“Babe, I’m not sure of much of anything right now. But the one thing I am sure of is that if we work together to keep Rain safe, then you don’t have to worry about the deal you made with Kane or him and Victor finding out. Agree to do what Rain asks of you and let her tell you how to handle him, and then if I see that she is getting too deep into this, I’ll go to Kane myself and take the fall for the investigation. This way you and Rain will have kept your relationship in tact. She needs you, but more importantly, you need her more than ever right now. I don’t want all of this shit to mess that up. I know what it’s like not be able to go to my brother and it sucks, but it was my doing and I have to own it. If I can keep that same fate from happening to your relationship with Rain, then I’ll do whatever it takes to help, even out Rain to her husband. I care about both of you too much for there to be bad blood between you and Rain.” When I finished my little speech, I hoped that it took some of the pressure off of Raven. She didn’t need to add any more shit to her plate either. I also hoped that I had persuaded Raven to work with us and not against us.
I thought I saw a hint of excitement in Raven’s expression. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Could it be that she had feelings for me after all, or could it be that she was happy that I partially agreed with her and that we would work together and keep Rain safe at the same time? The truth was that besides the fact that I wanted to keep Rain safe, I also wanted to take care of Raven and help her get well. From the way things looked, my brother wasn’t about to step forward to help. It appeared in the last few weeks he was far too focused on his own personal agenda. I wasn’t sure what that was, but hopefully I would be able to see what he was up to as well.
“Okay, Tommy, I’ll do what you think is best for now. But if I see Rain getting out of control with this situation, then I want you to come with me and we can talk to Dominick together. Will do that for me?” Raven seemed like she needed my answer to be yes.
“Of course, now let me fill you in on Rain’s theory.”
I told Raven what Rain believed was a good starting point in the investigation. Surprisingly, she agreed with Rain. She felt it was more than one person and she felt the Van Buren family was crazy and powerful enough to have a hand in something like this.
An hour had passed and Rain returned from her morning walk with the twins. Her cheeks were slightly pink and she had a healthy, sparkling glow around her. The time she spent with her babies definitely alleviated her anger and she seemed more centered now.
Rain walked into the living room and announced she was back. I had decided to make good use of my time, while Rain was out and go over the beach photos for the book. Raven said she felt dizzy, so she went to rest upstairs. Anna, Joseph and Daniel hadn’t returned from breakfast yet.
“So, what did Raven decide?” Rain asked with somewhat of a negative outlook on what my answer would be.
“Baby, she said that she would help us and that she would tell Kane whatever you wanted her to.”
“I’m assuming you had something to do with her change of heart.” There was the hint of a grin on Rain’s face.
“I don’t know about that. What I do know is that she loves you and she doesn’t want you to get hurt. I’ll tell you exactly what I told Raven. If I should see that you’re in way too deep, then I’ll go to Kane myself and bring him in on this.” I confessed.
“Good thinking, Tommy, that should keep her satisfied.” Rain seemed enthusiastic.
“Rain, I didn’t do it to keep your sister quiet. I meant every word I said. I didn’t do right by you when Kane took you. I can’t change that now. I shouldn’t have let it play out the way it did, but now that you’ve involved yourself in this new adventure, I will do all I can to help. However, if you start to get in over your head then Kane needs to know.” I was adamant.
Rain said nothing at first. She appeared as if she was going to appease me and then do whatever she wanted, but then she surprised even me.
“Okay, Tommy, we’ll do it your way.” Rain appeared to be defeated, but relieved at the same time.
“What, no argument, Baby?” I grinned and waited for her response.
Rain shook her head. “No, no argument, I decided when I went for my walk that perhaps Raven was partly right and maybe I shouldn’t keep this from Dominick. Maybe we need to let him in on this right now and the four of us can work together. I have to admit that I let my need for adventure and my anger for the truth take over and cloud my judgment on what is the most important thing in my life… my family. Then, during the walk I realized that I wasn’t being fair to Raven or you, but most importantly Dominick. I ask him all the time to be honest with me and now I am the one being dishonest. How can I ask things of him, when I’m doing exactly the same thing?” Rain expressed that she was uncomfortable with the lies she would have to tell, so she said after we get all of our information and a timeline in place, we needed to show it to Dominick.
I was pretty positive that Kane would be furious once Rain told him what she had mapped out, but I don’t think that it would come as a surprise to him. Especially since he had originally enlisted Raven to be his spy. It was probably better that all of this came out in the open. I would hate to think what life would have been like if Kane found out after the fact. Or if anyone had gotten hurt in the process.
Chapter Seventeen
Kane & Conte: Investigators at Large
Rain
Once Raven woke up, I spoke with her and explained that I would tell Dominick everything when he returned on Friday evening. I also told her that we should use this week to gather as much information as possible. I left a message for Officer Stack, so I could get an update and add that information to everything we already knew or thought we knew. Raven was visibly relieved and said she would look into information through the court scheduling system that could either confirm Madison’s whereabouts during the time of the car accident and the incident here at the shore house or leave it open to interpretation.
Raven said if Madison was in fact in court during each incident, then we either had to look for a paper trail to see if the Van Buren family paid someone to hurt me and our dad, or maybe it was done by someone else and their motives were completely unrelated to Madison and her father.
Raven added that until she found out that Dominick had a past relationship with Madison, she had no idea who could have been behind all of the attacks on our family. Yet, once she heard of their relationship, she felt Madison was crazy, practically certifiable, so a lot of this started to make more and more sense to her. I felt much better knowing that I wasn’t going to have to lie to Dominick or put Raven and Tommy in the middle of this.
I did secretly hope that with Tommy and Raven being here together and working closely on the investigation with me, it could perhaps take away some of the awkwardness of what happened between them. Unfortunately, I doubted it.
Tommy and Raven had only been mildly close to each other when we were kids and even though I hated that Mike hurt her, I didn’t think Raven needed another love interest, especially Tommy. Yet, I thought that something good could come out of all of the bad.
Perhaps they could find a middle ground and be friends again without all the awkwardness that had recently and justifiably developed between them. My opinion may have seemed foolish to some, but I hated to think this would end with friendships being torn apart after all of these years and a lifetime of memories.
If they spent the next week together without any distractions other than what we set out to do, it would prove they could get along amicably without any personal drama.
Tommy, Raven and myself agreed that we should spread out on the kitchen island. It was a larger surface than the coffee table in the living room. Raven and I carried in the twins and placed them in the portable nursery crib. Tommy carried in the papers with our notes, our three laptops and placed them on the stone counter of the island’s surface. He set up a place for each of us, while Raven and I gave the twins their bottles.
Once the twins were fast asleep, which didn’t take long, especially after being out in the fresh air along the shoreline earlier this morning, Raven and I joined Tommy. We each opened up our computers and began our search for anything and everything that could tie the Van Burens to the criminal events that recently took place against our family.
“Anything?” Tommy asked.
Raven shook her head. “Nothing out of the ordinary here.”
“Maybe we’re going about this all wrong?”
Both Tommy and Raven looked up at me with an expression of worry on each of their faces. They knew my statement would have them digging much deeper than just the public internet sites that everyone had access to.
“Okay, Rain, I know I’m going to regret this, but where do you propose we look?” My sister asked the question, but I think she already knew what I was going to say.
“At the firm, of course.”
“Baby, what do you mean at the firm? Wait…don’t tell me. Let me guess. You want us to tap into the Kane and Medici records at the office?”
“Don’t be silly. We’d be noticed if we went in there. Especially since Raven is supposed to be on bedrest and my dad and Dominick are on their way to Italy.”
In unison, Raven and Tommy let out a huge sigh of relief.
“No, we are not going to the office. We’ll just tap into the files here. I still have the pass codes that Vincent Medici gave me with some papers that were attached to the letter he wrote to me just before he died. I never changed the codes, so accessing the files we need should be simple enough.”
My statement was rewarded with frozen stares and opened mouths from each of my cohorts.
“What? He gave me access because he left the company to me in the first place. I never removed myself from the approved users list, so it should be fairly easy to get what we need on Mr. Van Buren and his daughter, if there is anything in those records implicating them. Dominick told me that Van Buren was embezzling money from his clients. I can only guess that there is some sort of paper trail among Vincent’s personal files that proves just that. We need to find it and see who else is mentioned, either in a dispute with Van Buren or perhaps someone who also does business with Kane and Medici now. Then we can hopefully make a connection between the Van Buren’s and what happened to me and dad.”
“Rain, I hope you know what you're doing. What if Dominick changed the codes when you signed over the company to him? If he did and you try to access those records or any files from the firm’s archives, dad and Dominick will be alerted. How are you going to explain all this to them if that happens?” Raven questioned.
“I have to agree with Raven this time, Rain. If Kane finds out about you snooping around the firm before you have a chance to talk with him on Friday, he will lose it.”
“Tommy, Dominick won’t find out. I never told him that Vincent gave me access to the archives. I assumed he would know that, so I never bothered getting into it. Plus, it was never a big deal to me in the first place. I didn’t think there would ever be a need for me to use them. I forgot all about the access codes until now.”
Both Tommy and Raven looked at each other again, just shook their heads and then they turned back to me.
I waited patiently for their response. “I’m waiting.”
At the same time they said to go ahead and access the files.
Just as I was about to log on, Anna, Joseph, and Daniel walked in. I filled them in on what I was doing and in true “Anna fashion,” she told me she was worried that Dominick would find out and be livid, but to be very careful. Joseph was concerned as well, but he knew how important all of this was to me, so although he agreed with Anna, he didn’t try to talk me out of it.
Daniel was of a totally different opinion.
“I say go for it, Rain. You need to know the truth about all of this. Get it over with, so you, Dominick, and your twins can move forward in your new life together and finally leave the past in the past, where it should be.” He gave me a wink and his signature smile.
I smiled back and with a renewed confidence I pulled the laptop closer to me and began to type. Tommy and Raven collectively abandoned their stools and came to stand behind me. Everyone in the room watched from over my shoulders. On the first try I was in. The codes worked.
I wasn’t sure what to look for at first, but Vincent Kane’s access codes brought me to a specific set of files and nothing else. His codes didn’t allow me to enter into the electronic records or even the archives of Kane and Medici. What his access codes did do was allow me to see exactly what he had on Mr. Van Buren. I couldn’t believe it. These were Vincent’s private files and ones that he had been saving for reasons that I assumed would be revealed as I continued to read on.
“Rain, what the hell is all of this?” Raven leaned in closer.
I looked back at her and proudly grinned. “It’s everything I need to take the Van Buren’s down, courtesy of the late Vincent Kane.”
Each of us in the room looked from the files on the brightly lit screen back to one another. None of us could believe what our eyes had just viewed, but we were all in agreement and more than satisfied with the evidence that was in the files.
Joseph turned red with anger and Anna began to tremble. Both Raven and Daniel comforted her.
“Baby, this was way more than we anticipated. Where do we go from here?” Tommy inquired about what our next move should be in light of the new evidence.
“Well, I for one think we should call the authorities.” Raven immediately voiced her opinion that sounded not only professional, but also superior, as if it was the final word in this matter.
Clearly she didn’t read the memo about who was in charge here. It was time for me to remind her.
“I’m not calling the police just yet.” I snapped. “Raven, you are getting way too ahead of yourself and this situation. We need a strategy, a plan, and that’s something we don’t have yet. We can’t go to the authorities with any of this until we have more information in place. Besides, as I told you before I need to go over all of this with Dominick when he returns on Friday.”
“It appears that you’ll have to go over this with your father, as well, Rain.” Joseph added because the information that Vincent left in the files alluded to the fact that my dad quite possibly knew more than he had let on since all of this began.
I let out a huge frustrated sigh. “You’re right, Joseph. My dad has a great deal of explaining to do if he knew about this all along.”
Regardless of what my dad did or didn’t know, he should be brought into the loop. I couldn't possibly keep this from him or Dominick. Especially since some of the information didn’t click with what Dominick had explained to me. Let’s just hope he didn’t lie to me again and that what I found out is something he was unaware of.
We all agreed not to do anything for now and wait until Dominick and my dad returned at the end of the week.
At this point, Friday couldn’t get here soon enough.
Chapter Eighteen
Turbulence
Dominick
I left Rain and the kids in good hands. Tommy agreed to stay for the week until Victor and I returned from Capri. He stated that he was going to tell Rain that he decided to leave after the weekend and head to Bali as he had originally planned before he brought Raven down here. Unbeknownst to Rain, her twin didn’t head back to the city with me this morning as she had stated last night.
I was grateful that Raven agreed to keep an eye on my beautiful, but too curious for her own good, wife. I was pretty sure that my phone call home tonight would be met with some negativity,but I couldn’t let it worry me. I loved Rain and our family and as Rain’s husband and the twin’s father, I needed to keep them safe from the likes of the Van Buren family.
Rain wanted honesty from me, so when we talked later today, I’d be honest and say that I asked Raven to stay home with her because it wasn’t necessary for her to go to the office when I could take
care of the details of Raven’s leave of absence on my own. The only thing that I’d leave out was the fact that Raven would be doing more than getting her required rest. She would be reporting back to me, should Rain feel the urge to continue to investigate Victor’s accident and her assault.
I knew that I would be at risk for another argument with Rain, but I felt that I didn’t have a choice. Victor and I both knew Rain was not about to give up on her quest for the truth. I understood that. I understood revenge and anger. It was what drove me to take Rain when I did, but I also learned that it could have destroyed us in the process.
Victor and I have some of the best investigators and legal minds working on the hit and run, as well as the assault on Rain. She knew this, but she continued to ignore what we had both asked of her, which was to stop and leave it to the experts.
I knew that our requests had fallen on deaf ears, so I needed to do what I felt was right to protect her and our babies. I tripled the security that surrounded Rain and requested that Tommy postpone his trip to stay with her. Then, I recruited Raven to be my eyes and ears while I was in Italy. If Rain finds out, she won’t like it, but when I explain my reasons for having done what I’ve done, she won’t be able to stay angry with me for long.
The Ties That Bind (Miss Taken Identity #3) Page 16
