Chapter 4 - The Night Elena Vanished
“VANESSA HAD A GUN IN MY WIFE'S BEDROOM. AND EVERYONE WHO KNEW ABOUT IT LET ME MARRY HER.”
Dominic's words hung in Rosa Alvarez's kitchen.
The elderly housekeeper stared at the table.
“Mr. Dominic, I didn't know about the gun.”
He replayed the recording.
Rosa listened, trembling.
When Antonio's voice shouted Vanessa's name, she crossed herself.
“I heard something that night,” she whispered.
Dominic stopped the audio.
“What?”
“A loud crash. I thought someone dropped a vase.”
“Where?”
“Upstairs.”
“Why didn't you investigate?”
“Your father told everyone to stay in their rooms.”
Dominic looked at Caleb.
“Get the original security records from that night.”
Caleb nodded.
“I'll see what's left.”
Dominic turned back to Rosa.
“Did Elena leave the house that night?”
“No. She was still there the following morning.”
“You saw her?”
Rosa nodded.
“She came downstairs before sunrise. She was carrying a small travel bag.”
“Was she hurt?”
“She had a bruise on her wrist.”
Dominic gripped the edge of the table.
“What did she say?”
“She hugged me and told me to take care of Sophie.”
Rosa's eyes filled.
“She said she was going somewhere she could finally make things right.”
Dominic swallowed.
“Did she say where?”
“No.”
“Did she leave alone?”
Rosa hesitated.
“I saw a car waiting beyond the gate.”
“Who was driving?”
“A woman.”
“Rebecca Shaw?”
“I never saw her face.”
Dominic showed her the hospital photograph.
Rosa leaned closer.
Then shook her head.
“I can't be sure.”
Outside, rain had begun falling.
Dominic stood beneath the apartment awning and called Daniel Mercer.
“I need you to locate Dr. Rebecca Shaw.”
Daniel answered immediately.
“I already have a possible address.”
“Where?”
“Vermont. A small town near the Canadian border.”
“Is she practicing medicine?”
“No. She surrendered her license three years ago.”
“Why?”
“An investigation involving falsified patient records.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Grace.”
“Possibly.”
Daniel continued.
“There's another complication. Rebecca disappeared from public records six months ago.”
“Meaning?”
“Her house was sold. Her bank accounts were closed. Her last known phone number was disconnected.”
Dominic looked at the photograph of the little girl.
“Find out who bought the house.”
That afternoon, he returned to the mansion.
Sophie was waiting in the entrance hall.
She ran toward him.
“Daddy!”
He lifted her into his arms.
“Hey, princess.”
“Did you find Mommy?”
The question caught him off guard.
He sat with her on the stairs.
“Not yet.”
Sophie looked disappointed.
“Did she get lost?”
Dominic brushed a curl from her forehead.
“I think some people made it very hard for her to come home.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Sophie considered this.
“Maybe she needs a map.”
Dominic smiled sadly.
“Maybe she does.”
The little girl reached into her pocket.
“I made her one.”
She unfolded a piece of construction paper.
There was a crooked drawing of the mansion.
A pink heart marked Sophie's bedroom.
And a dotted line led from the edge of the page to the front door.
At the bottom, Sophie had written in uneven letters:
Mommy, come home.
Dominic held the drawing.
His eyes burned.
“It's perfect.”
“Can you give it to her?”
He kissed her forehead.
“I'll try.”
That evening, Caleb arrived with news.
“We recovered part of the security archive.”
Dominic stood.
“Show me.”
In his office, Caleb connected a laptop to the large monitor.
The footage was grainy.
The date was November 21, four years earlier.
At 5:42 a.m., a black sedan approached the rear gate.
A woman stepped out.
She wore a dark coat and a scarf covering her hair.
Dominic leaned forward.
“Elena?”
“Wait.”
The woman turned toward the camera.
It wasn't Elena.
It was Rebecca Shaw.
At 5:47, another figure emerged from the house.
Elena.
Dominic stopped breathing.
His wife was alive in the footage.
She walked toward Rebecca's car carrying a bag.
Then a second vehicle appeared.
A black SUV.
It blocked the sedan.
Three men stepped out.
Elena tried to retreat.
One man grabbed her arm.
Rebecca moved toward him.
The footage flickered.
Then the screen went black.
Dominic stared.
“Where's the rest?”
“Deleted.”
“By whom?”
“Someone with administrator access.”
“Who had it?”
Caleb opened the access records.
“Your father. Me. And Vanessa.”
Dominic turned.
“You?”
Caleb met his eyes.
“I didn't delete it.”
“Can you prove that?”
“I can show you where I was. I was escorting you to Manhattan that morning.”
Dominic remembered.
He'd attended a meeting at the family's headquarters.
He'd ignored three calls from Elena because he was angry about an argument they'd had the night before.
That memory struck harder than anything else.
She'd been trying to reach him.
And he hadn't answered.
Caleb continued.
“The system recorded the account used to erase the footage.”
Dominic looked up.
“Whose?”
“Vanessa's.”
He stood.
“Find her.”
Caleb hesitated.
“We may have already found her.”
He turned the laptop.
A security camera at a private airfield showed Vanessa entering a small charter terminal.
She was no longer wearing her wedding dress.
She wore jeans, a black coat, and sunglasses.
Beside her walked a man with gray hair.
Dominic leaned closer.
He recognized the man.
“THAT'S MY FATHER'S ATTORNEY.”
Caleb nodded.
“Richard Voss.”
The man who had handled Antonio's estate.
The man who had told Dominic that every document concerning Elena had been destroyed.
And the man who had arranged the sealed transfer of Antonio's remaining assets.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Where were they going?”
Caleb's voice lowered.
“Vermont.”
Dominic went still.
Rebecca Shaw's last known home was in Vermont.
Vanessa was heading there.
And she wasn't going alone.
Then Daniel called.
“Dominic, I found something about Rebecca's house.”
“What?”
“The property was purchased through a trust.”
“Whose trust?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Your father's.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Daniel continued.
“And according to the property records, someone is still paying the utilities.”
“Who?”
“I don't know yet.”
Dominic looked at the photograph of Grace.
For the first time, he allowed himself to believe the impossible.
His daughter might still be living there.
He grabbed his coat.
But before he reached the door, Caleb's phone rang.
His expression changed as he listened.
“Boss…”
“What?”
“We just received a call from the Vermont State Police.”
Dominic stopped.
Caleb swallowed.
“THEY FOUND VANESSA'S CAR ABANDONED NEAR REBECCA'S HOUSE.”
“Where's Vanessa?”
“No sign of her.”
“And Rebecca?”
Caleb looked at him.
“There's blood inside the house.”
Dominic's voice dropped.
“And the child?”
May you like
Caleb hesitated.
“THEY FOUND A LITTLE GIRL'S BEDROOM. BUT THE BED WAS EMPTY.”
