Chapter 4 - Cara Fields Wasn’t Random
They searched my apartment before I was allowed home.
Not because Dante suspected me.
Because somebody else clearly knew who I was.
The lock hadn’t been forced.
Nothing valuable was missing.
But my bedroom had been searched.
Carefully.
Someone had opened the box containing my mother’s belongings.
That made me angry.
My mother, Elaine Fields, died when I was nineteen.
Official cause: heart failure.
She had spent most of her life working administrative jobs and raising me alone.
There was nothing about her worth stealing.
Or so I thought.
Grant found the first anomaly.
“Cara.”
He held an old photograph.
My mother stood outside a glass office building beside three men.
One was much younger.
But unmistakable.
Dante’s father.
Alessandro Moretti.
Dante stared.
“Where did she get this?”
“I’ve never seen it.”
On the back, my mother had written:
A.M. knows. If anything happens, find Daniel.
“Who’s Daniel?” Dante asked.
“I don’t know.”
Grant searched the box again.
Under old tax returns was a Bellini’s business card.
Twenty-three years old.
The restaurant had belonged to Alessandro Moretti before being sold.
My mother had worked there.
Suddenly Vanessa’s words returned.
He never learned why you were working at Bellini’s.
“I didn’t choose Bellini’s because of my mother,” I said.
Dante believed me.
Grant didn’t.
“How did you get hired?”
“Online application.”
“Who interviewed you?”
“Manager named Paul.”
Grant called.
Paul hadn’t selected me.
Corporate had.
“Who owns Bellini’s now?”
Dante asked.
Grant checked.
A hospitality holding company.
Which traced through three subsidiaries.
Finally:
VKM Capital.
Vanessa Katherine Moretti.
I sat down.
“Your wife owns my workplace?”
“Apparently.”
“And arranged for me to work there?”
“Possibly.”
“Why?”
Nobody knew.
Then Dante’s secure phone rang.
Vanessa.
He answered without speaking.
She was crying.
Perfectly.
“My God, Dante. They told me your car went over the mountain.”
“Who told you?”
Silence.
She recovered.
“The police.”
“No police report has been released.”
Another silence.
Dante’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“I’m coming home.”
“No!”
Too fast.
Vanessa softened.
“You’re injured. Stay wherever you are.”
“Why?”
“I’m worried.”
“I’m touched.”
He disconnected.
Grant almost smiled.
Then another guard entered.
“Owen Mercer has been found.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
The guard hesitated.
“At Bellini’s.”
We returned after midnight.
Owen sat tied to a chair inside the empty restaurant office.
He looked at me and laughed.
“There she is.”
Dante stepped between us.
“Why did Vanessa want Cara here?”
Owen’s smile disappeared.
“Ask your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“Exactly.”
Dante grabbed the desk edge.
“Explain.”
Owen looked at me.
“Your mother didn’t die from heart failure.”
I stopped breathing.
He continued:
“Elaine Fields was poisoned because she discovered the first attempt to steal Moretti Global.”
Dante froze.
“First?”
Owen smiled.
“Vanessa isn’t trying to inherit your empire.”
May you like
He leaned forward.
“She’s trying to take back what your father stole from Cara’s family.”
