Chapter 10 - The Name on the Certificate
“No.”
Dominic spoke before Penelope could.
She stared at him.
“No what?”
“I am not your father.”
Vincent made a sound that almost resembled disappointment.
Penelope glared at him.
“Not helping.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Gabriel is your father.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I am.”
Penelope looked at Eleanor.
Her mother’s face was complicated.
Too complicated.
“Then why is Dominic’s name on my birth certificate?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Because your original birth certificate was fake.”
Penelope laughed helplessly.
“Of course it was.”
Gabriel rubbed his forehead.
“I forgot about that.”
“You forgot who was listed as my father?”
“We had other problems that week.”
“That sentence should not make sense.”
Eleanor took Penelope’s hand.
“Gabriel was already being watched when you were born.”
“So you used Dominic’s name.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To hide you from Samuel.”
Penelope looked at Dominic.
“You agreed?”
“I was twenty-eight and stupid.”
“You’ve mentioned the stupid part.”
“It was a productive period.”
Despite everything, she smiled.
Then immediately hated herself for it.
“Was the certificate ever corrected?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“We filed another under Hayes later.”
“So somewhere there is a legal document saying Dominic is my father.”
“Yes.”
Vincent leaned against the wall.
“This family is extraordinary.”
Penelope pointed toward him.
“One more comment and I finish what I started at dinner.”
He touched his cheek.
“I believe you.”
Dominic turned toward Eleanor.
“Samuel has the original?”
“He must.”
Gabriel said, “Why does it matter?”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Because under the Santoro Trust, a marriage between trustee and biological descendant is prohibited.”
Penelope blinked.
“So the certificate could invalidate the marriage clause.”
“Yes.”
“And the trust.”
“Possibly freeze it.”
Vincent frowned.
“So Samuel wants Penelope to marry Dominic, then use the certificate to challenge the transfer after she dies.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Exactly.”
Penelope crossed her arms.
“And suddenly everyone speaks casually about my hypothetical murder.”
Eleanor squeezed her hand.
“No one is letting that happen.”
Penelope looked at her mother.
“You’ve been kidnapped for nine months.”
“Eight and a half.”
“That correction did not help.”
Gabriel said, “We need the ledger.”
Dominic nodded.
“And Samuel.”
Vincent stepped forward.
“I’m coming.”
“No,” Dominic said.
Vincent laughed.
“You don’t command me.”
“In this room, currently, I do.”
Vincent’s smile vanished.
“My father died because of Samuel.”
“So did many people.”
“Exactly.”
Penelope looked at Vincent.
“Why did you humiliate me tonight?”
The question surprised everyone.
Vincent’s face tightened.
“What?”
“At dinner. Before any of this. Why?”
He looked away.
She stepped closer.
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“My father kept files.”
“On me?”
“On the Santoro family.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
Vincent continued.
“Two weeks ago I learned the trust beneficiary was Eleanor Hayes’s daughter.”
“So you decided to insult me.”
“I wanted you angry.”
Penelope stared.
“Well done.”
“I wanted to see who reacted.”
Dominic understood first.
“You were testing the room.”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked at Penelope.
“I insulted you because I knew whoever had an interest in you would reveal themselves.”
Penelope laughed in disbelief.
“And your brilliant plan included calling me cheap?”
“I improvised.”
She slapped him again.
Everyone froze.
Vincent closed his eyes.
Penelope lowered her hand.
“That one was for strategy.”
Catherine burst out laughing from the speaker on the watch.
Even Gabriel smiled.
Vincent opened his eyes.
“Finished?”
“For now.”
Dominic’s mouth twitched.
Vincent pointed at him.
“Don’t.”
They left Vale Tower through a service exit.
Dominic arranged new vehicles.
This time nobody argued about seating.
Penelope sat beside Eleanor.
She held her mother’s hand the entire drive.
There were too many questions for one car ride.
Where had Eleanor been held?
Who cared for her?
Why had Samuel kept her alive?
How had she hidden the dead-man switch?
Why had she trusted Dominic?
Why had she not trusted Penelope?
But Penelope understood something now.
Answers could wait until survival stopped being uncertain.
They returned to the Belladonna at 3:18 a.m.
Room 317’s door stood closed.
Light glowed beneath it.
Dominic positioned men on both ends of the corridor.
Gabriel checked his weapon.
Vincent loaded another magazine.
Penelope looked at the three of them.
“This is surreal.”
Eleanor handed Penelope a small pistol.
Penelope stared.
“No.”
“Take it.”
“Mom.”
“I taught you how to shoot when you were sixteen.”
“That was a pellet gun.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“Same principles.”
Penelope accepted it.
Dominic looked horrified.
“You’re not using that.”
Penelope stared.
“Do you want the third slap?”
Vincent quietly said, “I recommend avoiding it.”
Dominic ignored him.
Gabriel approached the door.
“Samuel wants us inside.”
Penelope said, “Then he expects guns.”
“Yes.”
“So perhaps we don’t enter like he expects.”
They looked at her.
Penelope pointed toward the adjoining room.
Old hotels often had connecting doors.
Dominic smiled.
“Eleanor.”
Her mother smiled too.
“She gets it from me.”
Gabriel objected.
“She gets it from both of us.”
They entered Room 319.
The connecting door between 319 and 317 had been sealed decades ago.
Gabriel found the old frame.
Dominic’s men quietly removed the paneling.
Penelope listened through the wall.
Samuel’s voice.
Michael’s.
They were arguing.
“You should have killed Moretti years ago,” Michael said.
Samuel replied, “His father would have retaliated.”
“His father is dead.”
“And Dominic became worse.”
Penelope glanced at him.
Dominic looked almost pleased.
They continued listening.
Michael said, “Vincent knows.”
“He knows nothing.”
“He knows you killed Anthony.”
Samuel laughed.
“Anthony became sentimental.”
Penelope looked toward Vincent.
His face tightened.
Michael continued.
“And Gabriel?”
“Tonight.”
“Eleanor?”
“After the transfer.”
“Penelope?”
A pause.
Samuel answered.
“After the wedding.”
Dominic’s expression became murderous.
Penelope touched his arm.
“Not yet.”
He looked at her hand.
Then at her.
Calmed.
Interesting.
They continued.
Michael said, “And if she refuses to marry?”
Samuel laughed.
“She won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Dominic will ask.”
Penelope frowned.
Dominic looked equally confused.
Then Samuel said:
“He has no choice once he learns what his father promised me.”
Dominic went rigid.
Gabriel whispered, “What promise?”
Dominic shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Michael spoke again.
“The Moretti debt?”
“Yes.”
Samuel sounded pleased.
“Forty years overdue.”
Penelope looked at Dominic.
“What debt?”
He whispered, “I genuinely don’t know.”
Inside Room 317, Samuel opened something.
Paper rustled.
Then:
“Dominic’s father signed it in blood.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened.
“No.”
“What?” Penelope whispered.
Gabriel looked at Dominic.
“Your father made a pact with Samuel after the harbor war.”
Dominic went pale.
“What pact?”
Gabriel’s answer came slowly.
“If Samuel protected the Moretti family, the first unmarried Moretti heir would marry into the Vale bloodline.”
Penelope stared.
Vincent muttered, “You people really do make everything complicated.”
Dominic looked at Penelope.
She looked back.
Neither spoke.
Then the wall between the rooms exploded inward.
Dust filled the air.
Gunmen rushed through.
May you like
Samuel had known they were listening.
And one of Dominic’s own guards turned his weapon toward Penelope.
