Chapter 12 - WHAT FAMILY MEANS“Dominic!”
He kept moving.
I grabbed his jacket.
“He killed my father.”
“I know.”
“He tried to kill you.”
“I know.”
“Then leave him.”
Dominic looked at Salvatore.
Flames climbed the wall.
The ceiling cracked.
“He raised me.”
I hated the answer.
Because I understood it.
Family wasn’t simple.
Family could hurt you.
Lie to you.
Fail you.
And somehow your heart could still remember the person they used to be.
Dominic reached the beam.
I helped.
Together we lifted enough for Salvatore to crawl free.
The old man collapsed.
Dominic pulled him toward the exit.
Then Salvatore reached inside his jacket.
I saw the gun first.
“Dominic!”
I kicked Salvatore’s wrist.
The shot went into the ceiling.
Dominic stared at him.
Even now.
Even after being saved.
Salvatore had tried to kill him.
Something died in Dominic’s face.
He took the gun.
“You should have left me,” Salvatore whispered.
Dominic looked down at him.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not you.”
Sirens grew louder.
We dragged Salvatore outside.
Federal tactical teams surrounded the property.
Real ones this time.
Elena had not corrupted everyone.
Apparently that mattered.
Salvatore was arrested while sitting on wet pavement in a three-thousand-dollar suit.
He looked smaller there.
Vanessa came out in handcuffs.
She saw me.
Pure hatred.
“You think you won?”
I touched my swollen lip.
“No.”
“Then why are you smiling?”
“Because you finally have to live in a room where nobody cares who your father was.”
She lunged.
Two agents pulled her back.
I didn’t move.
For the first time since I met her, Vanessa looked powerless.
It wasn’t as satisfying as I expected.
Mostly, she looked sad.
Empty.
After sunrise, Dominic drove me home.
Mom was waiting.
She opened the door and saw my face.
“Oh, Avery.”
“I’m okay.”
She hugged me so hard my ribs hurt.
Then she saw Dominic.
Her expression cooled.
“Is it over?”
He nodded.
“Salvatore is in federal custody.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Also.”
Mom looked at me.
“What about your father?”
I swallowed.
Dominic lowered his eyes.
“We found the burial records.”
Mom sat down.
Just like that.
As if her legs stopped working.
“Where?”
“Joliet.”
She covered her mouth.
I sat beside her.
For eight years, she had no grave.
No place to bring flowers.
No certainty.
Now we had all three.
And somehow that hurt too.
Three days later, investigators recovered Dad’s remains from an unmarked grave.
Dental records confirmed it.
Daniel Carter.
My father.
Finally.
Mom cried when they called.
I didn’t.
Not until the funeral home asked what suit we wanted him buried in.
Then I broke.
Because suddenly the mystery was over.
And grief had nowhere left to hide.
But one question remained.
A question nobody had answered.
Why had Vanessa requested me again and again for seven weeks?
I assumed cruelty.
Dominic didn’t.
“She knew who you were before the birthday party.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He placed Vanessa’s phone records on the table.
“She wasn’t humiliating a random delivery driver.”
My stomach turned.
“She was watching you.”
“For what?”
Dominic pointed to one message Vanessa had sent Salvatore six weeks earlier.
CARTER GIRL WEARS THE KEY EVERY NIGHT.
I touched my neck.
May you like
The brass key.
Vanessa had known from the beginning.
