Chapter 4 - The Safe Salvatore Never Wanted Opened
Dominic had not opened his father’s private safe since the funeral.
It stood behind a nineteenth-century landscape painting inside Salvatore’s old study, a room Dominic rarely entered.
Carrie had always loved that room.
Leather chairs.
Dark bookshelves.
A fireplace stained from decades of winter evenings.
Salvatore had smoked cigars there until Margaret threatened to throw them all into the Hudson.
Now the painting hung crooked.
The safe door stood open.
Dominic stared into it.
Empty.
Gino Russo stood behind him.
“What was in there?”
Dominic’s jaw worked.
“I don’t know.”
Gino blinked.
“You don’t know?”
“My father never gave me the combination.”
“But Vanessa had it.”
Dominic turned.
“Yes.”
That fact felt worse each time he said it.
Gino walked toward the safe.
“No forced entry.”
“I can see that.”
“Then someone gave her the code.”
“No one alive knew it.”
Gino looked at him.
“There’s another possibility.”
“What?”
“She knew it before she ever came here.”
Dominic looked around the room.
For the first time, he remembered something Carrie had said months earlier.
Vanessa asks strange questions about your father.
At the time he had been irritated.
He had accused Carrie of jealousy.
Now those words returned with brutal clarity.
He walked out of the study.
“Find Vanessa.”
“Already working on it.”
“And freeze every access credential she has.”
Gino hesitated.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“There’s something else.”
Dominic stopped.
“The security logs show she entered this room twice last month.”
His face changed.
“Last month?”
“Yes.”
“She wasn’t staying here last month.”
“No.”
Which meant she had entered while attending dinners or waiting for Dominic.
He remembered leaving her alone several times.
Meetings.
Phone calls.
Carrie asking why Vanessa was always around.
Carrie.
He pulled out his phone.
Called.
Voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
He sent a message.
We need to talk. Something happened.
No response.
Then, for the first time, he typed something different.
Are you and the baby safe?
He stared at the message before sending it.
It should have been the first thing he asked.
It had taken him an entire day.
Across town, Carrie read the text.
Margaret was watching.
“What did he say?”
Carrie showed her.
Margaret sighed.
“At least a few brain cells remain alive.”
Carrie did not smile.
“Vanessa stole from his father’s safe.”
“And somehow I’m still the one in a hotel.”
Margaret had no answer.
Ethan was escorted from Evelyn’s office an hour later by two federal agents.
Before leaving, he stopped in front of Carrie.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For helping her.”
Carrie looked at him.
“You were manipulated.”
“So was Dominic.”
Her expression cooled.
“Dominic had vows.”
Ethan lowered his eyes.
“You’re right.”
After he left, Evelyn returned to the corporate documents.
“We need to protect your shares immediately.”
“From whom?”
“Everyone.”
Carrie looked surprised.
“Dominic?”
“I represent you. Not your husband.”
Evelyn pushed a form across the table.
“This prevents transfer, pledge or amendment of your holdings without your direct authorization.”
Carrie read it carefully.
Then signed.
Something about putting her name on that page felt more permanent than removing her wedding ring had.
By evening, Margaret had booked them into a furnished apartment in Greenwich under her maiden name.
Carrie protested the price.
Margaret ignored her.
“You need an elevator, security and enough space for a crib.”
“I can pay for my own apartment.”
“I know.”
“Then why—”
“Because I am the grandmother, and this is my opportunity to be unbearable.”
Carrie almost smiled.
They stopped at the hotel to collect Carrie’s suitcase.
As Carrie stood, a sharp pain tightened across her abdomen.
She froze.
Margaret noticed immediately.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That did not look like nothing.”
“Braxton Hicks.”
“You’re sure?”
Carrie waited.
The tightening passed.
“Yes.”
Margaret’s face remained worried.
“Call your doctor.”
“I’m okay.”
“Caroline.”
Carrie sighed and called.
Dr. Bennett listened to her symptoms.
“Any bleeding?”
“No.”
“Fluid?”
“No.”
“Headache?”
“A little.”
“Blood pressure?”
Carrie checked.
158 over 101.
Dr. Bennett’s tone changed instantly.
“I want you at the hospital.”
Carrie’s stomach dropped.
“Now?”
“Now.”
Margaret had already picked up her purse.
Twenty minutes later they entered labor and delivery at White Plains Hospital.
Carrie changed into a gown.
Blood tests.
Urine tests.
Fetal monitoring.
A blood-pressure cuff inflated every fifteen minutes.
The baby’s heartbeat filled the room.
Fast.
Steady.
Beautiful.
Carrie stared at the monitor.
Dr. Bennett entered forty minutes later.
“You have signs of preeclampsia.”
Carrie felt all the air leave her lungs.
“How bad?”
“Right now, manageable. But we’re admitting you overnight.”
“No.”
“Carrie.”
“I’m only thirty-two weeks.”
“I know.”
“My daughter isn’t ready.”
“Which is why we monitor both of you.”
Carrie’s eyes filled.
Margaret reached for her hand.
Dr. Bennett continued carefully.
“Stress is not the sole cause of preeclampsia. I don’t want you blaming yourself. But your body is telling us it needs attention.”
Carrie nodded.
Her phone was in Margaret’s purse.
She did not ask for it.
At the Marino estate, Dominic stood in his office while Gino briefed him.
“Vanessa’s Mercedes was found at a Metro-North station.”
“Which train?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Dominic’s phone rang.
He saw Margaret’s name.
He answered immediately.
“Did you find Carrie?”
His mother’s voice was strange.
“Dominic.”
Everything inside him tightened.
“What happened?”
“We’re at the hospital.”
He was already moving.
“What happened?”
“Her blood pressure.”
“The baby?”
“They’re monitoring her.”
“I’m coming.”
Margaret was silent.
“Mother?”
“Do not bring Vanessa.”
Dominic stopped halfway through the foyer.
“She’s gone.”
“What?”
“She stole documents from Dad’s safe and disappeared.”
Margaret absorbed that.
Dominic grabbed his coat.
“I’ll explain when I get there.”
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“Carrie may not want to see you.”
His hand froze on the door.
“I’m her husband.”
There was a long silence.
Then Margaret said the sentence he had earned.
“You should have remembered that yesterday.”
She ended the call.
Dominic stood alone in the enormous marble foyer.
Behind him was the staircase Carrie had descended with her suitcase.
Ahead of him, rain had started falling again.
May you like
This time, he ran into it.
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