Chapter 4 - THE BLOOD ON THE FAMILY PORTRAIT
The surgeon emerged from the operating room shortly after three in the morning.
Emily had survived the gunshot. The bullet had grazed her upper arm, but blood loss and shock had left her unconscious.
Dominic stood outside her room with his tuxedo jacket discarded and his sleeves rolled up. A dark stain marked the cuff of his white shirt.
"She'll recover," the surgeon said. "She needs rest. Keep her away from stress for the next few days."
Dominic nodded.
When the doctor left, Marcus approached with a report.
"We found the shooter. One of the night guards identified a former contractor, Vincent Hale. He was dismissed three years ago."
"Who rehired him?"
"We're checking."
Dominic looked through the glass at Emily.
"Find him before he leaves the city."
Marcus hesitated.
"There's something else. The gun used in the attack was registered to a security company owned by the Sterling family."
Dominic's face hardened.
"Bring Vanessa downstairs."
She arrived twenty minutes later, escorted by two guards. She had changed into a pale silk dress, but the panic in her eyes remained.
"Did you hire Vincent Hale?"
"No!"
"Your family's company supplied his weapon."
"That doesn't mean I gave it to him."
"Someone shot Emily after you threatened her. Someone erased my security footage. Someone is trying to keep me from learning who she is."
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"I swear I didn't order anyone to shoot her."
Dominic searched her face.
"Then help me find the person who did."
For once, she did not argue.
"I'll give you everything I have."
He turned away.
"Marcus will take your statement."
As she was led out, Vanessa called after him.
"Dominic, your mother knows more than she's telling you."
He stopped but did not turn.
"I know."
At sunrise, Isabella arrived at the hospital carrying a leather folder.
Dominic met her in the private waiting room.
"You said Claire disappeared because she feared our family. Vanessa says Father ordered her death."
His mother closed her eyes.
"Richard never ordered Claire killed."
"Then why did Vanessa say it?"
"Because she wants you to doubt everyone. It's how she survives."
Isabella placed the folder on the table.
Inside were copies of a birth certificate, an old hospital admission record, and a newspaper clipping dated twenty-five years earlier.
The birth certificate listed Claire Carter as the mother of a baby girl. The father's name was blank.
The hospital record showed that Claire had been admitted after a serious automobile accident two months after Emily's birth.
Dominic read the notes.
"Where is the death certificate?"
"There isn't one."
He looked up.
"What?"
"Claire disappeared after leaving the hospital. No death certificate was ever issued. Your father searched for her until the day he died."
"Then why did you tell me she was gone?"
"Because I believed she had been killed."
Isabella's voice broke.
"Richard received a photograph of a woman who looked like Claire lying in a morgue. He was told she had died during surgery. He never saw the body."
Dominic stared at the photograph.
"Who sent it?"
"We never found out."
He opened the newspaper clipping.
It reported a fire at a private clinic outside Albany. Several patient records had been destroyed. One nurse had died.
A handwritten note was attached to the back.
If you want to know what happened to Claire, find the nurse who survived.
Dominic turned the paper over.
A name had been written at the bottom.
MARGARET HALE.
He looked at his mother.
"Is she related to Vincent Hale?"
"I don't know."
Dominic called Marcus.
"Find Margaret Hale. Alive or dead, I want to know everything."
A nurse entered the waiting room.
"Mr. Moretti? Emily is awake. She's asking for you."
Dominic went immediately.
Emily lay against the pillows, her arm bandaged. She looked exhausted, but her eyes were clear.
"How do you feel?"
"Like I've been hit by a truck."
Despite himself, Dominic smiled faintly.
"That's a fair assessment."
Her expression grew serious.
"Did you find out who my father was?"
"Richard Moretti."
Emily stared at him.
"And your mother?"
"Claire Carter. We believe she may still be alive."
Tears slipped down Emily's cheeks.
"All my life, I thought my mother had died when I was a baby."
Dominic sat beside her bed.
"I'm sorry."
She wiped her face.
"Are you my brother?"
The question hung between them.
"I don't know yet," he answered honestly. "We need a DNA test."
Emily looked away.
"If it's true, then everything I believed about my life is gone."
"Not everything."
She gave him a sad smile.
"You don't know me."
"No," Dominic admitted. "But I'm trying to."
A moment later, Marcus entered carrying a small evidence bag.
"We found something in the hallway outside the east sitting room."
Inside was a silver signet ring bearing the Moretti crest.
Dominic recognized it immediately.
His mother's ring.
He looked toward Emily.
She had gone pale.
"That ring was on the person who shot me," she whispered.
Dominic stared at her.
"How do you know?"
Emily swallowed.
"Because I saw the shooter's hand before the gun went off."
She gripped the blanket.
"And the person wearing that ring wasn't a stranger."
Her eyes filled with fear.
May you like
"It was someone who looked exactly like my mother."
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