Chapter 2 - Platform Seven

Dominic reached Central Station at 11:43 p.m.

Edwin was beside him.

I followed.

My name is Anna Cole.

Twenty-eight.

Maid.

And somehow the only person from the engagement dinner who had not lied to him yet.

The station was nearly empty.

Old lights.

Cold marble.

Announcements echoing through the ceiling.

Platform Seven.

Midnight train north.

Dominic walked faster.

Then stopped.

A woman stood beside a green suitcase.

Fifty-eight.

Dark hair with silver at the temples.

Gray coat.

Gloves.

Elena Vale.

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

Twenty years.

No words.

Then she whispered:

“Dominic?”

His face changed.

Not anger.

Not relief.

Something worse.

“Did you really think I wrote that letter?”

Her eyes filled.

“Yes.”

He swallowed.

“I was thirteen.”

“I know that now.”

“You left anyway.”

“I thought you chose your father.”

“I didn’t.”

“I know.”

“Now.”

“Yes.”

Silence.

The train announcement sounded.

Five minutes.

Elena reached for the suitcase.

Dominic stepped in front of it.

“No.”

She stared.

“What?”

“You are not leaving.”

“I came back to see you.”

“You came back and let Cassandra send you away.”

Elena’s expression changed.

“She did not force me.”

“She asked you to leave.”

“Yes.”

“And you did.”

“I have spent twenty years learning when a house does not want me.”

Dominic looked at her.

“That is my house.”

She smiled sadly.

“It was your father’s first.”

That name changed him.

“What did he do?”

Elena looked toward Edwin.

The old stationmaster nodded.

Tell him.

She reached into her coat.

An envelope.

Inside:

Court documents.

Medical evaluations.

Property transfers.

A guardianship petition.

Dominic read the first page.

Then the second.

His father had tried to have Elena declared incompetent before she disappeared.

Not after.

Before.

Dominic stared.

“He planned it.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I discovered what he was doing through the railway contracts.”

Edwin looked down.

Dominic frowned.

“What contracts?”

Elena answered:

“Cargo.

Cash.

People.”

Silence.

Dominic stared.

“My father used the railway?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“Moving money.

Bribing officials.

Sometimes moving witnesses before they could testify.”

Dominic looked at Edwin.

“You knew?”

“Parts.”

“How much?”

“Enough to be ashamed.”

The train horn sounded in the distance.

Elena continued.

“James Reed was railway police.”

Dominic’s face hardened.

“He stopped you.”

“Yes.”

“On my father’s orders.”

“Yes.”

“But my uncle intercepted me.”

“Yes.”

Dominic looked confused.

“Why involve both of them?”

Elena’s eyes moved toward the clock.

“Because your father did not trust anyone with the whole plan.”

Dominic laughed without humor.

“Apparently that runs in the family.”

Edwin stepped closer.

“Elena.”

She nodded.

Then opened the green suitcase.

Not clothes.

Files.

Photographs.

Ledgers.

Cassette tapes.

And one small wooden train.

Dominic stared.

“I had one like that.”

Elena smiled.

“It is yours.”

He picked it up.

His initials were scratched underneath.

D.V.

His hand shook.

“You kept this?”

“Everywhere.”

He looked at her.

“For twenty years?”

“Yes.”

The midnight train pulled into the station.

Doors opened.

No one moved.

Then footsteps echoed behind us.

James Reed.

Cassandra’s father.

He walked onto the platform alone.

Dominic turned.

James stopped.

“You should not have come here.”

Elena’s face hardened.

“You said that twenty years ago.”

Dominic stepped between them.

“What did you do after she left?”

James looked at him.

“Your father made sure she could never come back legally.”

“How?”

“Restraining orders.

Medical records.

False police reports.”

Elena held up the papers.

Dominic stared.

“You signed them.”

James did not deny it.

“Why?”

“My daughter was six.”

Dominic looked disgusted.

“So?”

“Your father threatened her.”

Silence.

Cassandra.

Six years old.

Dominic stared.

James continued.

“He said if I did not cooperate, Cassandra would disappear the same way Elena had.”

Elena shook her head.

“You still chose.”

“Yes.”

James looked at Dominic.

“And I chose wrong.”

The train doors began closing.

Elena did not move.

Dominic looked at her.

“You missed it.”

She looked at him.

“I know.”

Then someone called from the far end of the platform.

“Dominic!”

Cassandra.

She ran toward us.

Red gown hidden beneath a black coat.

Dominic watched her approach.

She stopped.

Looked at Elena.

Then at her father.

“Dad?”

James lowered his eyes.

Cassandra looked at Dominic.

“I came to tell you something.”

He said nothing.

She swallowed.

“My father is not the person who forged your letter.”

Silence.

Dominic’s expression changed.

“Then who did?”

Cassandra looked toward the station entrance.

A man stood beneath the old clock.

Dominic’s uncle.

Vincent Vale.

The man who had raised him after Elena disappeared.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

He smiled.

Then slowly began to walk away.