Rain logged onto a website that appeared to be part of Kane and Medici’s internal files, but instead it was a private file developed by Vincent Kane. Rain accessed the site fairly easily, to my astonishment.
“How did you gain access so quickly?” I asked.
“When Vincent died, he left my dad with a slew of papers that I barely looked through until the week after you were arrested. This is what I discovered.” Rain held out her hand and presented me with a list of names that shone on the screen before us.
The names weren’t familiar to me personally, but Kane and Medici was a huge firm, so that wasn’t at all odd in the least. Victor and I ran the firm together, so many of the names could have been clients from the past or people involved in cases that only he consulted on. I had no idea why they were on this list, but Rain explained further.
“You see I took the list you gave me. You know, the one Vincent had given you all those years back to stop the Van Buren’s. Then I compared it to this one. Many of the names were the same, but then I noticed that the list continued long after the time Vincent printed the first copy for you, but stopped just before the time of his death.”
“I showed it to Tommy and Raven and they agreed that these people all had one thing in common. They started out with Kane and Medici, but when they left, each one of them was then represented by the Van Buren firm and not just anyone at the firm. They were all represented by Mr. Van Buren, himself.”
I examined the list carefully and noticed the file code at the bottom. Rain wouldn’t have picked up on it, but Raven should have. The codes for each of the clients’ files would show if we represented them here or in Europe. It turned out that everyone on this list were not only our clients here, but they also had interests or businesses abroad, but not just anywhere abroad, all of them had interests in Italy.
I decided to keep that bit of information to myself, but would phone Victor later and relay to him what Rain had in her possession. I knew that if I asked Rain this soon in our little agreement for the pass codes, she would probably become suspicious of my motives, so I decided that I would continue as is and work with her. I was sure at some point she would give me the codes without me having to prompt her.
“Dominick, can you hear me?” Rain broke into my thoughts.
“Of course, I can hear you, Baby.”
“Then what did I say?” She mildly demanded an answer from me.
I paused and scrambled to make something up.
“That’s what I thought. You weren’t even listening.” Now she was annoyed.
“I’m sorry, Angel, it’s just that all of this has caught me off guard and I don’t like feeling this way. What were you saying?”
“I wasn’t saying anything. I was asking you a question.”
“Which was?”
“What is this down here next to this long file code?” She pointed to what appeared to be the Judge’s initials that were appointed to these cases. It was somewhat odd to have that posted. The name of the judge would be contained in the document files itself. Maybe Vincent had it there for a different reason?
“Oh, it looks like the initials of the judges that were involved in each case.”
“That’s very strange then” She noted.
“What’s strange?”
“Well, every one of these clients and every one of their cases had the same Judge…R. O’Neill. How could that be?” She questioned.
That was impossible, so I looked again. Rain was right. Each one of these cases was presided over by Judge Robert O’Neill. I didn’t get it. He was a family court judge. I’d have to check back through the files at the office to see why we represented these clients. Many were older clients, so I wouldn’t have seen them. Some of them left in the last year or so, but they wouldn’t have worked with me; but they would have worked with Michael Conte. I knew he had his hand in my arrest and this may just be the evidence we needed.
I hated to lie to Rain, but this information was more than I bargained for and quite frankly I had no idea what this was all about. What I did know was that I promised to keep Rain safe, whether she liked it or not and this was my way of keeping that promise.
“I’m not totally sure, Baby. I mean judges do preside over cases that are part of their chosen career path. A family court judge like Judge O’Neill would not preside over a corporate case and visa-versa. I’m not sure how he was the judge for all of these cases, though. It’s not like you can request a judge of your own choosing. It has to be a coincidence or perhaps the papers are incorrect.”
She squinted and gave me such a beguiled look.
“Do you think I’m stupid? Dominick, you can’t actually believe some of the shit you say. Even I know there is no way this is a coincidence. There has to be a reason that this man was appointed time and again to these cases.” She seemed frustrated with me and she wasn’t buying one word of what I said.
“Rain, I understand what you're saying, but the problem is that I was not part of the firm for most of these cases and the few that are recent were Michael’s cases.”
“Michael?”
“Yes, if you look at these cases here at the end of the list that Vincent created, many of them, but not all of them, were Michael’s.” I pointed to the name of the attorney that was assigned the original contract for the specific cases that I showed Rain and all of them were assigned to Michael Conte.
“Dominick, maybe you're right. Maybe Mike is involved in some way, but to knowingly be involved in something that would physically hurt me and our unborn children is something I’m having a hard time with.”
“I know, Baby. Listen, do you mind if I take a copy of the list and show your dad? He would know more based the file names. He worked with many of the lawyers including Michael during this period and I haven’t, so I at a bit of a disadvantage here.”
“No, I don’t mind at all. I want this settled now. I want out life back. Let me go make you a copy and then you can take it to my dad.” Rain promptly left the room with her laptop to print a copy of the list from my office printer.
Once she returned, I asked her if it would be okay if we cut our family day short, so that I could bring the list down to the Kane & Medici Offices.
Rain smiled and told me to go. She knew how important it was to get everything out and into the open, so we could move forward… not only with the investigation, but with the charges against me.
I kissed her long and hard. I told her I would be back in time for dinner.
I left the house and called Victor from the car to explain what Rain found and that I was on my way into the office with the list. We used Victor’s office, because mine was off limits due to my suspension.
“This is the list.” I pushed it across the desk for him to examine.
“These are all family court cases, nothing that Vincent or I ever handled. I must admit the clients are familiar though.” There was more and I knew exactly what the “more” was.
“They all own businesses or have interests in Italy.”
“Very good, you did study the clients when you came to work here.” Victor seemed pleased that I took an interest in the firm as his partner. My knowledge in the clients validated that I wasn’t here to take over completely or destroy Kane and Medici, which was my original plan when I took Rain last year.
“I couldn’t place the names in any of these cases, but the more I looked at the personal coding that Vincent had placed on these cases, the more I knew all of these people hired the firm for more than just their personal affairs. It was for corporate ones abroad.”
“The interesting thing is that all of the business cases that we were involved in with these clients belonged either to Vincent or myself. None of them were assigned to any other attorney at the firm. Yet all of the newer ones went to Michael. There has to be a connection of some kind.”
“Especially, since Rain connected the fact that all of these people left and every one of them hired Van Buren. Not only that, Rain also
noticed something I had not picked up on until she pointed it out to me this morning.”
“What was that?”
“All of them had Judge O’Neill assigned to their court case.”
Victor smiled, a crooked, but proud smile.
“Let me in on what you know, Victor.”
“It’s been my opinion, and Vincent’s, that for years O’Neill has been in Van Buren’s back pocket. We could never prove it, but with this bit of information, there could be light at the end of the tunnel. To think Rain was the one who had all of this.” He seemed a bit astonished at his daughter’s find, as he smirked and shook his head.
“How are we going to proceed?” I asked. I was anxious and I needed this to be done.
“We aren’t going to do anything.” He stated as he rose from his desk.
“What do you mean? This needs to be looked into, Victor. Everything I love and hold dear to me is dangling by a thread!” My tone was abrasive and loud.
“Calm down. We aren't going to look into this, but I am and only me. I not telling anyone what I’m doing, including Raven or my assistants. We can afford any leaks or loose ends.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I know a judge that despises O’Neill just about as much as Vincent did. I’ll speak with him. Then I’m going to call Marcello in Italy.” I stopped him there.
“Why Marcelo?”
“He has a great deal of pull now. I’ll have him get me the old files. He will be able to retrieve them much more quickly than I can from here.”
“What do you need for me to do?” I felt helpless. I hated this.
“I need you to work on my daughter and get the codes?”
“I don’t follow you. If you know the clients and you have their family records here and Marcello gets the business records there, why are the codes still so important?”
“Whatever Vincent has in that computer file is something that we won’t find in print in the old records. Whatever it is, it’s huge and it’s something he didn’t include me in.”
“So you don’t believe that Vincent’s computer file is just that? You believe there’s more? Why not just tell you? You were his partner after all.”
“Dominick, I believe from all of this, that whatever Vincent recorded and hid all of these years is more than business. I have a strong suspicion that it’s personal and it had affected the firm then and it continues to plague the firm now. The only difference is that now it’s more than clients leaving. My daughter was hurt. My grandchildren could have died. And I don’t take that lightly. If Van Buren is the cause of all of this, I intend to take him down once and for all.” Victor Medici was a strong and powerful man. Although I knew it, I hadn’t felt the true power of his wrath until now. His invisible anger radiated off of him, as he spoke of the revenge he would take against the people who hurt Rain and our family.
In that moment, I understood Rain’s reasoning to investigate the cases more and more. I didn’t approve of her methods, but I finally accepted why she was compelled to continue to do it without my support. She felt the risks she took were worth it, because it was about family. Family was everything to her, just like she had always said from the beginning.
Rain was the one person who held everything and everyone together. That little isolated girl grew up to be a strong and fearless woman. She was this family’s strength, this family’s hope.
She tied everything together for me now…Rain was this family’s… my family’s miracle.
Rain was my guardian angel.
Chapter Thirty-One
More Than I Could Have Bargained For
Rain
Dominick left for Kane and Medici, and I decided this would be a good time to call Michael and see if we could meet. It killed me to not tell Dominick, but he felt Mike was completely guilty. I felt there was more to it than that, but I needed to discreetly find out what was going on with him. I had known Mike for my entire life. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. Hopefully, once we met, much of this would be cleared up.
I was just about to phone Mike, when Marcello called.
Ugh… what did he want?
“Ciao, Marcello.”
“Ciao, my Bella.”
“Uh… first, let’s not get too cozy with the my ‘Bella’ thing, okay?”
“As you wish, Rain.” He sounded as sexy as ever when he spoke with me, but I was immune to his past charms, so I got right to the point.
“What do you want?”
“Rain, now is that anyway to speak with an old friend who has your best interests at heart?”
“Do you really want me to comment?”
“Not exactly, but I do have some information for you.”
“What kind of information?”
“I received a phone call from your dad today. I immediately took it when I saw it was him calling at such a late hour, I knew it had to be of some great importance.”
What Marcello had stated was true. If my dad called this afternoon from the office, then with the time difference it was late in Italy, and so it had to be something urgent.
“What did he want?”
“First, you must promise not to tell him or your husband that I called you. You know my only allegiance is to you, Bella.”
“Fascinating, Now get on with it.”
“Okay, okay. He called about several clients that have businesses here in Capri and on the mainland.” He revealed.
I knew where this was going, but I needed to confirm it with Marcello.
“Who were they?”
Marcello rattled off the list of names I had given Dominick. The same list that he brought to my dad this morning.
“Did my dad say why he called you about them?” I inquired further.
“He stated that Dominick was arrested for kidnapping you, which I knew would eventually happen.”
I stopped him right there. “And why is that? So help me God, if you had anything to do with this, Marcelo.” My anger was apparent, but in my heart I knew it wasn’t Marcello. If he had given up Dominick, it would have happened long before now.
“Bella, I didn’t give up your Mr. Kane. I would never want you to be hurt in any way. You must know that.”
“Yeah, and the fact that you helped him with his adoption information after you had learned he kidnapped me… and you didn’t report it, would not have fared well for your career either.”
He cleared his throat, “Yes, and that too.”
“So tell me what my dad said.” I pressed.
“He stated that Vincent has a file with old clients and that there were pieces of each person’s profile that connected them in a similar way. One of them was that they all had interests in Italy.”
“Wait, they did?”
“Yes, he said that there was a specific notation that Vincent placed on each file link and that Dominick noticed a connection when he was viewing it with you.”
“WHAT! HE TOLD ME HE WOULD WORK WITH ME!” My blood began to boil over.
“I take it by your response that your Mr. Kane kept this from you.”
“Well, two can play at this game.”
“What is that supposed to mean, Bella?”
“It means I’m going to be needing your help.”
“I knew this was coming.”
“Good, so it’s not a surprise and you won’t have a problem doing anything I ask of you. You know, because as you stated before, the only allegiance you have… is to me.”
“I have a feeling that you are roping me into something that I’m not going to be comfortable with.”
“Well, you don’t have to say yes, but I will tell you that if you say no, then I’ll tell my dad and Dominick that you called me and spilled your guts, so to speak.” I knew I had Marcello right where I wanted him, and I also knew he wasn’t about to say no to me.
“You know that I can never say no when it comes to you, Rain, even now. What do you need from me?”
“Good, now find out all you can abou
t these clients. Once you do, you call me and tell me what the connection is. Don’t tell my dad or anyone else for that matter. Make my dad and Dominick think that it is tougher to get to the information than it actually is.”
“It could be difficult, Rain.”
“I know you can do it. I have faith in you, Marcello.” I felt gross, but I needed to work every angle I could to get this information before my dad and Dominick did. I promised not to investigate the assaults, but I never promised to stop helping my husband with the kidnapping case.
The Ties That Bind (Miss Taken Identity #3) Page 28
