Chapter 3 - THE APARTMENT WITH THE UNLOCKED DOOR
Dominic had built his fortune on recognizing threats before they reached his door.
He knew when a rival was bluffing, when a business partner was lying, and when a man across a negotiation table had already decided to betray him.
But he had never learned how to recognize danger when it wore the face of the woman he planned to marry.
“Who has been waiting?” he demanded.
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Try again.”
“I heard things. That's all.”
Dominic's security chief, Marcus Reed, appeared beside him. Marcus had served the Moretti family for fifteen years, and his expression was grim.
“Sir, the car is ready. We should leave through the private entrance.”
Dominic lifted Lily into his arms.
“Then we're leaving.”
Vanessa stepped into his path.
“If you walk out of here with that child, don't expect me to explain your behavior to the board tomorrow.”
“Tell them whatever you like.”
“Your family will hear about this.”
“Good. Perhaps someone will finally tell me the truth.”
He walked past her.
Lily rested her head against his shoulder. She weighed almost nothing.
That frightened him more than Vanessa's threats.
During the drive to Queens, Lily watched the city lights pass through the tinted window.
“Are you really Mr. Grumpy?” she asked.
Dominic glanced at her.
“I'm afraid so.”
“Mommy said you used to laugh a lot.”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
He looked out the window.
“Someone told me the person I loved most was gone.”
Lily thought about that.
“Mommy says people can be gone without being dead.”
Dominic turned toward her.
“Did she tell you that?”
“Yes. She says sometimes people hide because they're scared. And sometimes they hide because somebody makes them.”
He had no answer.
When they reached the apartment building, Marcus checked the entrance before Dominic carried Lily upstairs. The hallway smelled of damp plaster and old cooking oil. One ceiling light flickered above a row of battered doors.
Lily pointed toward the last apartment.
“That's ours.”
The door stood open.
Dominic's entire body went rigid.
Marcus drew his weapon and motioned for them to stay behind him. He entered first, sweeping the tiny living room and kitchenette.
“Clear.”
But the apartment had already been searched.
Drawers hung open. Clothes littered the floor. A mattress had been dragged away from the wall. An empty medicine bottle lay broken beneath the table.
“Mommy?” Lily called.
No answer.
She ran into the bedroom.
Dominic followed, his pulse hammering.
A woman's scarf lay on the floor beside a small bloodstain.
Lily picked it up.
“That's Mommy's.”
Her voice broke.
“She wouldn't leave without me.”
Dominic knelt beside her.
“Lily, listen to me. We're going to find her.”
“She said not to trust the lady with the gold necklace.”
Marcus looked sharply at Dominic.
“Sir.”
He held up a small object he'd found beneath the overturned mattress: a black plastic security tag, the kind used by private medical transport companies.
Dominic examined the number stamped on it.
“Run this through our contacts.”
Marcus nodded and stepped into the hallway to make the call.
Dominic searched the room himself. Behind a loose kitchen cabinet, he found a brown envelope wrapped in plastic. Inside were two hospital bills, an old prescription, and a folded letter addressed to him.
The handwriting was Isabella's.
His fingers went numb.
He unfolded it.
Dominic,
If Lily has found you, then I have failed to keep her far enough from the people who want her silent. I am sorry. I wanted to come back to you. I wanted our daughter to know her father.
But I cannot ask you to believe me without showing you what happened.
Find the blue music box. The song you heard tonight is only half of it.
If you still remember how we used to finish the melody together, you'll know where to look.
Please, don't trust Vanessa.
Dominic read the last line twice.
Then he noticed something else.
The letter was dated three days ago.
Isabella had known Lily might reach him.
She had planned for this moment.
“Sir,” Marcus called from the hallway. “I found something.”
He held up his phone.
“The security tag belongs to a private transport company contracted by a medical facility in Brooklyn. They reported picking up a woman matching Isabella's description two hours ago.”
“Where did they take her?”
Marcus hesitated.
“The transport was unauthorized. The driver has disappeared.”
Dominic crushed the letter in his fist.
“Find him.”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“There's more. The facility's records show that somebody paid to have Isabella's medical file sealed under a different name.”
“Whose name?”
Marcus looked at the little girl, then back at Dominic.
“Vanessa Sterling.”
A sound escaped Lily's throat.
“Mr. Grumpy?”
Dominic turned.
She was staring at the photograph in his hand.
“Mommy said if the bad lady found us, she'd take me too.”
Dominic pulled her into his arms.
Over the child's shoulder, he looked at the ruined apartment and made a promise he had no intention of breaking.
No one would take Lily.
No one would bury Isabella a second time.
And whoever had spent seven years turning his life into a lie was about to discover what happened when Dominic Moretti stopped playing by the rules.
His phone rang.
An unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice spoke calmly.
“Mr. Moretti, if you want Isabella alive, bring the photograph to Pier Forty-Two.”
Dominic tightened his grip on Lily.
“Who is this?”
The man laughed softly.
May you like
“Someone who knows why your daughter was supposed to die before she was born.”
The line went dead.
