Chapter 4 - Suite 1812

The baby was fine.

Those four words were the only reason I stayed calm. Dr. Levin showed me the steady rhythm on the monitor and made me listen until my breathing matched it. I pressed my fingertips against the curve of my stomach and whispered, “Stay with me.” For the first time that night, the anger drained out of me and left something raw underneath it. I could survive humiliation. I could survive a broken marriage. What I could not survive was discovering that the danger around Dominic had already reached the child who had never asked to be born into his world.

Those four words were the only reason I stayed calm while Dr. Levin checked the fetal monitor for the third time.

“You need rest,” she told me. “Stress is not harmless at this stage.”

I almost smiled. “You have no idea.”

Marco stood outside the private exam room with two hospital security officers. Dominic had called eleven times. I still had not answered.

Then Marco came in holding a small plastic evidence bag.

“We found this in the SUV.”

Inside was a hotel key card.

The same logo as the card I had found in Dominic’s jacket.

I sat up. “Room 1812?”

Marco nodded.

My anger returned so quickly it surprised me.

“What is in that room?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then find out.”

“Dominic told me to keep you here.”

“Dominic can tell you whatever he wants. I’m asking you a question.”

Marco hesitated.

That told me everything. Loyalty to Dominic came first.

I reached for my phone.

“Who are you calling?” he asked.

“My attorney.”

Twenty minutes later, Rebecca Shaw arrived in a gray suit and flat shoes, carrying a legal pad like a weapon. She had handled my mother’s estate before I married Dominic and had never trusted him.

“Tell me everything,” she said.

I did.

When I mentioned the two-million-dollar transfer, she stopped writing.

“What?” I asked.

“Ava, the holding company you named isn’t Dominic’s.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No. It was transferred six months ago.”

“To who?”

She turned her pad around.

CASSANDRA VALE STRATEGIC CONSULTING LLC.

My stomach dropped.

“That’s impossible.”

Rebecca tapped the page. “It’s public record.”

A knock came at the door.

Dominic entered before anyone invited him.

He looked exhausted, furious, and terrified.

“You left the hotel without security,” he said.

“And one of your SUVs followed me.”

His face changed.

Marco stepped forward. “We recovered a key card to Suite 1812.”

Dominic went completely still.

Then he looked at me.

“Ava,” he said, “I have never been inside that room.”

Rebecca crossed her arms. “Then you won’t mind if we open it.”

Dominic’s phone rang.

He answered.

A man spoke for three seconds.

Dominic’s face drained of color.

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He looked at Marco.

“Seal the hotel,” he said. “There’s a body in Suite 1812.”