Chapter 2 - DADDY’S LITTLE GOLD CLOCKGabriel Moretti’s car was found at 1:36 in the morning.
Empty.
The black Bentley sat beside a service road four miles from the estate with the driver’s door unlocked and the keys missing.
There was no blood.
No sign of a struggle.
No Gabriel.
Dominic stood beneath freezing rain while security men searched the woods.
Victor approached with an umbrella.
Dominic ignored it.
“Phone?”
“Inside the car.”
“Wallet?”
“Also inside.”
“Camera?”
“Traffic footage caught him leaving the estate alone.”
“After that?”
“Nothing.”
Dominic looked toward the dark tree line.
Gabriel had spent thirty-seven years making trouble and forty minutes becoming a mystery.
Dominic did not like mysteries.
They were too difficult to threaten.
His phone vibrated.
Sophia.
He answered immediately.
“What happened?”
Her voice was quiet.
“Lily is asleep.”
“That’s good.”
“Ethan is awake.”
Dominic straightened.
“Why?”
“He asked for Lily.”
A strange pressure touched Dominic’s chest.
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes?”
“Did you find your brother?”
Dominic looked at Gabriel’s abandoned Bentley.
“No.”
Silence.
Then Sophia asked, “Do you think he poisoned Ethan?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t like you.”
“What?”
“You usually sound certain even when everyone else is terrified.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“Tonight has been educational.”
Sophia did not laugh.
“Come home.”
Two words.
Nothing romantic.
Nothing intimate.
Yet Dominic realized no one had told him to come home in years.
Not since Elena died.
He looked at Victor.
“Keep searching.”
Then he returned to the estate.
Ethan sat upright in bed beneath a navy blanket.
Sophia was beside him.
Lily slept curled against a pillow on the chaise near the window, guarded by two women Dominic trusted completely.
Ethan looked at his father.
“Did you find Uncle Gabe?”
“No.”
“Is he bad?”
The question landed harder than Dominic expected.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan looked down at his hands.
“Everyone keeps saying I almost died.”
Sophia glanced at Dominic.
He sat on the bed.
“You didn’t.”
“But I almost did.”
“Yes.”
“Because Lily saved me.”
Dominic looked toward the sleeping toddler.
“Yes.”
Ethan’s voice became tiny.
“I was mean to her yesterday.”
Sophia smiled gently.
“When?”
“She kept taking the blue balloons.”
“She’s three.”
“I told her babies weren’t invited to my Lego table.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“A serious diplomatic crisis.”
Ethan did not smile.
“Does she hate me?”
From the chaise came a sleepy voice.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Lily had opened one eye.
Ethan blinked.
“You’re awake?”
“No.”
Sophia covered her mouth to hide a laugh.
Lily closed her eye again.
Ethan finally smiled.
The tension in the room loosened.
For ten minutes they almost looked like an ordinary family.
Then Lily stirred again.
“Mommy?”
Sophia went to her.
“Right here.”
“Daddy’s clock.”
Sophia froze.
Lily pointed vaguely toward the hall.
“Bad man had it.”
Dominic moved closer.
“Lily, can you tell me what the man looked like?”
Sophia gave him a warning look.
“She’s exhausted.”
“One question.”
Lily looked at Dominic.
“Big.”
“That describes everyone to her,” Sophia murmured.
Dominic ignored the comment.
“Hair?”
“Dark.”
Half the Moretti family.
“Did you see his face?”
Lily nodded.
“Was it Uncle Gabriel?”
Sophia immediately looked at Dominic.
He regretted asking so directly.
Lily frowned.
“No.”
Dominic’s chest tightened.
“Not Gabriel?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
Lily sat up.
“Uncle Gabe has scratchy face.”
Gabriel wore a short beard.
The man in the refrigerator room apparently did not.
Sophia whispered, “Then the red thread could have been planted.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Maybe.”
Lily touched Sophia’s wrist.
“Daddy clock was shiny.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“Baby, Daddy’s watch disappeared a long time ago.”
“No.”
Lily shook her head stubbornly.
“I saw it.”
“When?”
“Cake.”
“No. Before tonight.”
Lily rubbed her nose.
Sophia’s expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
Lily pointed downstairs.
“Man had it before.”
Dominic crouched.
“Here?”
Lily nodded.
Sophia went pale.
“When?”
The toddler struggled.
Three-year-olds did not understand weeks and months.
She pointed toward the window.
“When snow wasn’t here.”
Summer.
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“Where did you see him?”
Lily whispered, “Mommy office.”
Sophia looked confused.
“I don’t have an office.”
Lily pointed toward her.
“Cleaning room.”
The housekeeping supply office.
Dominic stood.
“Take me there.”
Sophia stared.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
They left Ethan with Dr. Harris and the protection officers.
The housekeeping office was located behind the laundry corridor.
Sophia unlocked it.
The room contained schedules, cleaning inventories, spare keys, staff notices, and personal lockers.
Lily pointed toward the far side.
“Daddy clock man.”
Dominic scanned the room.
“When was he here?”
Lily shrugged.
Sophia walked toward her desk.
Then stopped.
One drawer was slightly open.
She stared.
“I always lock that.”
Dominic pulled on gloves before touching it.
Inside were ordinary papers.
Payroll forms.
A photograph of Daniel.
Insurance documents.
A small cloth pouch.
Sophia grabbed the pouch.
Empty.
Her breath caught.
“What was in it?”
“Daniel’s wedding ring.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I kept it here because Lily kept trying to play with it at home.”
“When did you last see it?”
“Last week.”
Dominic called Victor.
“Search every employee leaving the property. Nobody exits without secondary inspection.”
Sophia turned.
“You think the same person stole his ring?”
“I think somebody has been searching your belongings.”
“For what?”
“That is what Daniel died knowing.”
Sophia sank into the desk chair.
Dominic noticed another framed photograph.
Daniel stood on a beach beside Sophia.
His left hand held her waist.
The gold watch was clearly visible.
Dominic picked up the frame.
“You said his grandfather gave him this?”
“Yes.”
“Was it valuable?”
“Emotionally.”
“Financially?”
“Maybe two thousand dollars.”
“Not enough to kill for.”
Sophia gave him a hard look.
“Thank you for clarifying.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“I know.”
Dominic studied the watch.
Round face.
Thin gold band.
Tiny compass emblem.
Something clicked.
“Wait.”
He zoomed in using his phone.
“What?”
“The compass.”
“What about it?”
“I’ve seen it.”
Sophia stood.
“Where?”
Dominic searched his memory.
A charity dinner.
Years earlier.
Daniel’s funeral period.
Someone had extended a hand across a table.
A flash of gold beneath a cuff.
He could almost see it.
Then his phone buzzed.
Victor.
“We found Gabriel.”
Dominic answered.
“Where?”
“Not Gabriel himself.”
Victor corrected quickly.
“We found footage.”
“Send it.”
A video arrived.
It showed Gabriel entering a twenty-four-hour gas station less than five miles from where his Bentley was discovered.
Timestamp: 12:58 a.m.
Gabriel walked to the counter.
He was alone.
He bought bottled water.
Then another man entered.
Gabriel turned.
The two spoke.
The camera angle did not show the second man’s face.
But it showed his hand when he placed something on the counter.
A phone.
Gold flashed at his wrist.
Sophia grabbed Dominic’s arm.
“Oh my God.”
Dominic froze the video.
Enlarged it.
The image pixelated, but the shape remained unmistakable.
Small round face.
Thin gold band.
Blue mark underneath.
Daniel’s watch.
Sophia whispered, “That’s him.”
Dominic stared at the stranger.
Then at Gabriel.
The two men left together.
Not fighting.
Not threatening one another.
Together.
Sophia’s voice hardened.
“Your brother knows him.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Then Gabriel knows who killed Daniel.”
“Maybe.”
“And he knows who tried to kill Ethan.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Sophia stepped closer.
“You don’t get to protect your brother from me.”
“I won’t.”
“Promise.”
Dominic’s eyes met hers.
“I don’t make promises casually.”
“Good.”
She pointed toward the screen.
“Make this one.”
Dominic looked at Gabriel walking beside the man wearing a dead man’s watch.
Then he said, “Whoever did this, whatever name he has, whatever blood he shares with me, I will not hide him from you.”
Sophia nodded.
“Good.”
Victor called again.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“We pulled audio from the gas station.”
“Play it.”
Static filled the phone.
Then Gabriel’s voice.
Distorted but recognizable.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
The stranger answered.
“I had no choice.”
Gabriel said, “The girl saw you.”
Sophia’s hand flew to her mouth.
The stranger replied.
“She’s three.”
Gabriel’s answer changed everything.
“She remembers the watch.”
Silence.
Then the stranger said something quieter.
Victor enhanced it.
Four words became clear.
“Then take care of her.”
Dominic’s face emptied.
Sophia reached for Lily.
And somewhere deep inside the Moretti estate, an alarm began screaming.
Not the fire alarm.
The residential breach alarm.
May you like
Someone had just opened a door on the staff wing.
The hallway leading directly toward Sophia Carter’s bedroom.
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