Chapter 13 - THE KNIFE BEHIND THE SUIT
Dominic checked the pocket again.
Nothing.
Ruiz saw the movement. “What?”
“There was a flash drive.”
“Was?”
“In my coat.”
“Containing?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian gave a small, tired laugh.
“Dominic, this is getting theatrical.”
Dominic turned toward him.
“Take off your jacket.”
The room went silent.
Adrian’s expression barely changed. “Excuse me?”
“Take it off.”
Ruiz stepped between them. “Nobody is searching anybody except us.”
Dominic looked at her. “Then search him.”
“On what basis?”
“He was close enough to me in the breakfast room to lift the drive.”
Adrian shook his head. “You’re accusing me of pickpocketing you now?”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“I’m accusing you of stealing from my dead mother.”
Brooke inhaled sharply.
Adrian looked at Dominic for a long moment.
Then he smiled.
“There he is.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“The man everyone warns me about,” Adrian continued. “You get scared, you get suspicious, and suddenly loyalty means nothing.”
“Loyalty didn’t forge my signature.”
“Can you prove I did?”
“Not yet.”
“Then maybe lower your voice.”
Dominic took one step forward.
Ruiz raised a hand.
“Enough.”
An officer entered and whispered something to her.
Ruiz looked at Brooke.
“Ms. Harrington, do you own a company called Bellweather Interiors?”
Brooke blinked.
“Yes. It’s dormant.”
“Not according to these bank records.”
Adrian turned toward her.
Brooke’s face changed.
Ruiz continued. “Bellweather received six hundred thousand dollars from Harbor Nine over eighteen months.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
“I haven’t used that company in years.”
Adrian said quietly, “Brooke.”
She snapped, “Don’t.”
Dominic watched them.
Something had shifted.
This was not going according to Adrian’s plan.
Ruiz placed a statement on the table.
“Three of those transfers were used to pay personal credit-card balances tied to you.”
Brooke stared at the page.
“I didn’t do this.”
Adrian’s voice stayed calm. “Then somebody used your accounts.”
She turned on him. “You said those payments were reimbursements.”
Silence.
Ruiz looked up.
Dominic did not move.
Brooke realized what she had said.
Adrian closed his eyes for half a second.
“Reimbursements for what?” Ruiz asked.
Brooke’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Dominic said, “Good question.”
Brooke stood abruptly. “I need air.”
Ruiz blocked the door.
“You need to stay available.”
Brooke’s eyes flashed. “Am I under arrest?”
“No.”
“Then move.”
Ruiz held her gaze, then stepped aside.
Brooke walked out.
Adrian started after her.
Dominic said, “Stay.”
Adrian stopped.
The two men faced each other across Catherine’s ledger.
Dominic had once trusted Adrian with combinations, names, routes, secrets, and enough dangerous history to ruin them both.
Now he saw something he should have seen years ago.
Adrian did not look betrayed.
He looked insulted.
Like a man angry that his servant had finally checked the silver.
“What did my mother find?” Dominic asked.
Adrian shrugged. “She was old.”
Dominic’s voice became very quiet.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“She was in the way.”
Natalie made a sound behind him.
Dominic’s hands curled.
Adrian smiled because he saw it.
He wanted Dominic to hit him.
Maybe wanted him to do worse.
Dominic remembered Noah.
He opened his hands.
Adrian’s smile faded.
Then Emma rushed into the library.
“Brooke’s gone.”
Luca turned. “Gone where?”
“Her car is still here. But she’s not.”
Emma held up something small between two fingers.
A silver flash drive.
“I found this under the conservatory vent.”
Dominic stared.
Emma swallowed.
“And there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The drive has a label.”
She turned it around.
In Catherine’s handwriting were three words.
MY LAST CALL.
—
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