Page 45 of Dominic

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Where the fuck is Cassandra?”

He’d searched the bedroom, the kitchen, the garden. Everywhere. She wasn’t here.

Titus shook his head. ”She asked me to take her to the bus station, but I said no. She said you specifically indicated you didn’t want to see her anymore. That the two of you agreed that it wasn’t a good idea for her to be around the family.”

Dominic ran a hand over his eyes. God damn it.

“I did say those things.” He’d said them in the cruelest way possible. “But...” But what? But he’d been an asshole and hadn’t listened to her? But he’d been too caught up in his own pain to see what was right in front of him?

“She wasn’t in good shape, boss. I was worried about her.”

“What do you mean?”

Titus shrugged. “She wouldn’t look me in the eye when we were talking. And she had red marks all over her arms. She wouldn’t stop scratching them.”

Triggered. He’d driven her to that.

“I didn’t want to take her anywhere without asking you,” Titus continued. “But I thought the wedding was happening so I didn’t want to call. I couldn’t stand to see her like that, so I convinced her togo work out in the garden. She loves the garden.”

“She does love the garden.”

“When I went to check on her, maybe twenty minutes later, she was gone.”

She’d run off again. Except this time she’d run because he told her she wasn’t wanted here.

“I found her phone,” Titus continued. “She didn’t take it with her. It had this on it.”

The tension already pooling through Dominic skyrocketed at the text Cassandra had received threatening Sarah. She’d also gotten a call from that same number.

“Do we know who that number belongs to?”

“No, sir. But we do know that Darrell Clemens is in town. It’s possible Cassandra’s family was trying to blackmail her into planting that spyware on your computer. It looks like maybe she caved and then changed her mind or she put it on there trying to insure Sarah’s safety.”

“Either way is understandable. Forgivable.” Especially if he’d just given her five minutes to explain. He scrubbed his hand across his face again. “Whether she’s with the Clemens — especially if we think she’s with the Clemens — I want all our contacts out. Check the bus stops, even airports, although I don’t think she had any ID. Hell, did she at least take some money with her?”

Titus’ short shake of the head let him know that if she had taken some it hadn’t been much.

“You were right this morning when you said I should give her a chance to explain, Titus. I didn’t. But we’ll get her back and this time I’ll listen. Hell, it may still be that she has been playing me this entire time.”

“If she is then she’s the most amazing actress I’ve ever known.”

Titus left to get to work, and Dominic went up to the bedroom. The cane still lay on the ground where he’d dropped it. He couldn’t bear to touch it; thinking about what he’d done made him ill. He was so wrapped in self-contempt that he almost missed the envelope lying against the pillow with his name written on the outside. His hands shook slightly as he opened it.

It was a plain piece of paper inside, with just a few sentences written on it.

You’re right, I never belonged here. I’m sorry I hurt your family.

There’s a loose brick on the top right of the mantle of thefireplace. I never knew how to tell you it had been here the whole time. I guess that says everything you need to know about me. Useless, as usual. I’m sorry your mother died thinking it was gone. Not that my apologies change anything. I offer them anyway.

Dominic ran down the stairs into the living room, the only room with a fireplace. He began touching the stones above the mantle on the right-hand side and sure enough, one of them was loose. He moved it aside and saw the ring box in there.

Unable to breathe, he opened it, and found his mother’s wedding and engagement ring.

Dominic could not even wrap his head around what this meant. He’d been convinced Cassandra left him seven years ago because she’d found out he was mafia and knew she wouldn’t be able to get much from him as a mark. So she taken the rings to recoup what she could. Otherwise she would’ve left here completely empty-handed. Going back to her family with nothing, after eight months of a con, would not have been acceptable. There would’ve been dire consequences for her.

Ring grasped in his hand, Dominic found Titus.

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