Chapter 4 - The Secret Behind Dominic WolfeThe truth began inside a locked archive room beneath the Boston Central Library.
Alora had access.
Dominic had armed security.
Together, they had enough authority to open records nobody had touched in twenty years.
The article about their mothers had been brief.
The files behind it were not.
Evelyn Bennett had worked as a junior accountant for a nonprofit organization funded by the Wolfe family.
Isabella Wolfe had served on its board.
Together, they discovered millions of dollars being redirected through shell companies.
The money was connected to Dominic's father, Victor Wolfe.
But one document appeared repeatedly beside Victor's name.
MARCUS VALE.
Dominic stared at the records.
“My mother found out Marcus was stealing from my father.”
Alora shook her head.
“Not only stealing.”
She pushed another paper toward him.
“He was laundering money through the charity.”
Jax whistled quietly.
“And Evelyn Bennett helped Isabella document it.”
Dominic looked toward Alora.
“How did your mother die?”
“Car accident.”
“When?”
“Twenty-four years ago.”
His expression hardened.
“My mother died six months earlier.”
Silence.
Alora felt cold.
“No.”
Dominic understood.
“Marcus.”
“We don't know that.”
“We know enough.”
Alora looked down at the documents.
There was one more item.
A handwritten letter.
It was addressed to Evelyn.
Isabella's handwriting filled the page.
If anything happens to me, protect the ledger. Victor cannot know yet. Marcus has people everywhere.
Dominic read the sentence twice.
Then a third time.
Alora touched his wrist.
He flinched slightly.
Not from her.
From the memory.
“My father killed her,” he said.
“That is what you were told?”
“I heard them arguing.”
“You were a child.”
“I heard him threaten her.”
“That doesn't mean he killed her.”
Dominic looked at the letter again.
For decades he had hated his father for one crime above all others.
Now doubt had entered the story.
Jax continued searching.
They eventually found mention of a physical ledger hidden before Isabella's death.
It was never recovered.
Marcus had spent twenty-six years looking for it.
Then Alora noticed something.
“My mother's photographs.”
“What?”
“She kept old photographs inside books.”
Dominic stared.
“Where are the books?”
“My apartment.”
Within an hour, they returned under heavy protection.
Alora located a box containing her mother's belongings.
Inside was an old leather-bound copy of Jane Eyre.
A photograph fell from between the pages.
Two young women stood outside the same abandoned gallery.
Evelyn Bennett.
Isabella Wolfe.
Behind them, handwritten in blue ink:
Where forgotten paintings watch the river.
Dominic looked toward Alora.
“The gallery.”
They returned after midnight.
This time Dominic refused to let Alora enter first.
The building felt different.
Not like the site of a murder.
Like a grave holding a secret.
Alora examined the damaged murals.
One painting showed Boston Harbor.
A section of plaster sounded hollow.
Jax broke it carefully.
Behind the wall sat a metal box.
Dominic opened it.
A ledger.
Photographs.
Cassette recordings.
Documents.
Enough evidence to reconstruct Marcus Vale's criminal operations going back decades.
And one letter addressed to Dominic.
His hands froze.
He recognized his mother's handwriting.
Dominic opened it.
The letter was short.
My son, if you ever find this, I pray you became stronger than the men surrounding you. Strength is not fear. Strength is choosing what kind of man you will become when fear would be easier.
Dominic stopped reading.
Alora saw moisture appear in his eyes.
He turned away.
No one spoke.
Eventually he continued.
Your father is dangerous, but Marcus is worse because he smiles while poisoning everyone around him. If I fail, do not inherit their hatred.
Dominic folded the letter.
For the first time Alora understood the true tragedy.
Dominic had spent his life building himself into a man nobody could hurt.
But his mother had wanted something else.
She had wanted him free.
Later that night, they returned to the penthouse.
Dominic sat alone.
Alora joined him.
“You were right,” he said.
“About what?”
“I am afraid of becoming him.”
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
She sat beside him.
“But you're not him.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know you had every opportunity to hurt me.”
“That is a low standard.”
“It is still evidence.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You deserve someone uncomplicated.”
Alora smiled faintly.
“I work in archives. Complicated is most of the job.”
He almost laughed.
Then his expression changed.
“Why aren't you afraid of me anymore?”
“I am.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Alora thought about it.
“Because fear isn't the only thing I feel.”
Dominic became still.
Neither moved.
Alora could hear the city through the glass.
Finally Dominic spoke.
“If I kiss you, I won't pretend it means nothing.”
Her heartbeat quickened.
“Then don't pretend.”
He touched her face carefully.
Far more carefully than a man with his reputation should have known how.
Then he kissed her.
There was no urgency.
No demand.
Just a quiet, almost disbelieving tenderness.
When they separated, Dominic rested his forehead against hers.
“You have no idea how dangerous this makes you.”
Alora whispered, “Then stop telling me to be afraid.”
The next morning, everything collapsed.
Jax received a message.
Marcus had taken Elena.
The woman who managed Dominic's home.
He wanted the ledger.
Exchange at midnight.
The abandoned gallery.
Alora read the message.
“He knows we found it.”
Dominic nodded.
“I'll go.”
“Not alone.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Alora.”
“She helped me when I arrived here. I'm coming.”
“You are exactly what Marcus wants.”
“Then use that.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What?”
“He thinks I'm your weakness.”
“You are.”
The words came without hesitation.
Alora's breath caught.
Dominic did not take them back.
She stepped closer.
“Then let him believe weakness means stupidity.”
A slow understanding entered Dominic's eyes.
Together, they created a plan.
But Marcus had been planning longer.
At 11:43 that night, Alora received a call from an unknown number.
She answered.
“Elena?”
A man's voice responded.
“No.”
Marcus.
“You have something I want, Miss Bennett.”
Alora looked toward Dominic.
He motioned for her to keep talking.
“The ledger?”
Marcus laughed.
“No.”
A pause.
“I want Dominic to suffer exactly the way his father did.”
Alora's stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“Ask him what happened when Victor Wolfe finally learned his wife was dead.”
The line disconnected.
Alora turned toward Dominic.
But Dominic was no longer looking at her.
He was staring at the floor.
Because he knew the answer.
His father had started a war.
A war that had killed dozens.
Marcus did not merely want the ledger.
He wanted Dominic angry enough to become the monster his mother had begged him never to become.
May you like
And the easiest way to create that monster—
was to take Alora Bennett away from him.
Related Stories
