Chapter 2 - The Night Mommy Disappeared
The ballroom remained silent.
Dominic Moretti had faced armed rivals without flinching. He had negotiated million-dollar deals while men twice his size threatened to put bullets through his head.
But nothing prepared him for the trembling little boy in his arms.
“Ethan,” he whispered, “tell me what you remember.”
Ethan buried his face against his father's shoulder.
“I don't want her to hear.”
Dominic glanced at Vanessa.
Two security officers already stood beside her. Her face had regained some color, but her eyes darted toward the ballroom's exits.
“You won't have to speak to her,” Dominic promised.
He handed Ethan to Lily.
“Take him upstairs. Stay with him.”
Vanessa stepped forward. “Dominic, don't do this. He's confused.”
Dominic turned so sharply that she stopped.
“You have ten seconds to explain why my son remembers you being there the night his mother died.”
“I was there because I was your friend!”
“You told me you were in Boston that weekend.”
“I came back early.”
“Then why did you lie?”
Her mouth opened, but no answer came.
Dominic gestured to his security chief, Marco Ruiz.
“Keep her here. Nobody touches her, nobody threatens her, and nobody deletes a single recording. Call our attorney. I want the original files preserved.”
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
“You cannot detain me like some criminal.”
“Then you should have no problem answering questions.”
Dominic walked away before she could respond.
Upstairs, Lily sat beside Ethan on the edge of his bed. She had removed his bow tie and wrapped him in a soft blanket. His mother's photograph rested on the nightstand, its silver frame worn from years of little hands touching it.
Dominic stopped in the doorway.
Ethan looked at him.
“Daddy, are you mad at me?”
The question nearly broke him.
“No, buddy. Never.”
“Even if I remember something bad?”
Dominic crossed the room and knelt.
“Especially then.”
Ethan stared at the photograph.
“Mommy was wearing her blue dress. The one with the little flowers.”
Dominic remembered it immediately. Isabella had worn that dress the night of the charity dinner at the Moretti estate.
“What happened after dinner?”
“I woke up because I heard Mommy crying.”
Dominic's breath caught.
“Where were you?”
“In my room. The door was open a little.”
Ethan pressed his fingers together.
“I heard a lady say Mommy had to give her something. Mommy said no. Then something fell down.”
Lily looked at Dominic.
He felt the old memory returning in fragments: a midnight telephone call, a rain-soaked road, a doctor telling him his wife had died before the ambulance reached the hospital.
“Did you see the lady?” he asked.
Ethan nodded slowly.
“She had shiny earrings.”
Dominic thought of Vanessa's diamond earrings, but he refused to let suspicion become certainty.
“Was she wearing a black dress?”
“I don't know. I was hiding.”
Ethan began to cry.
“Mommy told me to stay quiet. She said she'd come back after she talked to Daddy.”
Dominic pulled him close.
“I'm sorry, son.”
“Then men came. They carried Mommy outside.”
Dominic went perfectly still.
“Men?”
Ethan nodded.
“One had a red mark on his neck. He told the other man to hurry.”
Dominic knew every senior member of his security team. He also knew the faces of men who had worked for his family for years.
But one man immediately came to mind.
Adrian Cole, his former chief of security, had disappeared from the estate the morning after Isabella's funeral. Dominic had been told Adrian resigned for personal reasons.
Nobody had ever explained why.
Dominic rose.
“Lily, stay with Ethan. Lock the door. If anyone knocks, call me before opening it.”
He was halfway down the hallway when Marco appeared.
“Boss, Vanessa's attorney is on the phone. She says she'll cooperate if you release her.”
“Tell him she can cooperate from the house.”
Marco hesitated.
“There is something else. We searched her purse. She has a boarding-school application with Ethan's name on it, a copy of your signature, and a bank transfer receipt.”
Dominic took the documents.
The transfer was dated two weeks earlier.
The amount was $250,000.
The destination account belonged to a consulting company registered in Delaware.
“Find out who owns it.”
Marco nodded.
“And Adrian Cole?” Dominic asked.
Marco's expression changed.
“You remember him?”
“I remember everything now.”
Marco lowered his voice. “I found an old staff photograph. Adrian had a red birthmark on the left side of his neck.”
Dominic stared at him.
Before he could respond, his phone rang.
An unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted male voice spoke.
“Stop digging into your wife's death.”
Dominic's fingers tightened around the phone.
“Who is this?”
“You have a son. Keep him safe. Forget what he said.”
The call ended.
A message arrived seconds later.
It contained a photograph of Ethan asleep in his bed, taken through the partially open bedroom door.
Beneath it were six words:
THE BOY SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIET.
Dominic looked toward the staircase.
Someone had been watching his son inside his own home.
May you like
And whoever it was knew that Ethan's memories might destroy them both.
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