another man's back.
Dominic picked up the gun.
“You're getting slow,” he told Nathan.
Nathan spat blood.
“You're getting old.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“Still faster than you.”
Mercer stood.
“Everybody stop.”
He pulled out his badge.
“This building is now part of a federal investigation.”
Dominic looked around.
“You don't have a warrant.”
Mercer looked at the bullet hole.
“I suspect I can get one.”
Dominic sighed.
“Government bureaucracy.”
I almost laughed.
Instead, I turned toward the box.
Everything had happened because of it.
I opened the lid.
Inside were old documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And a small digital recorder.
On top rested another envelope.
Dominic's name was written on it.
He stared.
I handed it to him.
His hands were steady until he opened it.
Then they weren't.
I watched his eyes move across the page.
“What does it say?”
He didn't answer.
“Dominic.”
He handed it to me.
Dominic,
If anything happens to me, protect my daughters.
Richard knows about the accounts.
Michael knows about the recordings.
I made a mistake trusting both of them.
You were right.
If Claire ever learns what you did for us, she may hate you. Let her.
Hatred is safer than the truth.
—Charles
I looked up.
“Michael.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Dominic whispered, “Your brother.”
Nathan nodded.
Michael Wexler.
The brother Dominic had killed.
“What did Michael know?”
Nathan laughed from the floor.
“Play the recorder.”
Mercer reached for it.
Dominic stopped him.
“Claire decides.”
I picked it up.
My finger hovered over the button.
Then I pressed play.
Static.
Then my father's voice.
I hadn't heard it in six years.
My chest collapsed.
“If you're listening to this, Richard has probably already figured out what I've done.”
I covered my mouth.
Emily started crying.
Dad continued.
“Dominic believes Michael Wexler is working against his father. I want to believe it too. But tonight Michael showed me the accounts.”
A pause.
“He isn't exposing Richard.”
My eyes moved toward Nathan.
“He's helping him.”
Nathan looked away.
Dad's voice continued.
“They have transferred more than seventy million dollars through construction firms. Some of that money belongs to the pension fund.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“I confronted Michael. He threatened Claire.”
My heart stopped.
Dad continued.
“He said if I went to the authorities, my daughters would disappear.”
Emily grabbed my hand.
For once, I didn't pull away.
“I called Dominic.”
Static crackled.
“He told me he would handle Michael.”
The recording ended.
Silence.
I looked at Dominic.
“You killed Michael because he threatened us.”
“Yes.”
“Did my father ask you to?”
Dominic hesitated.
“No.”
“But the letter says what you did for us.”
“He asked me to stop Michael.”
“How?”
“He didn't specify.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“So you murdered him.”
Dominic looked at Nathan.
“Michael kidnapped two men before I found him.”
“What?”
Nathan's face changed.
“He never—”
“He tortured one to learn whether Charles had already gone to the authorities.”
Dominic's voice was cold now.
“Your brother wasn't innocent.”
Nathan looked stunned.
“You're lying.”
Mercer spoke.
“He isn't.”
Everyone turned.
Mercer sighed.
“The FBI has a sealed file regarding Michael Wexler.”
Nathan's face went white.
“How would you know?”
“Because my father was the agent assigned to it.”
Another secret.
Nathan stared at him.
Mercer continued.
“Michael was under investigation for extortion, kidnapping, and organized financial crimes when he disappeared.”
Dominic looked at Mercer.
“You knew?”
“Enough.”
“Why are you telling us now?”
“Because I'm tired of inheriting dead men's secrets.”
That sentence landed on all of us.
Mercer took the recorder.
“This is evidence.”
I didn't stop him.
Nathan remained on the floor.
He looked smaller now.
Not harmless.
Just broken.
“Did you kill my father?” I asked him.
“No.”
“Did Richard?”
Nathan looked away.
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie.”
“I don't know.”
Mercer watched him.
Nathan finally continued.
“My father told me Charles had become a problem.”
“When?”
“Years later.”
“What did that mean?”
“He said he'd handled it.”
Emily made a sound behind me.
I closed my eyes.
Handled it.
Dad.
Dominic stepped toward Nathan.
“What exactly did Richard say?”
“That Charles had found the offshore accounts.”
“And?”
“He said someone inside Blake Holdings took care of it.”
I froze.
“Inside Blake Holdings?”
“Yes.”
“That means it wasn't Richard.”
“No.”
“It was someone working for my father.”
Nathan nodded.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic stared at the documents.
Then suddenly began searching through them.
“What?”
“The third man.”
“What third man?”
Dominic picked up the old photograph.
The one showing him, Dad, and the stranger.
“Who is he?” I asked.
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Victor Hale.”
I knew the name.
Everyone connected to Blake Holdings did.
Victor Hale had been my father's chief financial officer for twenty years.
After Dad died, Victor became chairman of the board.
He was practically family.
He walked me down the aisle at my mother's memorial service.
He had helped me organize tonight's gala.
“He can't be involved.”
Dominic looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because Victor loved my father.”
“So did many men who betrayed him.”
I hated that answer.
Mercer's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed quickly.
“When?”
He listened.
“Lock down the building.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
He looked directly at me.
“Victor Hale just filed an emergency motion with the Blake Holdings board.”
“For what?”
“To have you declared temporarily incompetent to exercise your voting shares.”
I stared at him.
“He can't do that.”
“He can try.”
“Why tonight?”
Dominic answered.
“Because Nathan failed.”
Nathan looked up sharply.
Dominic continued.
“If Nathan married you, the trust clause would allow him access to your voting authority under certain conditions.”
I remembered Emily mentioning the marriage provision.
“So Victor was using Nathan?”
“Yes.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You thought you were controlling the game.”
Nathan's face changed.
“You were just another piece.”
I saw the realization hit him.
For perhaps the first time, Nathan understood he had been used too.
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
Victor Hale.
Standing inside my apartment.
He was holding a framed picture of my father and me.
Underneath was a message.
COME HOME, CLAIRE.
WE NEED TO FINISH WHAT YOUR FATHER STARTED.
A second message arrived.
COME ALONE.
OR EMILY LEARNS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO YOUR MOTHER.
I slowly looked at my sister.
Emily stared back.
“What?”
I couldn't answer.
My mother had died nine years before Dad.
Cancer.
At least that was what I had always believed.
But after tonight, I no longer trusted a single death in my family.
Dominic read the message over my shoulder.
His expression darkened.
“You're not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“Victor has spent twenty years inside my family.”
“That makes him more dangerous.”
“He mentioned Mom.”
“Which is exactly why he wants you emotional.”
I looked him straight in the eyes.
“Then help me stop being emotional.”
He said nothing.
“I need the truth.”
“You may not like it.”
I laughed quietly.
“Dominic, there is nothing left tonight that I like.”
He studied me for several seconds.
Then nodded.
“We go together.”
“The message says alone.”
“You'll appear alone.”
Nathan struggled to stand.
“Claire.”
I looked at him.
“Victor won't let you leave.”
“Why do you care?”
His face twisted.
“Because despite everything, I do love you.”
I felt no warmth hearing it anymore.
Only sadness.
“Maybe you do.”
I picked up my father's letter.
“But love without loyalty is just another way to hurt someone.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
I left him there.
Forty-five minutes later, I stood outside my own apartment door.
Dominic and his security team waited one floor below.
Mercer had arranged federal backup outside.
Emily remained with agents.
I was alone.
At least Victor was supposed to believe I was.
I opened the door.
The apartment was dark.
“Victor?”
A lamp switched on.
Victor Hale sat in my father's old leather chair.
He looked exactly as he always had.
Silver-haired.
Distinguished.
Gentle.
The man who sent birthday cards every year.
The man who called me “kiddo.”
The man I had trusted since childhood.
“Hello, Claire.”
I closed the door.
“You killed my father.”
Victor smiled sadly.
“No.”
I didn't believe him.
He gestured toward the chair opposite him.
“Sit.”
“I'll stand.”
“You always were like Charles.”
“What happened to my mother?”
His expression changed.
And suddenly, I knew.
Whatever he was going to say next would hurt more than anything I had learned tonight.
“Your mother,” Victor said softly, “was the first person in your family to discover the truth about Dominic Bellardi.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“And that's why she had to die.”
