Chapter 6 - The Last Secret Isabella Left Behind
Great Lakes Continental occupied the lower floors of a century-old building in downtown Chicago.
From the outside, it looked respectable.
Inside, it carried the sterile quiet of places designed to protect secrets.
Dominic hated the plan.
Which was ironic, because it was his plan.
I would enter alone.
At least that was what whoever held Maya would believe.
My father would remain in a surveillance vehicle.
Lucia had contacts inside the bank.
Dominic’s people would cover every exit.
“You don’t give them the real key,” Dominic said.
We stood inside an underground garage two blocks away.
He handed me a duplicate.
“How convincing is this?”
“Convincing enough.”
“And the real one?”
He touched his inside pocket.
I frowned.
“You’re keeping it?”
“Yes.”
“After all those speeches about me having a choice?”
“You chose to walk into a trap.”
“Correct.”
“I chose not to give you the one object they might kill you for.”
I wanted to argue.
Unfortunately, it made sense.
“That doesn’t mean I like it.”
“I would be worried if you did.”
For a few seconds we simply looked at one another.
Somewhere along the way, my fear of Dominic had changed.
Not disappeared.
Changed.
I understood now that the danger surrounding him was real.
But so was the restraint.
He could force people.
Yet whenever I pushed back, he eventually listened.
That contradiction confused me.
“Dominic.”
“Yes?”
“If something happens—”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“I know enough.”
“Let me finish.”
He stepped closer.
“Nothing happens to you.”
“You can’t guarantee that.”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“I can try.”
It was the closest thing to tenderness I had heard from him.
I looked away first.
“Get Maya.”
“We will.”
I entered the bank at 2:17 p.m.
A receptionist directed me toward the private vault floor.
The elevator descended instead of rising.
That felt appropriate.
At the bottom, a man in a navy suit waited.
“Ms. Marino?”
I almost corrected him.
Then stopped.
“Eliza.”
“Follow me.”
We passed three security doors.
No Maya.
No obvious threat.
I kept walking.
A private viewing room waited at the end.
Inside sat Ryan.
Maya’s boyfriend.
My anger erupted.
“You?”
He smiled.
“Happy birthday.”
I wanted to hit him.
“Where is Maya?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
He turned a tablet around.
Live video showed Maya sitting inside a parked vehicle.
Her hands were free.
She looked frightened but unharmed.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Money.”
At least he didn’t pretend.
“Whose money?”
“Your grandfather’s.”
“Salvatore hired you?”
Ryan laughed.
“No.”
The answer shocked me.
“Then who?”
A door behind him opened.
Lucia entered.
I stopped breathing.
My aunt closed the door.
“I’m sorry, Eliza.”
Betrayal burned through me.
“You took Maya?”
“No.”
Ryan answered.
“She paid me.”
Lucia glared.
“I paid you to find the ledger. Not abduct anyone.”
“Details.”
I looked at her.
“You brought me into that conservatory. You cried.”
“I meant everything I said.”
“That makes this worse.”
Lucia’s face crumpled.
“You don’t understand.”
“I’m getting tired of hearing that.”
She stepped toward me.
“The ledger doesn’t only expose my father.”
“Who else?”
“Dominic.”
I froze.
Ryan smiled.
“There it is.”
I looked at Lucia.
“What does it say?”
“Years of payments. Meetings. Agreements.”
“To Dominic?”
“To his family.”
“That doesn’t mean him.”
“He took over their organization.”
“When?”
“After his father died.”
“Does it prove Dominic killed my mother?”
Lucia looked away.
That was enough.
My chest tightened.
“You think it does.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why not tell me?”
“Because Romano would never let you see it.”
I thought of the real key inside Dominic’s jacket.
Maybe she was right.
“Where’s Maya?”
Ryan stood.
“Bring the key.”
I held up the duplicate.
“Release her first.”
He smiled.
“That’s adorable.”
A fire alarm suddenly screamed.
Ryan’s smile disappeared.
Red lights flashed.
Lucia looked toward the door.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
I smiled.
“Dominic.”
The lights went out.
Chaos erupted.
I dropped behind the table exactly as instructed.
The door burst open.
Carlo entered with bank security.
Ryan ran toward another exit.
Lucia screamed at him to stop.
Within seconds he was tackled.
I scrambled toward the hallway.
“Maya!”
Dominic appeared.
“Safe.”
I stopped.
He came directly toward me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He touched my face as if confirming it himself.
Then I remembered Lucia.
And the ledger.
I stepped back.
“Give me the key.”
His hand dropped.
“Eliza.”
“Now.”
Something in my voice told him not to fight me.
He removed it.
I took the brass key.
“You’re going to show me what’s inside that box.”
“Yes.”
“No editing.”
“No.”
“No deciding what I can handle.”
Dominic nodded.
“Agreed.”
The vault manager reluctantly led us to box 17426.
The key turned.
Inside sat a leather-bound ledger.
A cassette tape.
Several envelopes.
And a small velvet jewelry box.
My hands shook.
I opened the jewelry box first.
Inside was my mother’s wedding ring.
I started crying.
My father covered his mouth.
Dominic stepped away, giving me space.
Under the ring was a note.
For Eliza, when she is finally free enough to choose her own life.
I pressed the ring against my palm.
Then opened the ledger.
Page after page contained names, dates, payments.
Dominic Romano appeared several times.
I looked at him.
He didn’t deny it.
“What were these?”
“Payments from my father.”
“For what?”
“Information.”
Lucia whispered, “Keep reading.”
I did.
The entries changed after Dominic’s father died.
Dominic’s name appeared.
But beside each payment was another notation.
RETURNED.
REFUSED.
ACCOUNT CLOSED.
Again and again.
Dominic had not continued his father’s arrangement.
Then I reached the year my mother died.
A payment appeared beside one name.
Not Romano.
Lucia Venturi.
My aunt went white.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“You received two hundred thousand dollars three days before my mother died.”
“It wasn’t for that.”
“What was it for?”
Lucia began shaking.
“My father paid me to tell him when Isabella returned.”
My stomach turned.
“You betrayed her.”
“I thought he only wanted to speak with her.”
“That’s what everyone says after betrayal.”
Lucia cried.
“I didn’t kill her.”
I turned the page.
Another entry.
A name I recognized.
Ryan’s father.
Thomas Hale.
Next to it:
Vehicle maintenance—brake line.
Silence.
Ryan stopped struggling.
My father stared.
Dominic read over my shoulder.
“Thomas Hale worked for Salvatore.”
Ryan shouted, “My father did what he was told!”
I looked at him.
“You knew.”
His face said yes.
“That’s why you dated Maya.”
No answer.
“You used her to reach me.”
Lucia looked horrified.
“I didn’t know.”
I believed her.
That didn’t mean I forgave her.
Dominic called the authorities.
Not his people.
The authorities.
Federal investigators received copies of everything.
It meant Dominic’s own past would be examined too.
“You could lose everything,” I said.
He looked at the ledger.
“Then I lose it.”
“Why?”
His eyes met mine.
“Because your mother died trying to end this.”
Hours later Maya ran into my arms outside the bank.
We both cried.
Ryan was taken away.
Lucia voluntarily went with investigators.
My father stood apart, waiting.
Dominic approached me.
“It’s over.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Across the street, a black sedan waited.
Inside sat Salvatore Venturi.
My grandfather stared at me through the glass.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
His weak voice whispered:
“You opened the wrong box.”
The sedan drove away.
And suddenly I understood.
May you like
My mother had left more than one secret.
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