Chapter 7 - The Daughter of a Dangerous Family
Dominic returned to the estate to find Ethan safe, but Lily had locked herself in the nursery with him.
The boy had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Lily stood beside the window, holding the baby monitor receiver.
“Where is Vanessa?” Dominic demanded.
Marco shook his head.
“We tracked her car to a private airfield. It left before we arrived.”
“Destination?”
“Unknown. The flight plan was filed under a company owned by Victor Sterling.”
Dominic looked toward Ethan.
“We're not moving him anywhere until we know who has access to this property.”
Lily turned.
“Sir, Ethan told me something else while you were gone.”
Dominic waited.
“He remembers a man carrying a small silver case. He said his mother told him never to touch it.”
Dominic thought of Adrian's metal case.
“Did he say where the man took it?”
“He said the man went into the basement.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
The basement had been used for storage for years. Few staff members entered it, and Dominic had not inspected it since Isabella's death.
He ordered Marco to search the entire area.
Behind a row of old wine crates, they found a concealed cabinet. Inside lay a silver case containing a flash drive, several photographs, and a folded letter.
The flash drive was encrypted.
The photographs showed Victor Sterling meeting with several men outside a private clinic. One of the men was Dominic's former attorney, who had died in a boating accident two years earlier.
The letter was addressed to Isabella.
You were right to be afraid. Vanessa has been using the foundation to move money for years. Victor intends to eliminate anyone who can connect him to the accounts.
Dominic read the letter twice.
At the bottom was a signature.
Grace Miller.
Daniel arrived with news from the financial investigators.
The Sterling Foundation had been used to move money through dozens of shell companies. Several payments matched dates connected to the investigation into Isabella's death.
But the largest payment had been made to a company owned by someone in Dominic's own organization.
Marco.
Dominic stared at the report.
“Explain.”
Marco looked genuinely shocked.
“I've never received money from the Sterling Foundation.”
“Your name is on the account.”
“Then someone used my identity.”
Dominic studied him. Marco had served him for twelve years, protected Ethan since infancy, and stood beside him during the worst days of his life.
But trust was exactly what had allowed the conspiracy to survive.
“Until we verify everything, you are removed from security operations,” Dominic said.
Marco's jaw tightened.
“You think I betrayed you?”
“I think someone wants me to believe that.”
Marco nodded slowly.
“I'll cooperate.”
As he left, Lily approached Dominic with a small notebook.
“I found this inside Ethan's old toy chest.”
The notebook belonged to Isabella.
Most of its pages contained ordinary notes about household purchases, appointments, and Ethan's routines. But several pages had been torn out.
One remaining entry read:
Grace knows the truth about the first transfer. If I cannot reach her, ask about the blue room.
Dominic looked up.
“What's the blue room?”
Lily shook her head.
“I've never heard of one.”
Ethan stirred on the bed.
“Mommy called it the blue room.”
Dominic hurried to his side.
“Where is it, buddy?”
Ethan rubbed his eyes.
“At the hospital. The room with the blue door.”
Daniel called St. Vincent's immediately. An older nurse remembered a private consultation room that had been closed after a renovation.
Inside an abandoned storage cabinet, investigators found an envelope containing a key and a photograph.
The photograph showed Isabella, Vanessa, and Grace standing together in front of a hospital nursery.
On the back, Isabella had written:
Three women. One promise. One child who must never pay for our mistakes.
Dominic felt his stomach tighten.
The photograph had been taken on the day Ethan was born.
But Vanessa's presence there meant she had been involved in Isabella's life long before Dominic believed they had met.
Daniel examined the key.
“It opens a safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“An old bank downtown.”
Dominic immediately ordered a team to secure it.
Before they could leave, a guard rushed into the room.
“Boss, there's a woman at the front gate. She says her name is Grace Miller.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Bring her inside.”
The guard hesitated.
“She says she won't come in until she sees Ethan.”
Dominic walked to the window.
At the gate stood a woman in her fifties, clutching a photograph against her chest.
When she saw Dominic, she raised it.
It was a picture of Isabella holding a newborn baby.
And beside Isabella stood another infant.
Grace's voice carried through the intercom.
May you like
“Mr. Moretti, you deserve to know the truth about both children.”
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