Chapter 6 - THE CHAPEL WHERE THE TRUTH WAS BURIED
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Dominic wanted to storm through the gates and put a bullet between Vincent's eyes.
Instead, he watched the man walk back to his sedan.
The vehicle disappeared into the rain before Dominic's security team could reach the road.
“He wants us angry,” Marcus said from the doorway, his shoulder bandaged. “He wants you to make a mistake.”
Dominic turned.
“You should be in a hospital.”
“I've had worse.”
“You were shot in my house.”
“And I intend to find out who arranged it.”
Marcus handed him a fresh copy of the photograph. The original had been taken from the envelope, but the security system had captured the image before the theft.
“Isabella's face is visible,” Marcus said. “The photograph looks recent. I had it analyzed. There's a hospital logo reflected in the window behind her.”
Dominic studied it.
“Find the hospital.”
“Already working on it.”
Dominic glanced toward the stairs.
Emma was with Sophie, but he could still hear the child's frightened voice in his memory.
Mommy said she'd come back when the bad man stopped looking for her.
He had spent three years believing Isabella was dead.
If she was alive, he needed answers. But he needed Emma safe more.
“I'm going to the chapel,” he said.
Marcus shook his head.
“Not alone.”
“Vincent expects me to bring the bear.”
“Then give him something else.”
Dominic looked at him.
Marcus opened a small evidence pouch.
Inside was an identical brown teddy bear, purchased from a toy shop and carefully worn to resemble Emma's.
“Let him believe he has what he wants.”
Dominic gave a grim nod.
They left the estate shortly before midnight, taking two armored vehicles and a small team of trusted men. Sophie remained with Emma, while the local police secured the mansion.
The old chapel stood outside the city, surrounded by overgrown trees and a rusted iron fence. Dominic remembered attending a funeral there when he was a boy. His father had forbidden him from returning afterward.
The chapel doors stood open.
Inside, the air smelled of damp wood and candle wax.
Dominic entered with the decoy bear under his arm.
“Vincent!”
His voice echoed through the empty building.
A floorboard creaked behind the altar.
He moved toward it and found a narrow staircase leading beneath the chapel.
At the bottom was a concrete room containing filing cabinets, a metal desk, and a locked safe.
On the wall hung a photograph of Isabella.
Not from her wedding.
Not from her funeral.
A recent photograph.
Dominic stepped closer.
Someone had written a message beneath it.
She asked for you every day.
His throat tightened.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Vincent's voice filled the room.
“Put the bear on the desk.”
Dominic placed it down.
“Where is Isabella?”
“Patience.”
“You've had three years.”
“And you've had three years to ask why your wife was afraid of you.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“What did you say?”
Vincent laughed softly.
“You always believed you were protecting her. You never noticed how much she feared what your family had become.”
“Where is she?”
“Open the safe.”
Dominic examined the lock.
“Give me the combination.”
“Your father's birthday.”
Dominic entered the date.
The safe clicked open.
Inside were several documents, a silver necklace, and a small digital recorder.
He picked up the necklace.
It had belonged to Isabella.
His fingers tightened around it.
Vincent's voice returned.
“She left that here the night she disappeared.”
Dominic reached for the recorder.
“Play it.”
The device contained a single file.
He pressed the button.
Isabella's voice filled the room.
“Dominic, if you're hearing this, Vincent has probably convinced you that I'm dead. I need you to understand something. I didn't leave because I stopped loving you.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“I left because someone close to us had made a deal that put Emma's life in danger. I thought disappearing would protect her.”
A pause.
Then Isabella continued.
“I wanted to tell you everything, but I discovered that your security chief was reporting our movements to Vincent. Every time I tried to reach you, someone knew.”
Dominic felt his blood run cold.
His longtime security chief, Arthur Cole, had served the family for fifteen years.
Isabella's voice trembled.
“If I come home, they will use me to control you. If I remain hidden, they will eventually come for Emma. I don't know which choice is worse.”
The recording ended.
Dominic stood motionless.
Then he heard footsteps on the stairs.
Marcus appeared at the doorway, weapon raised.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“Arthur is missing.”
Dominic stared at him.
Marcus continued.
“The guards found his office empty. His safe has been opened. And the security logs show that someone used his credentials to disable the north-gate cameras.”
Dominic slowly lowered the recorder.
Arthur had been the one who claimed the unknown vehicle had no license plate.
Arthur had been responsible for securing Emma's bedroom.
Arthur had access to every camera in the mansion.
“Find him,” Dominic said.
Marcus nodded.
A phone rang inside the safe.
Dominic answered.
A man's voice spoke immediately.
“Put the gun down, Dominic.”
Dominic looked at Marcus.
The voice belonged to Arthur.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere your men won't find me.”
“What did you do to Isabella?”
“I kept her alive.”
Dominic's grip tightened around the phone.
“You helped Vincent?”
“I did what your father should have done years ago.”
“What does that mean?”
Arthur paused.
“Your father didn't die of natural causes, Dominic. And Isabella knows who killed him.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Before he could respond, a second voice came over the line.
A woman's voice.
Weak.
Familiar.
“Dominic?”
He gripped the phone with both hands.
“Isabella?”
“I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I'm so sorry.”
Then a loud crash sounded through the phone.
A man shouted.
The call disconnected.
Marcus immediately began tracing the signal.
Dominic stood in the underground chapel, staring at the dead screen.
For three years, he had mourned his wife.
Now he knew she was alive.
May you like
And someone had just found her before he could.
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