Chapter 3 - The Secret Behind Arthur’s Disappearance
The security footage showed a black town car stopping two blocks from Le Jardin at 11:31 that morning.
Arthur had stepped out alone.
He was visibly confused, without a coat or umbrella.
The car drove away before he reached the restaurant.
Marco paused the video.
Chloe leaned closer to the screen.
“Can you see the driver?”
“Not clearly,” Marco said. “But we identified the vehicle. It was registered to a shell company.”
Dominic stood behind them, completely still.
“And who owns the shell company?” he asked.
Marco’s expression tightened.
“Elliot Vane.”
Arthur looked down at his hands.
The name meant nothing to Chloe.
But it clearly meant something to Dominic.
His jaw locked.
“Who is Elliot Vane?” Chloe asked.
Dominic walked to the window, staring at the rain below.
“My former business partner.”
Marco added quietly, “And Mr. Russo’s cousin.”
For years, Elliot Vane had handled the public side of the Russo empire. He was polished, educated, and admired by city officials. While Dominic operated quietly behind the scenes, Elliot appeared at charity galas, development meetings, and political fundraisers.
To the public, Elliot was the respectable Russo.
But three years earlier, Dominic had discovered that Elliot was using company money to finance illegal property acquisitions across Chicago. He had been forcing small businesses out of historic neighborhoods, bribing inspectors, and threatening tenants who refused to sell.
Dominic cut him out of the company.
Elliot disappeared from the family.
Now he was back.
And he had used Arthur to send a message.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Chloe said. “Why leave him at a restaurant?”
“Because Elliot knows my father is the one person I cannot treat like business,” Dominic said.
Arthur’s breathing became uneven.
“He came to see me,” he whispered.
Dominic turned quickly.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Arthur rubbed his forehead.
“He said he missed the family. He brought flowers for Eleanor.”
Eleanor had been dead for three years.
Arthur’s eyes filled with tears.
“He said he would drive me to meet her.”
Chloe sat beside him.
“It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Arthur looked at Dominic.
“I thought he was you.”
That sentence struck Dominic like a physical blow.
For all his power, all his money, all the fear attached to his name, Dominic was still a son watching his father slip further into a world he could not control.
Chloe understood grief.
She understood guilt too.
And she knew Dominic blamed himself for not protecting Arthur.
That evening, Dominic asked Chloe to stay at the residence until the security situation was resolved.
“I have a guest room prepared,” he said.
“I should go home.”
“Your apartment is not safe.”
“Why would Elliot care about me?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Because you were with my father. Because you saw him vulnerable. Because Elliot may think you know more than you do.”
“I don’t.”
“That does not mean he will believe it.”
Chloe hated the idea of accepting protection from a man she had met only hours earlier. Yet she also knew her apartment building had a broken front lock, a landlord who ignored complaints, and no security cameras.
For the first time in years, she had nowhere truly safe to go.
So she stayed.
The next morning, Dominic offered her a job.
Not as a favor.
Not as a charity case.
As Arthur’s private companion and care coordinator.
“You understand him,” Dominic said. “And he trusts you.”
“I’m not medically trained.”
“You would have nurses, specialists, and staff. But he needs someone who sees him as a person, not a responsibility.”
Chloe looked toward Arthur, who was assembling a puzzle near the fireplace.
He looked up and smiled.
“Soup girl works here now?”
She laughed.
“Maybe.”
The position came with a salary that made Chloe nearly drop the contract.
Health insurance.
Paid leave.
A furnished apartment in a secured building.
And enough money to finally breathe.
She signed.
For two weeks, life became unexpectedly gentle.
Chloe walked with Arthur by the lake.
She listened as he told stories about building his first hardware store with Eleanor. Some stories were repeated three times in one afternoon. Some were true. Some were tangled with memories that belonged to other decades.
But Arthur always remembered one thing.
Chloe had been kind.
Then, on the fifteenth day, Chloe found something hidden inside the pocket of Arthur’s old suit jacket.
It was a folded note.
The handwriting was shaky.
DON’T TRUST DOMINIC.
HE LET ELEANOR DIE.
Chloe stared at the words.
Behind her, Arthur appeared in the doorway.
His face had gone pale.
“Where did you get that?” he asked.
“It was in your jacket.”
Arthur began shaking.
“I didn’t write it.”
“Do you know who did?”
He looked toward the hallway, where Dominic’s footsteps could be heard approaching.
Then Arthur whispered one name.
“Elliot.”
May you like
And for the first time, Chloe wondered whether the danger was not outside the Russo family.
Maybe it had always been inside.
