My Second Marriage with the Mafia Kingpin

Chapter 427: The Day The First Domino Fell

"Memphis," Ashley whispered, staring at the large monitor before her.

The corners of her eyes sharpened, glinting with murderous intent.

She glanced at the monitor on her right, where lines of letters and numbers streamed across the screen in rapid succession. Then she shifted her attention to the monitor on her left as new tabs continued to appear.

Ashley had secretly installed an app on the nurse’s phone, linking it to her own so she could monitor it remotely. It wasn’t to control the device but to gather information from its outgoing and incoming calls. She wished she could do everything from her phone, but it simply had too many limitations.

Now, she finally had what she wanted.

After installing the app, she had instructed the nurse to make several calls to the number in her contacts.

The purpose was simple.

To trace the other caller’s location.

"This is..." she murmured, zooming in on the map displayed on the left monitor until a clear address came into view.

Ashley’s eyes narrowed.

Then, for a brief second, her breathing stopped.

"It’s..." she whispered. "The person who called her is in..."

Black Dragon Corporation.

Silence settled over the room as Ashley stared at the location on the monitor.

It couldn’t pinpoint the exact floor or determine whether the call had been made from inside or outside the building.

But one thing was certain.

The number the nurse had contacted was at Black Dragon Corporation.

Ashley immediately searched for more information tied to the number, even though she already knew it was unlikely to yield anything—especially if it was a burner phone.

As expected, there was nothing.

Whoever had used the number had almost certainly disposed of it afterward.

"No wonder their operation is horrifyingly meticulous," she muttered, giving up on that lead. There were other ways to uncover the truth.

What mattered was that she finally had a clearer picture of what was happening.

Ashley looked back at the main monitor, where Memphis’s profile remained displayed. She then glanced at the adjacent screen. The data collection was almost complete.

"Because this was done by Dominion," she whispered, letting out a slow breath as she reached for her phone. "Just not our side of Dominion."

Why was she even surprised?

Not everyone within Dominion wanted Lucian alive. They had already proven that when he collapsed and the High Chamber had rushed to replace him.

The real question was... why would Memphis help Marshal?

Why Marshal, of all people?

More importantly, what was Marshal’s connection to Tommy?

Even after working for Marshal since childhood, Ashley couldn’t remember hearing Tommy’s name even once.

[My Baby Boo:

Memphis of the High Chamber of Dominion.]

She sent the message without a second thought.

While waiting for a reply, Ashley impatiently ran a hand through her hair before unconsciously biting the edge of her thumbnail.

Her eyes remained fixed on the progress bar. As it crawled toward one hundred percent, it felt as though it deliberately slowed down.

"Are you kidding me?" she muttered. "Why do you have to get stuck at ninety-nine—"

Before she could finish, the screen flashed.

[Download completed.]

Ashley immediately pulled her swivel chair closer and began sorting through the files, generating a summary.

There were two things she needed.

The first was information about Memphis and his history.

The second was far more extensive and included older files.

Files concerning Tommy and Marshal.

Everything Ashley knew about Tommy came from public knowledge.

She had never imagined she’d one day perform a thorough background investigation on someone she had respected almost like a father.

Once the files finished processing, Ashley skimmed through them.

She had already forwarded Lucian everything he needed, including the traced location of the number that had contacted the nurse.

If Dominion was involved... Lucian could handle it.

Ashley, on the other hand, had other priorities. She wanted to know why Marshal wanted Tommy dead.

More importantly, how she was going to deal with him.

Several minutes later, the sternness on Ashley’s face gradually gave way to confusion as her brows knitted together.

"What...?" The word escaped her lips in barely more than a whisper. "No... this can’t be..."

She opened more files, reading every report and article, absorbing each detail like a sponge. Then she slowly leaned back, her heart sinking to her stomach.

"What the hell...?" she whispered. "That’s... that’s how they lost their daughter?"

Her chest tightened as though an invisible hand had wrapped around her heart. Ashley instinctively clutched her chest, wincing as each breath became shallower.

There was no report explicitly stating that Marshal had killed Tommy’s daughter.

But after piecing together every article, report, and timeline...

The conclusion was painfully obvious.

Her neck stiffened as she stared at the files before her. Her lips trembled, her eyes wide with disbelief. Just to be certain, Ashley read through the reports again.

Then her mind went blank — completely blank.

When her thoughts finally returned, only one thing remained.

She had been laughing with Tommy and Liza...

Eating with them...

Treating them like family...

All the while, never knowing it was her own father who had taken their child away.

Ashley stared into space before lowering her gaze.

"He..." she whispered. A dry laugh escaped her lips. "...he really did ruin me."

Just when she had finally found people who made her feel at home, Marshal had once again destroyed everything.

Not only with what he had done the night before. Even the sins of his past had come back to haunt her.

Then again, in the entire Di Carpio family, Ashley was, surprisingly, the only one with a conscience.

Ding!

She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath. When she opened them again, her gaze landed on the phone resting on the desk.

She picked it up and read Lucian’s reply. There were two messages.

The first read:

[Interesting.]

The second:

[He’s dead. We’ll move after the funeral. Wait until then.]

A faint glint flickered across Ashley’s eyes.

She didn’t reply.

Instead, she turned her attention to Marshal’s profile, displayed in a smaller tab beneath Memphis’s.

"You..." she murmured, staring at his photograph. "...will regret ever making me capable of killing."

With that, the first domino had fallen.

And the countdown until everything boiled over had begun.