Chapter 6 - The Man from BostonEvan Bennett arrived at the Rossi gate forty-one hours after Vincent ordered Dominic to find him.
He came alone.
No weapon.
No luggage.
Just a rental car and a face Clara had not seen in almost three years.
Security stopped him half a mile from the main house.
Vincent received the call in the library.
“He’s here voluntarily?” Clara asked.
Dominic nodded.
“Says he needs to speak to you.”
Vincent stood immediately.
“No.”
Clara turned.
“What?”
“He doesn’t come into this house.”
“Vincent.”
“He photographed my son.”
“We don’t know that.”
“We know enough.”
Clara held his gaze.
“Let me talk to him.”
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
“You promised forty-eight hours.”
“I promised investigation.”
“And?”
“And the investigation tells me a surveillance specialist connected to your past traveled here before a threatening photograph appeared.”
“That still isn’t proof.”
Vincent hated that she was right.
Eventually he said, “Gatehouse. Dominic stays. So do I.”
“Fine.”
“And he gets searched.”
“Obviously.”
Twenty minutes later, Clara entered the security building.
Evan stood when he saw her.
He had aged.
His dark hair was threaded with gray. There were lines around his mouth she did not remember.
“Clara.”
She stopped several feet away.
“Did you send the letter?”
No greeting.
No accusation.
Just the question.
Evan looked toward Vincent.
Vincent leaned against the wall with terrifying stillness.
“Yes,” Evan said.
Clara’s face hardened.
Vincent pushed away from the wall.
Clara raised a hand.
“Why?”
Evan looked ashamed.
“I needed you to leave.”
“By using Toby?”
“I didn’t think—”
“You wrote his death on a photograph of another child.”
Evan closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
Her voice shook.
“You don’t get to use my dead son as a weapon and tell me you know.”
Vincent took one step forward.
Dominic quietly shifted with him.
Evan raised both hands.
“I found out who Rossi was.”
Clara laughed bitterly.
“So you threatened me?”
“I thought you were trapped.”
“I’m not.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You could have called.”
“I thought your phone was monitored.”
Vincent spoke.
“It isn’t.”
Evan looked at him.
“With respect, you’re Vincent Rossi. People disappear around you.”
“Choose your next words carefully.”
“Vincent.”
Clara’s warning stopped him.
Evan continued.
“I hired investigators to watch the estate. I wanted leverage. Proof that Clara was there.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“What investigators?”
Evan hesitated.
“Mercury Strategic.”
Vincent and Dominic looked at each other.
Clara saw it.
“What?”
Dominic moved immediately toward the door.
Vincent’s voice became deadly calm.
“Mercury doesn’t do domestic surveillance.”
Evan frowned.
“They told me—”
“They’re a front.”
“For who?”
Vincent looked at him.
“For whoever replaced the Morettis.”
Silence.
Evan went pale.
“I gave them the location.”
“You gave them camera angles,” Vincent said.
“No.”
“You gave them schedules.”
“I didn’t know.”
Vincent crossed the room.
Clara caught his arm.
“Stop.”
“He endangered Matteo.”
“He made a mistake.”
“A mistake nearly killed my wife.”
The word landed before Vincent realized he had spoken it.
Everyone froze.
Clara stared at him.
Dominic looked at the ceiling.
Even Evan forgot to be afraid for half a second.
Vincent’s expression barely changed, but something behind his eyes did.
Clara slowly released his arm.
“I’m not your wife.”
“I’m aware.”
“Are you?”
“This is not the moment.”
Evan blinked between them.
“No. It really seems like it might be.”
Dominic coughed to hide a laugh.
Vincent looked at him.
Dominic became instantly serious.
Then an alarm sounded.
One short tone.
Two long.
Perimeter breach.
Every man in the room moved.
Dominic touched his earpiece.
“Sector six. Two vehicles.”
Vincent drew his weapon.
Clara’s face changed.
“Matteo.”
“He’s with Maria in the schoolroom.”
Another voice burst through Dominic’s radio.
“Multiple intruders. North ridge.”
Vincent grabbed Clara’s shoulders.
“Safe room. Now.”
“I’m going to Matteo.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Dominic.
“Take them underground.”
“What about Evan?”
Vincent looked at the man who had unknowingly opened the door to this attack.
Evan expected death.
Instead Vincent shoved a radio into his hands.
“You know surveillance.”
“Yes.”
“Then make yourself useful.”
Evan stared at him.
Vincent moved toward the door.
“If my son gets hurt because of what you did, there won’t be another conversation.”
Then he disappeared into the corridor.
Outside, gunfire began somewhere beyond the trees.
May you like
And for the first time, Clara understood that the peace they had created had never truly been safe.
It had simply been precious enough to defend.
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