Chapter 8 - The Deal
Dominic broke the laptop.
One punch.
The screen cracked.
Hannah grabbed his arm.
“That was our only live feed!”
Luca immediately connected another monitor.
“Signal copied.”
Dominic walked away.
His breathing was heavy.
Hannah followed.
“Dominic.”
“Don’t.”
“You cannot go there angry.”
“He threatened my child.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Hannah stopped.
“You’re right.”
He turned.
“I don’t know what it feels like to have a daughter threatened.”
Her voice shook.
“But I know what it feels like to discover you had a sister after someone stole your whole life with her.”
Dominic said nothing.
“So don’t tell me I have nothing at stake.”
His anger softened.
Only slightly.
He looked exhausted.
“What would you do?”
“Make Julian believe he’s winning.”
Dominic stared.
Hannah pointed toward Evelyn’s video.
“He wants control.”
“Yes.”
“He also wants you humiliated.”
“Yes.”
“So give him both.”
Luca looked up.
Hannah continued.
“Sign.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“No.”
“Sign everything.”
“That would hand him companies worth hundreds of millions.”
“Paper can be challenged.”
“My daughters cannot be replaced.”
Dominic stared at her for two seconds.
Then nodded.
“Prepare the documents.”
Luca left.
Hannah sat beside Rosa.
“Did Evelyn ever mention Pier Forty-Seven?”
Rosa’s face changed.
“Yes.”
Dominic turned.
“When?”
“The week before she disappeared.”
“What did she say?”
“She said if everything went wrong, the river would remember.”
Hannah frowned.
“That sounds like a clue.”
Rosa nodded.
“She hid things in phrases.”
Dominic opened a map.
Pier Forty-Seven was abandoned.
But Julian’s livestream background didn’t match it.
Too clean.
No rust.
No river sounds.
Hannah looked at the video again.
“Julian wants us thinking the girls are somewhere else.”
Dominic leaned closer.
Emma shifted on the concrete floor.
Behind her was a wall.
Painted blue.
Hannah’s heart jumped.
“The blue room.”
Rosa whispered, “No.”
“What?”
“Evelyn used to take the girls to an old summer house.”
Dominic stared.
“What summer house?”
“Your mother’s property in Connecticut.”
Dominic went still.
“Julian grew up there.”
Rosa nodded.
“The nursery was blue.”
Dominic looked at Luca.
“Cars.”
Hannah stopped him.
“You can’t storm it.”
“I can.”
“You don’t know where the girls are inside.”
“I know the house.”
“Julian knows you know the house too.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Hannah pointed to Emma.
“Look at her hand.”
The toddler was tapping the floor.
Three taps.
Pause.
Two taps.
Pause.
Three taps.
Rosa covered her mouth.
“She’s copying something.”
Hannah increased the volume.
A faint mechanical sound repeated.
Three.
Two.
Three.
Dominic recognized it.
“The old freight elevator.”
“At the summer house?”
“No.”
He stared at the screen.
“At Pier Forty-Seven.”
Hannah felt a chill.
“So Evelyn’s clue was right.”
Julian had hidden the children exactly where she warned them to look.
Dominic checked his watch.
3:56 a.m.
Julian wanted the papers by sunrise.
They had less than three hours.
Then Hannah’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
No voice.
Only breathing.
“Hannah?”
A weak whisper finally came through.
“Hannah…”
Her legs nearly collapsed.
She knew the voice now.
“Evelyn?”
Crying.
Then her sister whispered:
“Don’t go to the pier.”
A man shouted in the background.
Evelyn gasped.
May you like
“They’re waiting for Dominic.”
The call cut off.
