Chapter 8
The memory card contained one video.
Date stamped three weeks earlier.
The woman called Mrs. Hart sat in front of the camera.
Thin.
White-haired.
Seventy, perhaps.
Her hands trembled.
But when she looked into the lens, Galen saw Celeste immediately.
The same eyes.
The same shape around the mouth.
Bianca covered her face.
“Oh my God.”
The woman began speaking.
“My name is Lorraine Hart.”
Galen felt every hair on his arms rise.
“I am Celeste Hart Moretti’s mother.”
Bianca shook her head.
“She’s alive.”
For more than twenty years, Lorraine Hart had been legally dead.
The video explained why.
“When Celeste was nineteen, I discovered financial fraud at the accounting firm where I worked.”
Lorraine swallowed.
“One of our clients was a young development executive named Harold Vale.”
Galen looked toward Ruiz.
The connections went further back than anyone imagined.
Lorraine continued.
“I copied records. I made the mistake of confronting my supervisor. Two days later, my house burned.”
Her voice shook.
“I was supposed to be inside.”
She looked down.
“I wasn’t.”
Galen barely breathed.
“The body authorities identified as mine was a woman staying in a basement apartment beneath the property. The damage was severe. Identification procedures were not what they are today. Someone made sure the mistake became official.”
Ruiz immediately took notes.
“I wanted to return for Celeste.”
Lorraine’s eyes filled.
“But a man came to me first.”
Galen knew before she said the name.
“Dominic Mercer.”
Bianca whispered.
“Monster.”
Lorraine continued.
“He told me Celeste would die if I resurfaced.”
Her voice broke.
“I believed him.”
She had spent two decades hiding under another identity.
Sending money anonymously.
Watching her daughter’s life from a distance.
Then Celeste became an attorney.
Started working with the Harbor Foundation.
And unknowingly walked into the same corruption that had destroyed Lorraine’s life.
“I tried to warn Celeste without revealing who I was.”
Lorraine cried now.
“She thought someone was stalking her.”
Galen shut his eyes.
Celeste had been stalked.
But not always by an enemy.
Sometimes by her own mother trying desperately to keep her alive.
Lorraine continued.
“Eventually, I told her the truth.”
Galen opened his eyes.
“Celeste knew I was alive for six months before she died.”
Bianca gasped.
“Why didn’t she tell us?”
Lorraine answered as if she heard the question.
“She promised not to tell Galen until we could prove Dominic was involved. She believed bringing me openly into the family would put Eira at risk.”
Galen wiped his face.
Even in fear, Celeste had been protecting them.
Then Lorraine said:
“The night before Celeste’s crash, Dominic learned that I was alive.”
Ruiz leaned closer.
“He contacted me.”
Lorraine’s voice became tight.
“He told me to meet him the following afternoon. He said if I did not come, he would expose my location and kill Celeste.”
Galen’s stomach dropped.
“I agreed.”
She looked directly at the camera.
“The car was meant for me.”
Silence filled the room.
“Celeste insisted on driving me.”
Galen whispered.
“No.”
“We argued. She told me I had spent twenty years running and that she would not let me face him alone.”
Lorraine began sobbing.
“At a gas station, I got out to make a phone call from a pay phone because I did not trust my mobile.”
Her breathing shook.
“Celeste stayed in the car.”
Galen already knew what came next.
“She drove away because she saw someone following us.”
Lorraine covered her face.
“She was trying to lead them away from me.”
Galen bowed his head.
“She saved me.”
Eira had remembered correctly.
“The wrong person died.”
Lorraine composed herself.
“Dominic believed I was in the vehicle.”
That changed everything.
Celeste’s death had still been caused by the conspiracy.
But she may not have been the original target.
Lorraine continued.
“After the crash, Dominic discovered his mistake. He found me two days later.”
Galen’s head rose.
“He could have killed me.”
Her eyes hardened.
“But Harold Vale stopped him.”
Another twist.
“Harold had begun to regret everything. His daughter Ainsley had discovered the records and was becoming dangerous. He feared she would use them for blackmail.”
Lorraine sighed.
“Harold moved me to a hidden property and told Dominic I had fled the country.”
Ruiz murmured, “The brown house.”
Galen nodded.
“Years passed.”
Lorraine continued.
“Harold died. Dominic found me again eventually.”
Her face tightened.
“He did not kill me because by then I had prepared copies of every document I owned. If I disappeared, they would be sent to law enforcement.”
“So why did Dominic bring Eira to her?” Marcus asked.
The video answered.
“Three weeks ago, Dominic brought my granddaughter to me.”
Lorraine’s eyes filled with fury.
“He wanted to know whether Celeste had hidden anything with Eira.”
Galen’s fists tightened.
“He used a child.”
“He believed seeing Eira would make me emotional enough to reveal where the remaining evidence was hidden.”
Lorraine looked into the camera.
“He was right about one thing.”
She smiled sadly.
“I was emotional.”
Then her expression hardened.
“But I did not tell him.”
She explained that while Dominic stepped outside to take a call, she hid the memory card inside Eira’s toy and told her to protect it.
The card included copies of account records, photographs, letters, and an audio conversation.
The final file began playing automatically.
Dominic’s voice.
Clear.
Recognizable.
Harold Vale’s voice answered.
The recording was dated two days after Celeste’s death.
Harold sounded frantic.
“You killed the wrong woman.”
Dominic replied.
“Keep your voice down.”
“That was Vittorio’s daughter-in-law.”
“She wasn’t supposed to be driving.”
“You said Lorraine would be in that car.”
“I handled it.”
“You murdered Celeste!”
A long silence.
Then Dominic said:
“I protected both of us.”
Harold shouted.
“You protected yourself!”
Dominic’s voice turned cold.
“You signed the payments. You bribed the officials. If this comes out, you lose everything.”
“I’ll confess.”
“No.”
“You can’t stop me.”
“Yes, Harold. I can.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
They had him.
Not a theory.
Not circumstantial scraps.
His own voice.
Ruiz immediately sent copies to prosecutors and federal investigators.
An arrest warrant expanded.
Border alerts went out.
Dominic became the target of a full manhunt.
But Lorraine’s location remained unknown.
The video ended with an address.
Ruiz dispatched officers.
Galen insisted on going.
This time she allowed him to follow after the property was secured.
The brown house stood thirty miles outside the city.
Quiet.
Isolated.
The front door was open.
Police searched every room.
No Lorraine.
In the bedroom, a chair had been overturned.
A lamp broken.
A cup of tea still sat on a table.
Someone had taken her recently.
Galen found an old photograph on the dresser.
Celeste at eight years old.
Missing two front teeth.
Holding her mother’s hand.
He picked it up carefully.
“She was here.”
Ruiz entered.
“We found blood.”
Galen turned.
“How much?”
“Small amount.”
“Whose?”
“We’ll test it.”
“Dominic?”
“Possibly.”
“Ainsley?”
“Possibly.”
They searched the house.
In the kitchen, an officer found a handwritten note inside a drawer.
One sentence.
If Dominic takes me, find June.
Galen frowned.
“June who?”
Marcus, who had joined them, stared at the note.
“Could be a person.”
Ruiz looked around.
“Or a date.”
Galen remembered the photograph of Celeste and Ainsley.
Harbor fundraiser.
June 14.
“June.”
He pulled out his phone.
The date on the back of Celeste’s photograph had been June 14.
Ruiz understood immediately.
“The Harbor Foundation.”
They searched archived event records.
June 14, seven years earlier.
A fundraiser.
Guest list.
Sponsors.
Staff.
One name appeared repeatedly.
June Mercer.
Galen’s expression changed.
“Dominic’s wife?”
Marcus nodded.
“Ex-wife.”
Galen barely remembered her.
Dominic and June divorced years earlier.
She moved away.
No children.
No public drama.
“What does she have to do with this?”
Ruiz searched databases.
Then frowned.
“June Mercer legally changed her name five years ago.”
“To what?”
“June Keller.”
“Where is she?”
Ruiz looked up.
“Two states away.”
They called.
No answer.
Local police went to her registered address.
The house was empty.
Neighbor said June had left early that morning with a suitcase.
Galen’s stomach tightened.
“She knew this was coming.”
Then Ruiz received another call.
An airport camera had captured June Keller boarding a domestic flight six hours earlier.
Destination:
The city Galen lived in.
She had come back.
Not run away.
Returned.
Why?
An hour later, surveillance cameras found her rental car.
At a private medical facility owned by the Vale family trust.
Ruiz’s team moved.
The facility had closed years earlier.
From the outside it looked abandoned.
Inside, one wing still had power.
Police entered.
Galen waited outside with Marcus.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
Finally Ruiz emerged.
Her face was unreadable.
“Did you find Lorraine?”
“Yes.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Galen exhaled.
“And Ainsley?”
Ruiz nodded.
“Alive.”
“Dominic?”
“No.”
“June?”
“Inside.”
Galen frowned.
“What is happening?”
Ruiz looked at him.
“June brought Lorraine and Ainsley here.”
“Why?”
“She says she rescued them from Dominic.”
Galen stared.
“Can we believe her?”
“That remains to be seen.”
Then Ainsley appeared in the doorway behind an officer.
Her wrists were no longer bound.
Her face was bruised.
She looked exhausted.
When she saw Galen, she began crying.
He felt nothing.
She approached slowly.
“I know you hate me.”
Galen said nothing.
“I deserve it.”
Still nothing.
“But there’s something you need to know.”
“Ainsley—”
“Dominic didn’t choose me randomly.”
Galen’s jaw tightened.
“I know. You targeted me for control of the company.”
“That’s not all.”
She wiped tears from her face.
“My father didn’t die of a heart attack.”
Galen glanced at Ruiz.
Ainsley continued.
“Dominic killed him.”
“That’s being investigated.”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“You don’t understand.”
She looked directly at Galen.
“I watched him do it.”
Galen went still.
“And after that,” Ainsley whispered, “Dominic told me if I ever wanted Nolan to stay alive, I would do exactly what he said.”
For the first time, Galen saw something behind her cruelty.
Fear.
Real fear.
But it did not erase what she had done.
Ainsley seemed to know that.
“I still hurt Eira.”
Her chin trembled.
“He didn’t make me say those things to her.”
Galen’s expression hardened.
“No.”
“That was me.”
“Why?”
Her answer came quietly.
“Because I hated Celeste.”
Galen stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because she was brave enough to fight him.”
May you like
Ainsley began crying harder.
“And I wasn’t.”
