Chapter 5 - THE HARBOR MASTER
Claire rushed to the top of the stairs, Dominic right behind her, his hand resting smoothly on the grip of a suppressed pistol inside his jacket.
Madison was standing in the foyer, her expensive crimson gown torn at the shoulder, her perfectly styled hair wild and tangled. She was sobbing hysterically, clutching her bruised arm.
“Madison, what happened?” Claire demanded, running down the stairs.
“It’s Daddy,” Madison wept, collapsing onto the bottom step. “The port… the men at the port. Daddy sent me down there to charm the harbor master into releasing the freighters after you locked us out of the system. He thought… he thought a pretty face would work.”
Claire felt a sickening dread. “You went to the Savannah docks? At midnight?”
“They took the cars,” Madison sobbed. “They had guns, Claire! They laughed at me! They said Charles Whitmore has no authority there anymore. They told me to deliver a message to you.”
Madison looked up, her mascara running in thick black rivers down her cheeks. She held out a trembling hand.
In her palm was a child’s pacifier. Cast in pure, heavy gold.
Dominic pushed past Claire, snatching the golden pacifier from Madison’s hand. The muscles in his jaw tightened so fiercely they looked carved from granite.
“What is that?” Claire asked, her maternal instincts screaming at the sight of a child’s item used as a threat.
“It’s a warning from the Solano family,” Dominic said, his voice lethal. “A rival syndicate out of Miami. They’ve been trying to take the Savannah port from me for years. Charles must have promised them the port in exchange for a bailout.”
Answer one: Charles was bankrupt and desperate enough to sell out to the Miami cartel. Open two: How did the Solanos know Claire was in charge? And why threaten her through Madison?
“We have to go to the police,” Madison cried, pulling her knees to her chest. “Daddy is having a panic attack at the estate! Lauren and Emily are terrified!”
“The police can’t help you, Madison,” Dominic said coldly. He turned to Claire. “Charles tried to play me against the Solanos. He sold cargo that didn’t belong to him, using a port he doesn’t own. The Solanos are taking the shipment by force tonight.”
Claire looked at the deed in her hand. Her port.
She turned to Mrs. Higgins, who had woken up and was standing terrified in the hallway. “Pack a bag for Leo. We are leaving. Right now.”
“Where are we going?” the nanny stammered.
“To my estate,” Dominic said, his eyes locked on Claire. “It’s a fortress. The boy will be safe.”
Ten minutes later, Leo, wrapped in a blanket and rubbing his sleepy eyes, was strapped into the back of Dominic’s armored SUV. Claire sat beside him, holding his small hand. Madison was left behind at the house, crying on the floor. Claire didn’t care. Madison had mocked her for years; let her deal with the reality of their father’s failures.
When they arrived at Dominic’s sprawling, gated compound overlooking the harbor, Leo looked up at the massive stone walls.
“Is this a castle, Mommy?” Leo asked, his sweet voice breaking the tension in the car.
Dominic looked back from the passenger seat. The hardened mafia boss offered the child a surprisingly warm, gentle smile. “It is, Leo. And tonight, you’re the king. Nobody comes through these gates without my permission.”
Leo smiled, instantly trusting the man. Claire felt a strange flutter in her chest. For the first time in her life, a man was protecting her child instead of using him as a pawn.
Inside the vast, masculine office of the estate, Claire spread the ledger and the deed across Dominic’s mahogany desk.
“My mother was married to your father,” Claire said, piecing it together. “That’s why the port deed is in her name. Vincent Vale put it in his wife’s name to protect it from the feds.”
“Yes,” Dominic said, pouring them both black coffee. “But Vincent was murdered. Evelyn vanished. Two years later, she resurfaces in Baltimore, married to a rising businessman named Charles Whitmore.”
“Charles didn’t build his empire,” Claire realized, feeling sick. “He used my mother’s deed to secure his loans. He used the Vale port. And when she died…”
“He kept the secret,” Dominic finished. “And he kept you close. Not because he loved you, Claire. Because if you ever found out you were the rightful heir to the Savannah port, you could destroy him.”
Claire looked up. On the wall behind Dominic’s desk was a framed, black-and-white photograph.
She walked over to it. It was a picture of a handsome, dark-haired man—Vincent Vale. Beside him was a beautiful, smiling woman. Evelyn.
But it wasn’t just the two of them. Evelyn was holding a baby. A baby girl with a shock of dark hair.
Claire stared at the baby. Then she looked at Dominic.
“I’m older than you by a few years,” Claire whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs. “Charles isn’t my biological father, is he?”
May you like
Dominic stepped up behind her, looking at the photograph of his father and Claire’s mother.
“No, Claire,” Dominic said softly. “Vincent is.”
