Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO STOLE A CHILD
Dominic returned to the mansion with Margaret under armed protection.
He found Hannah waiting in the library, holding the note between trembling fingers.
The message was brief.
If you want Isabella alive, come to the old Moretti boathouse alone. Bring the original foundation ledger. No police. No soldiers.
It was signed with a single letter.
V.
Dominic read it twice.
“Did Vanessa leave anything else?”
Hannah shook her head.
“Her bedroom is empty. Her passport is missing. So is the jewelry her father gave her.”
“Has anyone contacted her family?”
“Richard Sterling's office says he hasn't seen her in three days.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Find out whether that's true.”
Hannah hesitated.
“Dominic, there's something else.”
He looked at her.
“Margaret told me what happened.”
He felt an unexpected wave of shame.
He had spent years believing his wife's death was an accident. He had allowed grief to become a locked room, something he visited only when he could no longer avoid it.
Now a young woman who worked for him knew more about his family than he did.
“Did she tell you where Isabella was taken?”
“No. But she remembered something about the transfer.”
“What?”
“Adrian said the baby couldn't go to a hospital because there would be records. He arranged for a private doctor to deliver her and a woman outside the family to raise her.”
Dominic's mind raced.
“Does Margaret know the woman's name?”
“No. She only remembers that Elena called her a friend.”
Dominic looked at the note again.
Vanessa had been helping Richard conceal the foundation transfers. She had admitted to covering up Elena's death, but she had never confessed to taking a child.
If she had Isabella, she had either discovered the truth herself or been ordered to retrieve the girl.
Either possibility meant his daughter was in danger.
He called Adrian.
His brother answered immediately.
“Dominic.”
“Where is Vanessa?”
A pause.
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I'm not.”
“Your authorization was on a newborn transfer record dated the day after Elena died.”
Adrian said nothing.
Dominic continued.
“My daughter was taken from this house. You helped arrange it.”
The silence stretched so long Dominic thought the call had dropped.
Finally, Adrian whispered, “You weren't supposed to find out.”
The words were a confession.
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because she was in danger.”
“From whom?”
“From the people Elena was investigating.”
“Who ordered the transfer?”
Adrian's breathing grew uneven.
“I can't tell you over the phone.”
“You have thirty minutes to meet me at the mansion.”
“Dominic—”
“Thirty minutes. If you're not here, I'll find you myself.”
He ended the call.
***
Adrian arrived twenty-seven minutes later.
He looked exhausted, with dark circles beneath his eyes and a fresh bruise along his jaw. Two guards escorted him into the library, but Dominic ordered them outside.
For several seconds, the brothers stood facing each other.
Then Dominic struck him.
Adrian stumbled into the desk, catching himself before he fell.
“That's for lying to me,” Dominic said.
Adrian wiped blood from his lip.
“You think I haven't punished myself enough?”
“Tell me what happened.”
Adrian sank into a chair.
“Four years ago, Elena discovered that someone was using the foundation to move money between shell companies. Richard Sterling was involved, but he wasn't the one controlling everything. The transfers went through a network of accounts connected to people your father had worked with.”
“My father was dead.”
“That didn't stop them from using his name.”
Adrian rubbed his face.
“Elena found proof that the Chairman was still operating. She wanted to take it to the authorities. Richard panicked. He said the investigation would bring down the entire family.”
“And you believed him?”
“I believed he would kill her.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“So you helped him take my daughter?”
“I thought we were saving her.”
“From whom?”
Adrian looked up.
“From the Chairman.”
Dominic's voice dropped.
“Who is he?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I never saw his face. I received instructions through intermediaries. Richard dealt with him directly.”
“Then why did Margaret hear our father's voice?”
Adrian went pale.
“What?”
“She heard Michael Moretti speaking in the rehabilitation center.”
“That isn't possible.”
“That's what everyone keeps telling me.”
Adrian stared at the floor.
“There's something you don't know about our father.”
Dominic felt his stomach tighten.
“Go on.”
“Three months before he died, he told me he had enemies inside the family. He said if anything happened to him, I was to protect you from a man who would come pretending to be our friend.”
“Who?”
Adrian swallowed.
“Richard Sterling.”
Dominic stared at him.
“You're telling me our father warned you about Vanessa's father, and you spent years working with him?”
“I was twenty-seven. I thought I could control the situation.”
“You couldn't even protect your sister-in-law.”
Adrian flinched.
“I know.”
Dominic wanted to hit him again.
Instead, he asked, “Where is Isabella?”
“I don't know. Richard arranged the transfer. I was told the baby would be raised under another name, far from Chicago. Vanessa discovered the truth last year.”
“How?”
“She found a photograph in her father's private safe. Elena was holding the baby. On the back, she'd written Isabella's name.”
Dominic's hands curled into fists.
“What did Vanessa do?”
“She tried to locate the girl. At first, I thought she wanted to help. Then she began asking about the will.”
“And now she's taken her.”
Adrian looked stricken.
“Dominic, if Vanessa has Isabella, she may not be the one giving orders.”
“Explain.”
“Vanessa is frightened of her father. If he told her to take the child, she would obey.”
Dominic studied his brother.
“Why didn't you tell me any of this before?”
“Because the Chairman threatened to kill you if I did.”
“Who is he?”
Adrian's voice broke.
“I don't know. But I heard Richard call him by another name once.”
“What name?”
Adrian looked toward the closed door.
Then he whispered, “The man your father buried.”
***
That evening, Dominic drove to the old boathouse.
He left his security team two miles away and carried a decoy ledger in a leather case.
The building stood at the edge of Lake Michigan, its wooden boards blackened by years of rain and winter storms.
A single light glowed inside.
Dominic entered.
Vanessa stood near the water, holding a small photograph.
She looked terrified.
“You came alone,” she said.
“Where is my daughter?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't have her.”
“Then why did you send the note?”
“Because I needed you here before my father found out what I discovered.”
Dominic kept his distance.
“What did you discover?”
She held up the photograph.
It showed a little girl with dark curls, standing beside a woman outside a school.
The girl looked about four years old.
Dominic recognized Elena's eyes.
His knees nearly buckled.
“Where is she?”
“I found her six months ago. Her name is Lily Carter. She lives with a woman named Sarah Bennett in Wisconsin.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because my father said the girl was a threat. He wanted me to bring her to Chicago.”
“Where is she now?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“I sent someone to protect her. But when I went to check the house, Sarah and the girl were gone.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Who took them?”
“I don't know.”
A sharp sound came from outside.
Vanessa turned.
The light went out.
Dominic heard footsteps on the wooden dock, followed by the unmistakable click of a weapon being cocked.
Then a man's voice spoke from the darkness.
“Hello, Dominic.”
Dominic froze.
He knew that voice.
He had heard it on Elena's recording.
May you like
The voice of his supposedly dead father.
“It's time you met the man who has been running your family.”
