Chapter 7 - Three Empty Beds
Dominic reached the townhouse in twenty-three minutes.
Hannah had never seen anyone drive that fast through Manhattan.
Three guards were injured.
One was dead.
The nursery door hung from one hinge.
Inside were three empty beds.
Three blankets.
Three stuffed rabbits.
No children.
Dominic stood completely still.
Hannah knew that stillness was dangerous.
Luca entered.
“Security feed was disabled from inside.”
Dominic turned.
“Inside?”
“Yes.”
“Who had access?”
“Household staff. Me. Gavin. Rosa.”
Rosa was the nanny.
Hannah found her sitting against the hallway wall with blood on her forehead.
She rushed over.
“Rosa?”
The older woman opened her eyes.
“Hannah?”
“How do you know my name?”
Rosa began crying.
“Evelyn showed me your picture.”
Hannah froze.
“What?”
“She found you before she disappeared.”
Dominic stared.
Rosa touched Hannah’s face.
“She wanted to call you. She was afraid.”
“Afraid of Julian?”
Rosa shook her head.
“Not only Julian.”
Dominic crouched.
“Who?”
Rosa looked toward Luca.
Then toward the hallway.
“Gavin.”
Dominic stood.
His security chief.
The man who had called him.
The man who reported the kidnapping.
Luca swore.
Dominic pulled out his phone.
Gavin did not answer.
Hannah’s pulse raced.
“What happened here?”
Rosa closed her eyes.
“They came through the lower garage. Gavin opened it. I tried to take the girls through the safe room.”
“Where is he now?”
“He left with them.”
Dominic turned toward the door.
Hannah caught him.
“Wait.”
He looked ready to tear through concrete.
“Think.”
“They have my children.”
“Exactly. Think.”
Dominic breathed once.
Twice.
Hannah pointed toward the nursery.
“Why take all three alive?”
“Leverage.”
“Against what?”
Dominic looked at her.
“The businesses.”
Rosa whispered, “Evelyn knew.”
They turned.
“She found accounts. Money Julian was moving through the shipping companies.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“How much?”
“Enough to start a war.”
Hannah remembered the storage unit.
The files.
“Your wife wasn’t just running.”
Rosa shook her head.
“She was collecting proof.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic walked toward a shelf.
He picked up one of the girls’ wooden music boxes.
Evelyn had given it to them.
He turned the key.
A soft melody began.
Hannah recognized it.
“Bluebird.”
Dominic looked at her.
“My father used to hum that.”
Rosa stared.
“So did Evelyn.”
Hannah opened the music box.
Nothing.
She turned it over.
A tiny screw sat in the center.
Dominic removed it.
The bottom panel dropped.
Inside was a memory card.
Luca inserted it into a laptop.
One video file.
Eleven months old.
They played it.
Evelyn appeared on screen.
Alive.
Nervous.
“If you’re seeing this, Julian moved before I could.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Dominic, he isn’t trying to steal money.”
She swallowed.
“He’s trying to take the entire Vale organization.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
Evelyn continued.
“He has records tying you personally to crimes you didn’t order. If you die or disappear, he takes control.”
Hannah looked at Dominic.
Evelyn’s final words were quieter.
“And if he can’t control you…”
She glanced toward the nursery.
“…he’ll control you through our daughters.”
The video ended.
A new file appeared automatically.
Live video.
Three little girls sat on a concrete floor.
Lily.
Grace.
Emma.
Julian walked into frame.
He smiled.
“Hello, Dominic.”
Dominic stepped closer to the screen.
Julian held up a document.
“By sunrise, you sign everything over to me.”
He touched Grace’s hair.
Dominic’s hand curled into a fist.
“Or?”
May you like
Julian smiled directly into the camera.
“By sunrise, you’ll only need one little coffin.”
