Chapter 7 - The Woman in the Chapel
Dominic threw himself behind a stone pillar as the bullet struck the wall.
Marcus's security team stormed the hallway from the rear entrance. The gunman fired once more, then ran toward the garden.
Two officers pursued him.
Dominic rushed to Vanessa.
She was on the floor, clutching her shoulder. Blood spread across the sleeve of her dress.
“Vanessa!”
She winced.
“I told you he wouldn't let her talk.”
“Stay with me.”
Dominic pressed a folded cloth against the wound while Marcus called for medical assistance.
Vanessa's eyes searched his face.
“Don't let Anthony take Rose.”
“He won't.”
“You can't promise that.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“I can promise I'll do everything in my power to protect her.”
She gave a small, broken laugh.
“You sound like Isabella.”
The ambulance arrived within minutes. The wound was serious but not immediately life-threatening. Before Vanessa was taken away, she caught Dominic's hand.
“There's another place,” she whispered. “An old chapel near the lake. Isabella told me she would go there if she ever escaped.”
“Why didn't you tell me before?”
“Because I thought she was dead.”
Dominic looked toward the door.
“Get some rest. I'll find her.”
The chapel stood on a windswept hill overlooking Lake Michigan. Its stone walls were cracked, and the wooden doors had begun to rot.
Dominic entered alone.
Moonlight spilled through the broken stained-glass windows.
“Isabella?”
A shadow moved near the altar.
A woman stepped forward.
Her hair was shorter than he remembered. Her face was thinner. A faint scar crossed her left temple, and she leaned heavily on a cane.
But when she looked at him, the years between them disappeared.
“Dominic.”
He stopped breathing.
She looked at him as if she were afraid he might vanish.
He crossed the room in three strides and dropped to his knees before her.
“Isabella.”
She touched his face.
“You're real.”
He laughed through his tears.
“So are you.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then he wrapped his arms around her, holding her as if the world might steal her away again.
She buried her face against his shoulder.
“I waited so long.”
“I'm sorry,” he whispered. “I'm so sorry I didn't find you.”
She pulled back.
“You were told I was dead. You couldn't have known.”
“I should have questioned it.”
“Dominic, they controlled everything. The records. The doctors. The people who were supposed to help me. Every time I tried to reach you, someone made sure the message disappeared.”
He held her hands.
“Who?”
“Your father. Vanessa. And someone else.”
“Who?”
Isabella looked toward the altar.
“Your mother.”
Dominic went still.
“Eleanor?”
“She was involved at first. She believed Anthony was protecting the family. When she realized what he had done, she tried to help me escape.”
“What happened to her?”
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“She was killed before she could get me out.”
Dominic's throat tightened.
“Her death was recorded as a stroke.”
“That's what Anthony wanted everyone to believe.”
“Why would my mother help him in the first place?”
“Because she was afraid. Anthony threatened to expose something she had done years earlier. She believed that if she cooperated, no one would be hurt.”
Isabella took a shaky breath.
“Then she saw what happened to our daughter. She couldn't live with it.”
Dominic pressed her hands to his forehead.
“What happened that night at 2:17?”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“I woke up in the hospital after the crash. I couldn't move my left leg. I could barely speak. Your father was standing beside my bed.”
She paused.
“He told me you had died.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What?”
“He said you had been killed in a revenge attack. He showed me a photograph of a burned car and told me your body had been found inside.”
“I was in Chicago that night.”
“I know that now. But I didn't know then. I believed him. I begged him to let me see our baby. He told me she hadn't survived.”
Her voice broke.
“Then I heard a baby crying in the corridor. I knew it was ours.”
Dominic's eyes filled.
“They took her away?”
Isabella nodded.
“Your father told me the child had been transferred to another hospital. I tried to escape, but the medication made me confused and weak. When I finally understood what was happening, they had already falsified my death certificate.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Vanessa was there when they took the baby. She helped move the records. But later, she brought me food and medicine. She told me where Rose was.”
“Why didn't she free you?”
“Because she was afraid of Anthony. She thought he would kill Rose if she helped me escape.”
Dominic looked at the scar on Isabella's temple.
“Who hurt you?”
Isabella touched it.
“Your father.”
The words were quiet, but the hatred beneath them was unmistakable.
“He came to my room after I threatened to expose him. He told me that if I ever contacted you, Rose would die first.”
Dominic felt a cold rage settle in his chest.
“No one will ever touch you or our daughter again.”
Isabella shook her head.
“You don't understand. Anthony isn't the only danger.”
She reached into her coat and pulled out a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph of a man standing beside Anthony at the hospital.
Dominic recognized him.
Dr. Samuel Cross.
But someone had written a name across the back.
JONATHAN MORETTI.
Dominic stared at it.
“Who is Jonathan?”
Isabella looked toward the chapel doors.
“Your father's firstborn son.”
Dominic felt the room tilt.
“I was an only child.”
“That is what Anthony told you.”
“Where is he?”
Isabella's voice dropped.
“He was the one who arranged my transfer. He was the one who sent the package.”
Dominic looked at the photograph again.
“Why would he help us?”
“Because he wants Anthony dead.”
A sound came from outside.
Gravel crunched beneath approaching footsteps.
Isabella seized Dominic's wrist.
“Listen to me. Jonathan doesn't want to save this family. He wants to inherit it.”
The chapel doors opened.
A tall man stepped inside.
He had Dominic's dark eyes and Anthony's sharp features.
He smiled.
May you like
“Hello, little brother.”
Then he raised a gun toward Isabella.
