Chapter 7 - Naomi Carter Wasn't Hiding
Dominic did not speak for almost a minute after Naomi placed the settlement folder in front of him.
It was 2:40 in the morning.
The ballroom had emptied.
Reporters were already outside the gates.
Vanessa remained in the west sitting room with her lawyer.
And the man who had spent years believing his home was controlled now looked at nine signatures proving it wasn't.
"My mother paid all of these?"
"She admitted it."
"Mara too?"
"Yes."
Dominic stood and walked to the window.
"Mara stopped returning my calls last year. My mother said she needed distance."
Naomi waited.
He turned.
"Why did you take this job?"
There it was.
Not who are you.
Why are you here.
Naomi sat down.
"Because I needed one."
He almost laughed.
"Owen says you spent eight years in executive protection."
"I did."
"Embassies?"
"Some."
"High-risk corporate work?"
"Some."
"And then you became a housekeeper?"
Naomi looked at the carpet.
"Three years ago, I was leading a protection team for a pharmaceutical executive overseas. We had good intelligence and a bad client. He ignored the route change. My partner, Daniel Price, died getting him out."
Dominic's anger softened.
Naomi continued before sympathy could arrive.
"After that I didn't want anybody's life depending on whether I guessed right. I came home. Took quiet jobs. Cleaning doesn't lie to you. A room is dirty or it isn't."
"And Vanessa?"
"Vanessa was rude the first day. Cruel by the third week. I stayed because rude people aren't emergencies."
"Why start watching her?"
"Because cruelty developed a schedule."
Dominic frowned.
"She targeted employees when cameras were off. She learned which hallways had blind spots. She made accusations after people pushed back. That's not temper. That's practice."
Owen entered carrying a tablet.
"We found Victor Sloane."
Naomi's body reacted before her mind did.
Dominic noticed.
"Who?"
Owen looked at Naomi.
"Victor is the outside security consultant Vanessa brought in for the wedding series."
Naomi stood.
"Show me."
Owen turned the screen.
A photograph filled it.
Victor Sloane, fifty-two, expensive suit, silver hair.
Naomi knew the face.
She hadn't seen it in three years.
Dominic watched her.
"You know him."
"He investigated Daniel's death."
Owen nodded grimly.
"He also signed off on the report that blamed your route decision."
Naomi's voice went flat.
"My route decision didn't kill Daniel. The client changed vehicles without telling us. Victor knew that."
Owen swiped to another document.
"Then you need to see this."
It was an email from Vanessa to Victor three weeks earlier.
Subject: CARTER.
The message contained Naomi's sealed incident report.
Photos.
Witness statements.
Details that had never been public.
And one line from Vanessa:
If she becomes a problem, we already know how to destroy her.
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