Chapter 4 - The Man Who Guarded the Gate
Daniel was gone.
His apartment above the estate garage was empty.
Closet cleared.
Phone disconnected.
Vehicle abandoned at a train station.
But he had left one thing behind.
A photograph of Sofia.
Not hidden.
Framed.
Beside his bed.
Dominic stared at it for a long time.
“Why would my mother's groundskeeper keep a picture of my sister?”
Marcus searched the room.
I looked at the photograph.
Sofia was seventeen.
Daniel stood behind her beside a horse.
They were both laughing.
On the back:
To Danny, who always catches me when I fall. — S.
“They were close,” I said.
Dominic nodded slowly.
“He taught her to ride.”
“Maybe he wasn't stealing the journals.”
Marcus looked at me.
“You think he was protecting them?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic picked up the frame.
“But he knew someone would eventually search the storage building.”
We found Daniel that evening.
Or rather, he found us.
At 9:30, the mansion phone rang.
Dominic answered.
Listened.
Then put it on speaker.
Daniel's voice.
“Mr. Vale.”
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Did you take Sofia's journals?”
“Yes.”
Dominic's hand tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Vincent knows you found the recorder.”
My heart stopped.
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel sounded frightened.
“Your sister trusted me. Your mother did too. There are things you don't understand.”
“Then explain them.”
“I can't over the phone.”
“Where?”
A pause.
“Tomorrow. Old boathouse. Seven a.m.”
The line went dead.
At 6:55 the next morning, we arrived.
Daniel waited inside.
He looked twenty years older than he had at the gate.
A duffel bag sat beside him.
Inside were Sofia's journals.
Dominic approached.
“Start talking.”
Daniel looked at me.
“She shouldn't be here.”
“She stays.”
Again.
Two words.
This time, something warm moved through me despite the circumstances.
Daniel exhaled.
“Your sister discovered Vincent had been stealing from your father.”
“We know.”
“She planned to expose him.”
“We know that too.”
“What you don't know is your mother discovered it first.”
Dominic froze.
Daniel continued.
“Evelyn confronted Vincent. He threatened Sofia.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because you were twenty-eight and already fighting your father's wars. She thought protecting you meant keeping you out.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“She lied.”
“Yes.”
“What happened the night Sofia died?”
Daniel looked down.
“Evelyn returned secretly. She planned to take Sofia away.”
“And Vincent?”
“He followed her.”
The room went silent.
“Sofia recorded the message,” Daniel said. “Then Vincent confronted her.”
“Did he kill her?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“You've had ten years.”
“I wasn't there when the car crashed.”
“But you know something.”
Daniel's eyes filled with shame.
“I changed the car.”
Nobody spoke.
“What?” Dominic whispered.
“Your mother ordered me to move Sofia's car after the crash investigation.”
“Why?”
“Because the brakes had been tampered with.”
The world seemed to stop.
Dominic's face became terrifyingly calm.
“You destroyed evidence.”
“I protected your mother.”
“From what?”
Daniel reached into the bag.
He removed one journal.
Opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Evelyn's handwriting.
Dominic read silently.
Then again.
His hands began shaking.
I stepped closer.
“What does it say?”
He handed it to me.
If Sofia dies, Vincent will blame me.
I confronted him beside her car. We fought. I threatened him. He told me I would regret it.
If anything happens, protect Dominic from the truth until you can prove what Vincent did.
I looked at Daniel.
“You believed Vincent sabotaged the brakes.”
“Yes.”
“But couldn't prove it.”
“No.”
“Why run now?”
Daniel's face went pale.
“Because someone called me yesterday.”
“Who?”
“They played a recording.”
“What recording?”
Daniel looked at Dominic.
“Your mother.”
Another recording.
Of course.
“Where is it?”
“I don't have it.”
“What did she say?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She said Sofia wasn't the only target.”
Dominic went completely still.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel looked directly at him.
“The brakes weren't meant for Sofia's car.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then whose?”
Daniel whispered:
“Yours.”
The truth unfolded slowly.
Dominic and Sofia had nearly identical black sedans.
That morning, a mechanic had switched their parking positions.
Vincent had allegedly believed Dominic would take the car.
Instead, Sofia did.
Dominic sat on a wooden bench.
For several minutes, he said nothing.
Then:
“She died because of me.”
“No,” I said immediately.
He didn't look at me.
“That car was meant for me.”
“That doesn't make it your fault.”
“She was twenty-four.”
“Dominic.”
“She had her whole life.”
I sat beside him.
Marcus and Daniel quietly moved away.
“You didn't touch those brakes.”
He stared at the floor.
“You didn't choose her car.”
Nothing.
“You didn't know.”
His voice was low.
“But I survived.”
“Yes.”
“And she didn't.”
I understood then.
His silence wasn't only grief.
It was guilt.
Ten years of it.
I took his hand.
Dominic looked down at our fingers.
Maybe I shouldn't have done it.
Employee.
Employer.
Housekeeper.
Mafia boss.
There were probably several workplace policies being violated.
But he didn't pull away.
Instead, his fingers closed around mine.
“I haven't talked about her in ten years,” he said.
“Maybe that's why the house feels like it's holding its breath.”
He looked at me.
“What?”
“You made everything silent because silence couldn't remind you of her.”
His eyes moved toward the lake.
“And then you arrived.”
“Unfortunately.”
A faint smile.
“You're very loud.”
“I've been told.”
“You sang to a statue.”
“He appreciated me.”
Dominic laughed softly.
Then his expression changed.
His eyes dropped to our joined hands.
So did mine.
For one suspended second, neither of us moved.
Then Marcus called from across the boathouse.
“Dominic.”
We separated.
Marcus held Sofia's journal.
“I found something.”
A page had been cut open along the edge.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
We returned to the mansion and loaded it onto Marcus's computer.
One video file.
Ten years old.
The image shook.
Sofia had apparently hidden a camera inside her father's office.
Vincent appeared.
Then Evelyn.
They argued.
No sound.
Vincent slammed documents onto the desk.
Evelyn pointed toward the door.
Then a third person entered.
Dominic leaned forward.
I felt him stop breathing.
The third person was Dominic's father.
Anthony Vale.
The man who had supposedly known nothing.
Anthony locked the office door.
May you like
Then he turned toward the hidden camera.
And looked directly into the lens.
