Chapter 9 - THE WATCH THAT TICKED BACKWARDS
The study was so silent I could hear the rain lashing against the windows.
Dominic stared at the gold watch resting on the coffee table. The initials V.B. gleamed in the dim light.
“Victoria?” Dominic repeated, the name tasting like ash in his mouth. “Victoria didn't even know you were alive. Adrian manipulated her.”
Grace shook her head, a cold, hard truth settling in her eyes.
“You’ve always underestimated women, Dom,” Grace said softly. “You thought Victoria was just a socialite looking for a ring. She wasn't.”
Grace leaned forward.
“Victoria wasn't Adrian’s pawn. She was his partner. She helped him stage the car crash. She was the one who forged the dental records to prove I was dead.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
If Victoria was Adrian’s partner... she had played all of us. She had pretended to be terrified of him tonight. She had helped me pull Dominic out of the ventilation shaft just to secure her own alibi.
“Why would she release you?” Dominic asked, his mind racing to catch up.
“Because Adrian’s plan was falling apart,” Grace explained. “Maria was getting suspicious. You were refusing to send Sophie to the clinic. Victoria knew Adrian was going to fail, and when he did, he would drag her down with him.”
Grace picked up the gold watch.
“So she came to the clinic. She told me Adrian was planning to kill Sophie tonight. She said the only way to save our daughter was for me to return to Chicago, walk into this house, and shoot you.”
“Why me?”
“Because if the dead wife suddenly returns and murders her mafia boss husband in a fit of trauma-induced madness, the police close the case immediately. Victoria plays the grieving fiancée, takes control of the legitimate businesses, and walks away clean.”
Dominic let out a low, dangerous breath.
“She underestimated you,” Dominic said, looking at his wife with profound respect.
“She underestimated both of us,” Grace corrected.
She looked at me.
“When I arrived at the gate this morning, I fully expected to walk into a bloodbath. But the guards told me Adrian was dead. And that a housekeeper had saved my daughter’s life.”
Grace smiled warmly at me. “Thank you, Hannah.”
I blushed, looking down at my hands. “I just did what I had to do.”
Dominic stood up, pacing the room. The lethal focus had returned to his eyes.
“Victoria ran,” Dominic said. “I told her to run before the police arrived. She’s probably halfway to the airport by now.”
“No, she isn't,” I said quietly.
Dominic and Grace both looked at me.
“What do you mean?” Dominic asked.
“When Maria handed you the plane ticket earlier tonight, she said Victoria was a fool,” I recalled. “She said Adrian had bought Victoria a ticket to Switzerland to get rid of her.”
I looked at the gold watch on the table.
“But if Victoria was actually Adrian’s partner, and she knew his plan was failing... she wouldn't go to the airport.”
I looked at Dominic.
“She would go for the money.”
Dominic froze.
“The ledger,” Dominic realized. “The one Grace hid.”
He turned to his wife. “Where did you hide it, Grace?”
Grace took a deep breath.
“I didn't hide it in the house, Dom. I hid it somewhere Adrian would never look. Somewhere he thought was beneath him.”
Grace looked at me.
“I hid it in the staff quarters. Above the garage.”
My eyes widened.
My room.
“That’s why Victoria tried to bribe me,” I gasped. “The first night I found the speaker in Sophie’s room, Victoria told me she would pay off my father’s mortgage if I kept quiet. She didn't want me fired. She wanted me loyal, so she could search my room without me reporting it!”
“She’s in the garage right now,” Dominic said, drawing his weapon.
“Dom, wait,” Grace said, standing up. “She’s desperate. And she’s armed. She took the gun from the clinic guards when she broke me out.”
“I don't care if she has an army,” Dominic growled. “She tortured my daughter.”
He looked at me. “Stay here with Grace and Sophie. Lock the door.”
Dominic sprinted out of the study.
I walked over and locked the heavy oak doors, my hands shaking.
Grace sat back down, pulling Sophie into her lap. The little girl was remarkably calm, finally safe in the arms of the mother she thought she’d lost forever.
“You’re very brave, Hannah,” Grace said softly.
“I was terrified the whole time,” I admitted, sitting in the armchair across from them.
“Bravery isn't the absence of fear,” Grace smiled. “It’s acting in spite of it.”
She looked at the silver locket resting against my chest. The one Dominic had identified as his mother’s.
“Dominic told me about your father,” Grace said gently. “Arthur Bellini.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I didn't know. He was just... my dad. He fixed radios. He loved me.”
“He did love you,” Grace said. “But he also loved this family. Did Dominic tell you why your father testified against the syndicate thirty years ago?”
“No. He just said he was an accountant.”
Grace leaned forward.
“Your father didn't testify to save himself, Hannah. He testified to protect Dominic’s mother. The syndicate was going to kill her because she wanted to take Dominic and leave the mafia life behind. Your father took the fall, went into witness protection, and ensured Dominic’s mother got away safely.”
Tears pricked my eyes. My father wasn't a coward. He was a hero.
“Then why did she die?” I whispered.
“She got sick,” Grace said sadly. “Cancer. But before she died, she gave your father that locket. A thank you for saving her son’s life.”
Everything finally made sense. The pieces of my past aligned perfectly with the chaotic present.
Suddenly, a massive crash echoed from outside the window.
I jumped up and ran to the glass.
Down in the driveway, near the garage, Dominic was standing over Victoria Bellini.
She was pinned against the hood of a sleek black sedan, her hands zip-tied behind her back.
Dominic had caught her.
But as I watched, my blood ran cold.
Victoria wasn't looking at Dominic. She was looking up at the study window, directly at me.
And she was smiling.
She mouthed three words that I could read perfectly through the rain.
May you like
Look behind you.
TITLE: THE FINAL REVELATION
