Chapter 7 - NO ONE LEAVES CRAY HOUSE
Dominic returned to his mansion by choice.
Not because it was safe.
Because he wanted Victor to believe he was trapped.
Elena and Marcus stayed in a hidden room beneath the house.
Gabriel and Claire gathered evidence.
Dominic summoned every senior member of his organization.
He stood at the head of the table.
For three years, he had communicated through written notes.
Tonight, he spoke.
“Which one of you knew?”
No one answered.
Dominic smiled.
“Good.”
He placed the black device on the table.
“You have thirty seconds.”
One man reached for his gun.
Dominic shot the weapon from his hand.
Nobody moved.
Then Victor entered.
Slow applause.
“You always did have a flair for theater.”
Dominic looked at him.
“I can hear you now.”
Victor smiled.
“I know.”
Dominic froze.
Victor continued.
“The device wasn't the only way I monitored you.”
A screen behind him turned on.
Security footage appeared.
Elena.
Marcus.
The safehouse.
The hospital.
Everything.
Victor had been watching them.
Then he revealed the real plan.
The organization had been laundering money through legitimate companies for years.
Victor had created a second network using Dominic's name.
If Dominic died, the evidence would implicate him.
If Dominic survived, Victor could use the evidence to blackmail him.
Either way, Victor won.
Dominic listened.
Then laughed.
Victor looked confused.
“You think this is funny?”
“No.”
Dominic pointed toward the screen.
“You made one mistake.”
“What?”
“You showed me the footage.”
Victor frowned.
Dominic smiled.
“Because now I know exactly which cameras you control.”
The lights went out.
Dominic had planned for this.
The mansion transformed into chaos.
Doors locked.
Emergency shutters dropped.
Victor's men found themselves trapped inside individual sections of the house.
But Victor had one final weapon.
He activated the secondary protocol.
Marcus screamed from below.
I held him tightly.
A tone began inside the walls.
High-pitched.
Almost impossible to hear.
Marcus covered his ears.
“Make it stop!”
Dominic heard it too.
He rushed toward us.
“Marcus!”
My son pointed toward the ceiling.
“The sound is coming from there.”
Dominic realized what was happening.
The mansion itself contained transmitters.
Victor had installed them years earlier.
Dominic tore open a wall panel.
Inside was another device.
Then another.
Then another.
A network.
Not designed to spy on Dominic.
Designed to disable him if he ever regained his hearing.
Dominic ripped one loose.
The tone stopped.
Then Marcus pointed toward another wall.
“There's one more.”
Dominic looked.
It was behind a portrait of himself.
He removed it.
Behind the portrait was a small metal box.
Inside was a photograph.
Dominic's father.
Victor.
Gabriel.
And a woman.
Dominic stared at her.
“My mother.”
Gabriel's face changed.
“She wasn't supposed to be there.”
Dominic turned the photograph over.
Written on the back were four words.
THE FIRST SUBJECT WAS HER.
Dominic looked at Gabriel.
“What does that mean?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
Because the mansion's front doors opened.
A woman walked inside.
She was older.
Elegant.
Calm.
Alive.
Dominic stared at her.
“Mother?”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, Dominic.”
Elena whispered.
“She's alive.”
Dominic's mother looked directly at Marcus.
May you like
Then she said something that froze everyone.
“That boy should never have been born.”
