Chapter 3 - ROOM 317
Dominic arrived at St. Catherine's shortly after one in the morning.
He brought Anthony and two trusted men, but left them in the parking garage. The note had said to come alone. He wasn't foolish enough to obey completely, but he wasn't willing to frighten a child who might be his son.
The hospital's maternity wing had been renovated since Isabella's supposed death. Dominic barely recognized the corridor.
At the reception desk, he gave the name Moretti.
The nurse looked at him, then down at her screen.
“Room 317 is unoccupied, sir.”
“Check again.”
She did.
“I'm sorry. There's no patient listed under that room.”
Dominic placed the silver key on the counter.
The nurse's expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Why?”
She glanced toward the security camera, then leaned closer.
“An older woman left instructions. If a man came carrying that key, I was supposed to give him this.”
She slid a small envelope across the desk.
Inside was a photograph of the hospital's old west wing.
A red circle marked a door beside the abandoned neonatal nursery.
On the back, someone had written:
SHE NEVER LEFT THE BUILDING.
Dominic's heart hammered.
He walked toward the west wing.
The corridor was dim, its ceiling lights flickering. At the end stood a door marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
The silver key fit.
Beyond it lay a narrow stairwell leading to a basement corridor. Dominic followed the signs to the old nursery.
A small boy sat on a chair outside the locked room.
He wore blue pajamas and held a battered stuffed rabbit.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
The dimple.
Dominic stopped several feet away.
The boy looked up.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then the child whispered, “You look like the man in Mommy's pictures.”
Dominic crouched slowly.
“What's your name, son?”
“Lucas.”
The name struck him with the force of a physical blow.
Isabella had once told him that if they ever had a boy, she wanted to call him Lucas, after her grandfather.
Dominic swallowed.
“Lucas, I'm Dominic.”
The boy studied his face.
“My mommy said you were kind before you got angry all the time.”
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
Children shouldn't have to inherit the consequences of adult cruelty.
“Your mommy knew me a long time ago.”
“Are you my daddy?”
Dominic couldn't answer immediately.
He wanted to gather the boy into his arms and never let him go. But the hospital bracelet and the records were evidence, not certainty.
Instead, he held out his hand.
“I think I might be. And I'm going to find out the truth.”
Lucas looked at his palm, then slipped his small hand into it.
“Can you take me to her?”
“Where is she?”
Lucas pointed toward the locked nursery.
“She's inside.”
Dominic tried the handle.
Locked.
He called for help, and a hospital administrator arrived with a security officer. After checking the room, they opened the door.
It was empty.
A narrow bed stood against the wall. On the pillow lay a folded cardigan.
Dominic recognized it.
Isabella had worn it on the morning of their last anniversary.
He pressed the fabric to his face.
Lucas began to cry.
“She was here. She told me she'd come back.”
Dominic knelt beside him.
“Who brought you here?”
“Miss Vanessa.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What did Vanessa tell you?”
Lucas hugged the rabbit tightly.
“She said Mommy was sick and Daddy didn't want us. She said if I was quiet, she would take me somewhere safe.”
Dominic felt cold rage spread through him.
“Did she hurt you?”
Lucas shook his head.
“She locked the door when Mommy tried to leave.”
Before Dominic could ask more, the administrator handed him a folder discovered behind the bed.
Inside were copies of medical reports, a discharge form, and a series of visitor logs. Several entries had been altered, but one name appeared repeatedly.
Dr. Adrian Vale.
Dominic knew the name.
Vale had been Isabella's obstetrician.
He had also signed the medical certificate confirming her death.
A second page showed that Lucas had been admitted under a different surname.
His biological mother was listed as Isabella Moretti.
His biological father was listed as Dominic Moretti.
The final page contained a note from three weeks earlier:
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED BY A. VALE. PATIENT RELEASED TO LEGAL GUARDIAN.
No guardian's name was provided.
Dominic's phone rang.
Anthony.
“Boss, we found Vanessa's car abandoned two blocks from the hospital.”
“Where is she?”
“We don't know. But we recovered her phone.”
“Anything on it?”
A pause.
“Yes. A voice message recorded tonight.”
Dominic looked at Lucas.
“Play it.”
Anthony sent the recording.
Vanessa's voice filled the phone.
“If Dominic finds the boy, everything is finished. Make sure the woman never reaches him. I don't care what it costs.”
A man's voice answered.
“You promised me the estate.”
“You'll get it when they're both dead.”
The recording ended.
Dominic stared at the screen.
Lucas tugged his sleeve.
“Daddy?”
“I'm here.”
“Mommy told me something.”
Dominic turned toward him.
“What did she say?”
Lucas lowered his voice.
“She said if anyone took me away from her, I should remember the secret name she gave me.”
“What name?”
The boy looked straight into Dominic's eyes.
“Little Wolf.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
It was the nickname he had whispered to Isabella on their wedding night, years before Lucas was born.
No one else had ever heard it.
May you like
And somewhere in the hospital, a phone began ringing with Isabella's old ringtone.
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