Page 40 of Fierce Lies
"What did you find out?" Roman answered on the first ring.
"Anthony Cassaro was her father."
Silence stretched across the line for several seconds.
"Fuck," Roman finally said. "You're sure?"
"That's what she claims. Her mom's dying of cancer, which we know, and she went looking for her father to help with medical bills. Found out he was dead and that he had other kids—Grayson and Meredith."
"Hold on." I heard Roman's muffled voice as he spoke to someone else. Then he came back on the line. "We've got some of the PI's files. Carl hacked his cloud storage. From what we can see, her story checks out. Elena's birth certificate doesn't list a father, but the PI had evidence, some photos of Anthony with a woman who must be Elena's mother. We'll cross-reference the photos to confirm. It's plausible. And better than alternative reasons," he muttered the last part.
I ran a hand over my face. "What about those dates? The Pristine Solutions payments she was looking into?"
Roman's voice dropped lower. "That was when Anthony Cassaro died. When we covered it up."
It had been one of my guesses. "Covered what up?"
"He was an abusive bastard, Jackson. Would've ended up killing Meredith if Grayson and Leo hadn't stopped him. They did what they had to do."
The pieces clicked into place. The "accident" that had killed Anthony Cassaro fourteen years ago hadn't been an accident at all. And Pristine Solutions—they'd cleaned it up. Elena had just found the evidence of her father's murder and the Donatis coverup.
"Jesus," I muttered. "I guess she started digging, that PI must have told her enough for her to make connections, enough to want to look deeper."
"I know I'll carry this to my grave," Roman said, his voice steady despite the weight of his words. "I trust you to do the same."
"Of course." It wasn't even a question, but now Elena knew, she didn't have hard proof, not anymore, but even then, those screenshots weren't great evidence, and we'd have it thrown from any courtroom. But what had she been planning to do with it? Had the coverup been done well enough? We'd bury it even better now with this development anyway. I didn't think the Donatis would be sloppy, and the only way she'd found anything was because she had known where to look.
"I need to talk to Leo about all this. Stay with her until we figure out what to do. See if she'll tell you what she planned to do with the information. Don't let her leave."
"Understood."
Just as Roman hung up, pounding erupted on the apartment door, followed by a frantic female voice.
"Elena! Elena, are you in there? Are you okay? Open up!"
I set Elena's phone on the counter and moved toward the door, my hand instinctively reaching for the gun I normally kept holstered at my side—but I wasn't wearing it. My clothes were scattered across the dining room floor.
The bedroom door opened behind me, and Elena emerged wrapped in a robe, her face tear-stained and wary.
"It's Ivy," she whispered. "She's worried."
"Elena!" The voice outside grew more desperate. "If you're in there, please open the door!"
I positioned myself between Elena and the door. "Stay back."
I opened the door cautiously, and a blur of motion came at me—a fist swinging toward my face. I dodged it easily, catching the wrist of a slender woman with bright red hair.
"Let me go, you son of a bitch!" she spat, struggling against my grip. I was quick to grab her other wrist as I saw her lift a red pepper spray bottle up. That wouldn't have been pleasant.
"Calm down before I'm forced to restrain you," I warned, my voice low. "Elena is fine."
"Ivy!" Elena pushed past me. "I'm okay!"
The unnaturally dark redhead—Ivy—stopped fighting and stared at Elena, relief washing over her face. "Thank God. I've been calling and calling. When you didn't answer, I thought—" Her eyes narrowed as she took in Elena's nightgown and my state of undress. "What the hell is going on? I'd like to think you finally got laid, but something tells me this is something more than that."
Well, she wasn't wrong there.
"I'm fine, it's just a misunderstanding. How did you get here?" Elena asked.
