Chapter 13 - Elena Bennett
Norah couldn't move.
Her mother looked older.
Thinner.
But it was her.
The same eyes.
The same face.
The same trembling smile.
“Norah.”
Norah broke.
She ran toward her.
They collided.
For several seconds, neither could speak.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You left me.”
“I was forced to.”
“You lied.”
“I lied to keep you alive.”
Norah pulled away.
“Everybody says that.”
Elena looked at Dominic.
“Because it's true.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Valerie.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my uncle.”
“Yes.”
“Who killed him?”
Elena looked at him.
“Your father.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because your uncle wanted to expose him.”
“And my mother?”
“She helped him.”
Dominic's voice became colder.
“Did she order the murder?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Elena looked at Valerie.
“Her father.”
Valerie screamed:
“Liar!”
Elena didn't flinch.
“He killed my husband.”
Norah stared.
“Your husband?”
Elena nodded.
“Your biological father.”
Norah's breath caught.
“You knew where he was?”
“He died protecting you.”
Norah cried.
Elena held her.
“I am sorry.”
Dominic looked at the clock.
Three minutes.
“We have to go.”
Elena shook her head.
“Not without the ledger.”
Dominic grabbed it.
“We'll take it.”
“No.”
She pointed at the final pages.
“There is something you don't understand.”
Dominic looked.
A series of payments ended with one recipient.
Not his father.
Not Valerie.
A name none of them expected.
Leo Grant.
Norah's eyes widened.
“The restaurant manager?”
Elena nodded.
“He has been working for them for twenty years.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“That explains everything.”
Norah remembered Leo telling her not to serve Dominic.
The warnings.
The strange behavior.
The attack.
“Leo knew.”
“Yes.”
“And Lily?”
“Collateral.”
Dominic looked at Norah.
“We have to get back to the restaurant.”
The countdown reached zero.
Nothing happened.
Norah stared.
Valerie laughed.
“You thought there were explosives?”
Dominic looked at her.
Valerie raised the remote.
“It was never about the building.”
She pressed the button.
Every phone in the warehouse vibrated.
A video appeared.
It showed Norah entering Dominic's mansion.
Then another.
Norah meeting Elena.
Then another.
Dominic and Norah together.
May you like
Valerie smiled.
“The whole city just received everything.”
