Chapter 10 - THE MAN GRACE LOST
Grace could not speak for several minutes.
She had come to my home believing her father might have destroyed Isabelle’s life.
Now she had learned her brother had been involved too.
But on Isabelle’s side.
The recorded message continued.
“David Bennett contacted me after discovering payments connected to Victor.”
“He was frightened.”
“He believed Victor had manipulated people for decades.”
“He wanted to testify.”
“David was the person who gave me the first set of account numbers.”
Grace whispered.
“He never told me.”
Isabelle seemed to answer her through the screen.
“He did not tell Grace because he believed Victor would use her to reach him.”
Grace began crying.
Quietly.
My daughters moved beside her.
Nora climbed into her lap.
That small act nearly destroyed me.
Three little girls who had survived their own fear were now comforting the woman who had helped them find their voices.
The video continued.
“The morning at the preschool, David came to warn me.”
“Victor had discovered the investigation.”
“He wanted the blue ledger.”
“I refused.”
Then Isabelle leaned toward the camera.
“If anything happens to me, David is not responsible.”
“Neither is Anthony.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
Fourteen months of guilt shifted across his face.
Isabelle continued.
“Cecilia knows more than she admits.”
“And Victor is not working alone.”
My heart tightened.
There was someone else.
“Someone inside Dominic’s organization has been giving Victor access to schedules, passwords, financial records, and security systems.”
Carlo’s face went still.
Everyone looked at him.
He shook his head.
“It isn’t me.”
The video ended.
Anthony crossed his arms.
“Convenient.”
Carlo stared at him.
“I protected Isabelle.”
“You also lied about working for Dad.”
“Yes.”
“And you had access to every system.”
“Yes.”
I interrupted.
“Enough.”
I looked at Carlo.
“Who else has full access?”
“Marco.”
Marco Bell.
My deputy security director.
The same man who had been standing inside the mansion during nearly every conversation.
The same man who had reported the gate breach.
The same man who had been present when the cameras failed.
I called him.
No answer.
Carlo checked the security roster.
Marco had left the property twenty minutes earlier.
Without authorization.
“Track him.”
Carlo opened the vehicle system.
Marco’s SUV was moving west.
Toward Queens.
Then the signal disappeared.
“Disabled.”
Anthony swore.
I looked at the financial files.
Hundreds of transactions.
Companies I recognized.
Others I did not.
Grace wiped her face.
“I can trace these.”
“How long?”
“I can start now.”
“Do it.”
For six hours, the mansion became an investigation center.
Carlo locked down physical security.
Anthony contacted nobody.
My mother stayed with the girls.
Grace followed money.
I followed Isabelle’s messages.
Each one revealed another layer.
Victor had built a network through law firms, charities, construction firms, and consulting companies.
Cecilia had become useful because of Anthony.
Anthony had become useful because of me.
And Marco had apparently become useful because he controlled access.
But none of that explained the original question.
What exactly had happened to Isabelle?
The official report said a vehicle accident.
A chaotic parking lot.
One driver who left before being identified.
For fourteen months, I had believed it was random.
Now nothing looked random.
At 4:20 p.m., Grace found the transaction that changed everything.
“Dominic.”
I walked over.
“What?”
She pointed at the screen.
A payment of $250,000 had been made three days before Isabelle died.
From a Victor-controlled company.
To another company.
Bell Strategic Consulting.
Marco Bell.
“That proves he was being paid.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
She clicked.
There were eleven payments.
Three years.
Marco had been feeding Victor information long before Isabelle became suspicious.
Then I saw one final transfer.
Made the morning after Isabelle died.
$500,000.
I felt sick.
Anthony stared at it.
“That looks like payment.”
Grace nodded.
“For something significant.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Marco.
Sitting inside a room.
Alive.
Beside him was Cecilia.
Her face looked terrified.
Then a message.
BRING THE ORIGINAL BLUE LEDGER.
COME ALONE.
OR THEY BOTH DISAPPEAR.
I stared at the screen.
Anthony moved beside me.
“Who sent it?”
I already knew.
Victor.
But there was a problem.
We did not have the original ledger.
Someone else did.
Then Olivia appeared at the study doorway.
She had heard enough.
She walked toward me.
“Daddy.”
“Yes?”
“Mommy gave the pages to me.”
Nobody moved.
“What?”
“She said they were a story.”
Olivia pointed upstairs.
“I hid them where nobody looks.”
“Where?”
May you like
Her answer was so simple that I almost laughed.
“Inside my dollhouse.”
