Chapter 5 - THE BOY THEY TOOK
Isla ran.
Marco’s bedroom was empty.
The balcony door stood open.
Curtains whipped in the freezing wind.
“Marco!”
Dominic reached the room seconds later.
A guard lay unconscious near the service corridor.
On Marco’s bed sat his phone.
Beside it was a serpent ring.
Isla made a sound Dominic would remember for the rest of his life.
Not a scream.
Something smaller.
Broken.
He caught her before her knees hit the floor.
“Find him,” she whispered.
“I will.”
“Find my brother.”
Dominic held her face between his hands.
“Listen to me. I will bring Marco home.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone went silent.
Dominic answered.
“Elias.”
A laugh came through the speaker.
“Still quick, brother.”
Isla lunged toward the phone.
“Where is Marco?”
Elias paused.
“So that’s her.”
Dominic’s expression became lethal.
“If you hurt him—”
“You’ll what? Kill me? You already did that once.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“You hoped I was.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Midnight. Ashford Pier Nine. Come alone.”
The line disconnected.
Isla grabbed Dominic’s arm.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“He’s my brother.”
“And Elias wants you emotional.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
The words stopped her.
Dominic turned to Carter.
“Trace it.”
“Already trying.”
“No police,” Isla said.
Dominic looked at her.
She hated herself for saying it.
But whoever Elias was, he had infiltrated a hospital, manipulated financial records, breached Dominic’s home, and taken Marco from a secured room.
A conventional response might get Marco killed.
For six hours, Dominic’s organization searched Chicago.
At 10:40, Carter found something.
A traffic camera had captured the kidnappers’ van entering an abandoned freight yard south of the river.
Dominic studied the map.
“Pier Nine is a decoy.”
Isla was already putting on her coat.
“You’re not coming.”
She faced him.
“Try stopping me.”
Dominic almost argued.
Then he handed her a protective vest.
The freight yard looked abandoned.
It wasn’t.
Carter’s team entered from the south.
Dominic and Isla approached an office building.
“Stay behind me.”
“Marco first.”
“Always.”
Inside, they found two unconscious guards.
Carter had gotten there first.
Then Isla heard crying.
“Marco!”
She ran.
Dominic caught her before she crossed an open doorway.
A bullet struck the wall.
He returned fire toward the ceiling, forcing the shooter back.
Carter’s men moved.
Seconds later, the corridor cleared.
Isla found Marco tied to a chair.
He was frightened but unharmed.
She dropped to her knees.
“Isla.”
“I’ve got you.”
She cut the restraints.
Dominic appeared in the doorway.
Marco looked at him.
“I knew you’d come.”
Something cracked behind Dominic’s eyes.
He crouched.
“You did?”
“You promised my sister.”
Dominic nodded.
“I did.”
Then applause echoed from a speaker overhead.
Elias.
“Well done.”
Dominic looked upward.
“You’re hiding.”
“I’m surviving. You taught me.”
“You took a child.”
“I needed to know whether she mattered.”
Dominic went still.
Elias laughed.
“Now I know.”
Isla understood.
This had never been about Marco.
It was a test.
She had become leverage.
Dominic had feared exactly this.
“You think loving people makes him weak,” Isla called.
Silence.
Then Elias answered.
“Our father proved it.”
“No. Your father taught you both to confuse loneliness with strength.”
Dominic looked at her.
Elias’s voice hardened.
“You know nothing about us.”
“I know Dominic sleeps with the lights on because he listened to his mother die. I know you disappeared for fourteen years instead of coming home. I know both of you are still letting a dead man decide who you become.”
Silence filled the warehouse.
Then a timer began beeping.
Carter swore.
“Bomb.”
Dominic grabbed Marco.
“Move!”
They ran.
Carter shouted directions.
Thirty seconds.
Twenty.
Dominic pushed Isla and Marco through an exit.
Ten.
The explosion threw them onto the pavement.
For several seconds, Isla heard nothing.
Then sound returned.
Sirens.
Fire.
Marco coughing.
“Dominic?”
No answer.
She turned.
Dominic lay several feet away.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“No.”
She crawled to him.
“Dominic!”
His eyes opened weakly.
“Marco?”
“Safe.”
“Good.”
“Don’t you dare.”
She pressed both hands over the wound.
His blood covered her fingers.
Carter called for the medical kit.
Dominic looked at Isla.
“Six weeks isn’t over.”
Tears blurred her vision.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“After six weeks.”
“What?”
“Dinner.”
She laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
His eyes closed.
“Dominic!”
The ambulance arrived eleven minutes later.
At St. Mercy, Isla stood outside surgery wearing Dominic’s blood.
Marco slept against Carter’s shoulder.
Three hours passed.
Finally, the surgeon emerged.
“He’s alive.”
Isla covered her face.
The surgeon continued.
“But whoever did this knew exactly where Mr. Ashford’s previous injuries were.”
Carter’s expression darkened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means whoever planned tonight had access to his surgical records.”
Isla slowly lowered her hands.
Only a handful of people had seen those records.
She had.
The surgical team had.
And Dominic’s newly hired private physician had.
Dr. Nathan Cole.
Isla remembered the serpent ring on Patterson’s hand.
Then she remembered something she had dismissed days earlier.
Dr. Cole always wore gloves.
Even outside surgery.
“Carter.”
May you like
He looked up.
“I know who helped Elias get into the hospital.”
