Chapter 4 - My Ex Chose the Wrong Woman to Frame
We found Mason in the employee corridor.
He had my purse in one hand.
Security surrounded him.
He smiled when he saw me.
“There she is.”
“Give me my purse.”
“Gladly.”
He dropped it.
A small flash drive slid across the floor.
Nobody moved.
I stared at it.
“That isn’t mine.”
Mason smiled.
“Really?”
Dominic stepped beside me.
Marco picked up the drive using a handkerchief.
Mason laughed.
“Check the cameras. Claire’s been running around private areas all night.”
Dominic said, “Using an access card stolen by Tiffany.”
Mason’s face changed.
Tiffany stepped from behind Marco.
“Surprise.”
“You stupid—”
“Finish that sentence,” Dominic said.
Mason stopped.
Tiffany’s eyes filled with anger.
“You used me.”
“You came to me.”
“I trusted you.”
“And whose problem is that?”
The words landed harder than shouting.
Because I remembered hearing them myself.
Once.
Twice.
A hundred times.
Tiffany looked at me.
Suddenly we weren’t rivals.
We were two women who had dated the same mask.
I stepped forward.
“Mason.”
“What?”
“Why did you steal my purse?”
“I didn’t.”
“There are cameras everywhere.”
His gaze shifted.
“Then prove it.”
Dominic nodded toward Marco.
“Show him.”
Marco raised his tablet.
Footage played.
Mason entering the staff corridor.
Opening my locker.
Taking the purse.
His smile disappeared.
“Police are already on their way,” Dominic said.
Mason laughed nervously.
“Police?”
“You committed identity theft, trespassed in a restricted area, stole an employee badge, took her property and attempted to plant evidence.”
“You think the cops care because some waitress complains?”
Dominic’s voice became quiet.
“I think federal investigators may care about the loans.”
Mason stared.
“You called federal investigators?”
“My attorney did.”
I looked at Dominic.
“When?”
“While you were speaking to Tiffany.”
“That was twelve minutes ago.”
“He works quickly.”
Mason finally looked scared.
Then he looked at me.
“This is your fault.”
The sentence should have hurt.
Instead I laughed.
“What?”
I laughed again.
“No.”
His face reddened.
“No?”
“For three and a half years, every disaster in your life was somehow my fault.”
“Claire—”
“You lost your job because I distracted you.”
“That’s not—”
“You spent our rent money because I was too controlling.”
“You don’t understand—”
“You cheated because I wasn’t affectionate enough.”
Tiffany stared at him.
Mason said nothing.
“And now you forged my name, stole my identity, and planted evidence in my purse.”
I stepped closer.
“But for once, Mason, nobody here believes you.”
Two police officers arrived.
Mason looked toward Dominic.
“You think this ends with me?”
Dominic’s expression sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
Mason smiled.
“You really don’t know.”
“Know what?”
“Who killed Vincent Hale.”
Tiffany went pale.
Dominic stared at him.
Mason continued.
“Your father did.”
The corridor went silent.
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
“You’re lying.”
“The drive proves it.”
Tiffany whispered, “Mason…”
He laughed.
“Your dad wasn’t some hero. He recorded Costantini’s father arranging everything.”
Dominic turned to Marco.
“Computer. Offline.”
“Boss—”
“Now.”
---
Ten minutes later, we sat inside an isolated security office.
The flash drive was connected to a computer with no network access.
An audio file appeared.
Six years old.
Dominic pressed play.
A man’s voice came through the speakers.
Vincent Hale.
“If anything happens to me, Silvio Costantini knows why.”
Dominic’s father.
The recording continued.
“There are missing containers moving through Harbor Point. Someone is using Costantini shipments without Dominic’s knowledge.”
Dominic leaned closer.
Another voice.
Silvio.
“Give me the ledger, Vincent.”
“I’ll give it to Dominic.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because my son still believes this family can be clean.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Then Silvio said something worse.
“He doesn’t need to know what his father built.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Dominic walked toward the window.
His father had died three years earlier.
Whatever anger he felt had nowhere to go.
I approached slowly.
“Dominic.”
“Don’t.”
I stopped.
He looked at me.
Not angry.
Ashamed.
“You asked the wrong man for help tonight.”
“No.”
“My father—”
“Was your father.”
“My name is on those companies.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did you kill Vincent Hale?”
“No.”
“Then stop inheriting guilt that isn’t yours.”
He stared at me.
“You make that sound simple.”
“It isn’t.”
I touched my wrist.
“I’m still trying to stop believing everything Mason told me about myself.”
Dominic looked at the bruise.
Then back at me.
“So we’re both cleaning up after men who thought love meant ownership.”
I nodded.
For several seconds neither of us spoke.
Then Marco entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We checked the rest of the drive.”
Dominic turned.
Marco looked grim.
“There’s more.”
“How much more?”
“Enough to expose every person who helped Silvio.”
“Names?”
“Yes.”
“Alive?”
“Most of them.”
“And?”
Marco glanced at me.
“One of them is inside this casino.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Dominic’s general manager stepped inside.
The same man who had sat beside Dominic when I first saw the fraudulent loans.
He smiled.
“Everything all right?”
Dominic looked at Marco.
Marco gave the smallest nod.
The general manager’s name was Daniel Cross.
May you like
And according to Vincent Hale’s files, Daniel Cross had helped arrange his death.
---
