Chapter 5 - The Little GirlDominic wanted me to leave Chicago.
I refused.
"You have no reason to stay."
"I have every reason."
"This isn't your fight."
"The baby is my fight."
He stared at me.
Then he understood.
Adrian wasn't the only child Marco had taken.
There was my memory of Leo.
There was Sofia.
There was a missing little girl.
And there was a network willing to kill anyone who got close.
We traced the photograph.
The little girl was being held outside Chicago.
A farmhouse.
Remote.
Guarded.
Dominic planned the rescue.
I stayed behind.
Or at least that was the plan.
Then Adrian began crying.
He had been unusually restless all day.
I checked his temperature.
Normal.
His breathing.
Normal.
Then I noticed something on his blanket.
A tiny embroidered symbol.
A black bird.
I had seen it before.
On Marco's documents.
"Dominic."
He turned.
"What?"
"This symbol."
His expression changed.
"Where did you see it?"
"In the farmhouse photograph."
He took the blanket.
"Someone marked him."
"Maybe."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Dominic called his doctor.
They examined Adrian.
Then they found something disturbing.
A tiny tracking device had been sewn into the lining of the blanket.
Dominic went silent.
Someone knew where the baby was.
That meant Marco didn't need to find us.
He already could.
Dominic immediately changed locations.
We moved to a secure house.
That night, he finally told me everything.
Sofia had discovered financial crimes inside the Moretti organization.
She had wanted Dominic to leave.
She planned to take the children away.
Then she died.
Dominic had believed her death was tragic.
Now he realized it may have been murder.
"What did Sofia know?"
"Enough to get killed."
"About Marco?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't she tell you?"
"She tried."
He handed me a letter.
Sofia's handwriting.
The letter had never reached him.
It said:
Dominic, if something happens to me, trust no one who tells you the babies were safe.
I looked at him.
"The plural."
He nodded.
"I never saw this."
Someone had intercepted it.
Then the little girl appeared on a security camera.
She was standing beside a woman.
The woman looked familiar.
I recognized her immediately.
The nurse who had treated Adrian at the hospital.
Dominic saw my expression.
"What?"
"That's the nurse who helped with Adrian."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
He called his security team.
The nurse disappeared before they arrived.
But she left something behind.
A photograph.
Sofia.
Holding both babies.
The picture was dated three weeks before Sofia died.
Dominic stared at it.
Tears filled his eyes.
"I had twins."
I touched his shoulder.
"You still do."
He looked at me.
For a moment, neither of us said anything.
Then the little girl's voice came through a hidden recording.
"Mommy said Daddy would come."
Dominic broke.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
He simply covered his face.
I had never seen a powerful man look so helpless.
I sat beside him.
"We're bringing her home."
He looked at me.
"You promise?"
I remembered the promise I had made to Leo.
This time, I would keep it.
"I promise."
The next morning, we drove toward the farmhouse.
May you like
And this time, Dominic wasn't going to negotiate.
He was going to bring his daughter home.
Related Stories
