Chapter 5 – [THE MATCH IN THE DARK]

“No!” I screamed, lunging toward Margaret.

Dominic caught me by the waist, holding me back.

“Don’t touch her, Sophie,” he ordered, his voice dangerously low. He kept the gun leveled at Margaret. “Call them off, Margaret.”

“Put the gun down, Dominic,” she smiled, tapping the plastic ID badge against her manicured fingernails. “Or Helen Bennett will be ashes before midnight.”

My chest heaved as panic clawed at my throat. My mother was home alone, still weak from her surgery. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t fight.

“Dominic, please,” I begged, tears streaming down my face.

Dominic’s jaw flexed. Slowly, agonizingly, he lowered the weapon.

“Smart boy,” Margaret sneered.

She walked over to the coffee table and looked down at Grace, who was still bleeding on the rug, clutching the manila folder.

“Oh, look,” Margaret mocked. “The prodigal son brought his arts and crafts.”

Grace looked up at the woman who had raised her. “You stole me from my mother. You kept Evelyn locked away. And you let me almost marry my own brother.”

Margaret rolled her eyes. “Oh, spare me the tears, Grace. You’re a Moretti. Vincenzo was a fool, and Evelyn was a weak little seamstress. I gave you a life of luxury. You should be thanking me.”

“You’re a monster,” Grace spat.

“I’m a survivor,” Margaret snapped, her mask finally slipping. “Vincenzo was going to leave me with nothing! After I built the family’s legitimate businesses, after I hid his dirty money, he was going to give it all to Leo!”

She pointed a shaking finger at Leo.

“So I took him out of the picture. And I took you, Grace, to ensure I always had leverage. I orchestrated this engagement to finally merge my assets with Dominic’s.”

Dominic stepped forward. “You’re finished, Margaret. The police are on their way. I had Mrs. Ellis call them the moment I left the library.”

Margaret laughed. “The police? You think the police scare me? By the time they get here, I’ll be gone, and Sophie’s mother will be dead.”

She turned toward the door.

“Stop right there,” Leo said.

Margaret paused, looking back at the boy she had tortured for years. “What are you going to do, Leo? Draw me a picture?”

Leo didn’t flinch.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, heavy object.

It was an old, brass pocket watch.

Margaret’s face instantly lost all its color.

“Where did you get that?” she whispered.

“Vincenzo gave it to me,” Leo said softly. “The night before you sent me away.”

“Give it to me,” Margaret demanded, stepping toward him.

Leo opened the watch.

“There’s an inscription inside,” Leo said. “Do you remember what it says?”

Margaret swallowed hard, her eyes darting toward the door.

Leo read it aloud. “‘To my true heir. The vault requires two keys.'”

Dominic looked at Leo. “The vault? Our father’s offshore vault?”

Leo nodded. “Margaret spent fifteen years torturing me in that clinic because she couldn’t access Vincenzo’s hidden accounts. She needed this watch. It has the account numbers etched into the gears.”

Margaret lunged for him. “Give it to me you little freak!”

Dominic grabbed her by the hair and threw her backward onto the sofa.

“It’s over, Margaret,” Dominic snarled.

“It’s never over!” she screamed. She pulled out a small burner phone. “I make one call, and Helen dies!”

Before she could press the button, a new voice echoed from the doorway.

“She’s not going to make that call.”

We all turned.

Standing in the doorway, holding a heavy iron fireplace poker, was Evelyn Carter.

And right beside her, gripping a cell phone, was my mother, Helen Bennett.

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