Chapter 5 - The Sister Who Never Came Home
Mia was sitting upright when Dominic entered the hospital room.
A clear bag of fluids hung beside her.
Her wrists were bandaged.
Harper slept against her hip, one hand tangled in the blanket as though she feared her mother might vanish if she let go.
Dominic stopped inside the doorway.
“How is she?”
Mia glanced down at her daughter.
“Exhausted.”
“I meant you.”
A faint smile passed across her face.
“I know.”
Dominic pulled up a chair.
For several moments, neither spoke.
The monitor beside the bed filled the silence with steady electronic beeps.
Finally, Mia said, “They told me someone tried to get into my room.”
Dominic nodded.
“Security stopped him.”
“Was it Nathan?”
“No.”
“Claire?”
“No.”
Mia closed her eyes.
“Then there's someone else.”
Dominic took Elena's letter from his coat.
“Your sister worked for my wife.”
Mia looked at the envelope.
“You found it.”
“You knew it existed?”
“I knew Elena wrote something before she died.”
“Did Rebecca help her?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't either of you tell me?”
Mia stared toward the window.
“Because Rebecca didn't know whether you were part of it.”
The answer hurt more than Dominic expected.
“Part of what?”
“The money.”
He waited.
“Rebecca said Elena discovered somebody was taking money from your companies and moving it through construction businesses.”
“The Bennetts.”
Mia looked at him sharply.
“You know.”
“I know some of it.”
Mia drew in a slow breath.
“Rebecca thought Nathan was involved.”
“And you?”
“I thought my sister was frightened.”
Dominic looked at the silver swallow hanging against Mia's hospital gown.
“Tell me what happened to her.”
Mia touched the pendant.
“Seven years ago, Rebecca called me from a gas station outside Albany.”
“She sounded terrified.”
“She said Elena was dead, and she thought she was next.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“What happened after that?”
“She came to my apartment that night.”
Mia swallowed.
“She gave me the necklace and told me to keep it hidden.”
“Why?”
“She said it was the only thing Elena had managed to get out of the house.”
Dominic studied the pendant.
“There's something inside it?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Rebecca tell you?”
“No.”
“She made me promise not to ask questions.”
Mia's voice weakened.
“The next morning, she was gone.”
“Did you report her missing?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“The police said she was an adult who had left voluntarily.”
“Did you believe that?”
“Not for one second.”
Mia looked directly at him.
“So I waited.”
“For what?”
“For someone to make a mistake.”
Dominic was silent.
“You came to work for me because of Rebecca.”
Mia nodded.
“I needed to know what happened.”
“You spent three years in my house.”
“Yes.”
“Raising your daughter there.”
“Yes.”
“Knowing you might be living with the people who made your sister disappear.”
Tears slipped down Mia's cheeks.
“I didn't have anyone else who could help me.”
Dominic lowered his eyes.
He had considered himself observant.
He could identify a dishonest business partner after five minutes at a table.
He could detect an ambush before a rival crew made its first move.
Yet a woman working beneath his roof had spent three years searching for answers he had never thought to ask about.
“Why tell me now?”
Mia touched Harper's hair.
“Because they went after her.”
Dominic understood.
As long as Mia was the only person at risk, she had kept searching quietly.
But the moment Harper became part of the danger, secrecy was no longer an option.
“What did you discover?”
Mia looked toward the door.
“Three nights ago, Claire asked me to help her choose wine for a private dinner.”
“She took me downstairs.”
“Then she showed me a photograph.”
“Of Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
Mia's voice broke.
“My sister was alive.”
Dominic froze.
“How recent was it?”
“I could tell she'd gotten older.”
“Where was she?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Claire say?”
Mia nodded slowly.
“She said Rebecca had been kept somewhere for seven years.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“What did Claire want from you?”
“The necklace.”
Mia lifted the silver swallow from her chest.
“She said Rebecca would die unless I gave it to her.”
Dominic stared at the pendant.
“Why didn't she take it?”
“Because I told her it was a replica.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
Mia managed a trembling breath.
“Rebecca warned me never to remove it for anyone.”
Dominic reached out.
“May I?”
Mia hesitated.
Then she slipped the chain over her head.
He examined the tiny bird.
There was a seam along the lower edge.
Almost invisible.
Inside the folded wing, he found a miniature mechanical latch.
He pressed it.
The bird opened.
A narrow compartment held a small piece of dark material wrapped in protective film.
Dominic took it out carefully.
A memory card.
Mia stared.
“That's what they wanted?”
“Maybe.”
Dominic looked toward the sleeping child.
Then back at Mia.
“Your sister has been missing for seven years.”
Mia nodded.
“And Claire claims she's alive.”
Another nod.
Dominic closed the pendant.
“Then finding Rebecca becomes the first thing we do.”
Mia's expression crumpled.
“Why would you help me?”
He thought of Elena's letter.
Of Nathan's false concern.
Of Harper's bare feet on freezing marble.
“Because your sister may have been trying to save my wife.”
His phone vibrated.
Daniel had sent a message.
We found the Northpoint employee who photographed Harper.
Dominic opened the attached image.
The man's name was Aaron Pike.
His employment record listed an emergency contact.
Rebecca Carter.
May you like
Under relationship, someone had written a single word.
Wife.
