Chapter 4 - The Girl They Couldn’t Silence
Dominic reached the window.
Two floors below, a black SUV accelerated from the alley.
“Marcus!”
Marcus was already running.
Dominic called Ortiz while sprinting downstairs.
“They took Natalie.”
“Who?”
“My uncle.”
“You don't know that.”
“He knew about her.”
“Dominic, don't do anything—”
Dominic ended the call.
Marcus brought the car around.
They followed the SUV through downtown Chicago.
Natalie sat in the back seat between two men.
She didn't cry.
She watched.
Her father had taught her something before he disappeared.
When you're scared, notice things.
Signs.
Turns.
Sounds.
Anything.
She counted traffic lights.
She read street names.
She noticed the smell of the river.
Then she saw a familiar warehouse.
The SUV entered.
Victor Moretti waited inside.
He was sixty-three, silver-haired, elegantly dressed.
Natalie looked at him.
“You're his uncle.”
Victor smiled.
“Smart child.”
“You killed his dad.”
The smile disappeared.
“Children shouldn't make accusations.”
“You told the doctor.”
Victor crouched.
“What exactly did you hear?”
Natalie said nothing.
Victor sighed.
“Do you know who Dominic is?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think he does?”
“He listens.”
Victor laughed.
“That isn't what I meant.”
Natalie understood more than he realized.
Adults liked to make children afraid of labels.
Mafia.
Criminal.
Dangerous.
But Natalie had learned to judge people differently.
Some adults with clean clothes locked refrigerators.
Some men with frightening reputations gave cold children their coats.
“Dominic came back,” she said.
Victor's expression tightened.
“What?”
“He promised he'd come back.”
Outside, tires screamed.
Victor stood.
Dominic entered through the warehouse door.
Marcus beside him.
Victor's men raised weapons.
Dominic didn't.
His eyes found Natalie.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“Come here.”
Victor grabbed her shoulder.
Dominic's face changed.
“Take your hand off her.”
Victor smiled.
“You always had Antonio's temper.”
“Take your hand off her.”
Police sirens approached.
Victor's smile faded.
Dominic had shared his location with Ortiz before arriving.
For once, he had chosen law over revenge.
Victor released Natalie.
She ran.
Dominic caught her.
Victor's men surrendered as police surrounded the warehouse.
But Victor escaped through a rear service tunnel.
Inside his office, investigators found records.
Payments.
Patient names.
Mercer's research.
And Antonio Moretti's signature.
Dominic stared at it.
His father had known about the drug.
But why?
The answer came from an encrypted audio file.
Antonio's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, something happened to me.”
Dominic couldn't breathe.
Natalie reached for his hand.
Antonio continued.
“Victor believes the compound can be used without detection. I discovered what Mercer has been doing. Samuel Foster helped me collect evidence.”
Dominic looked at Natalie.
Her father.
Antonio continued.
“If Samuel or I disappear, Victor is responsible.”
Natalie's eyes filled with tears.
“My dad didn't leave?”
Dominic crouched.
“No.”
“Is he dead?”
Dominic couldn't answer yet.
Ortiz stepped forward.
“We don't know.”
Natalie cried.
Dominic held her.
For the first time since the nightmare began, the mystery had become something larger than Antonio.
Samuel Foster had tried to expose Victor too.
Maybe he had survived.
Records found at the warehouse contained a coded transfer.
S. FOSTER.
Destination: North Lake Rehabilitation Facility.
Ortiz looked it up.
The facility had closed eighteen months earlier.
But its patient archive still existed.
One entry showed Samuel Foster.
Status:
TRANSFERRED.
No destination.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Transferred where?”
Ortiz searched.
Nothing.
Then Natalie remembered something.
“My dad had a number.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What number?” Dominic asked.
“He made me remember it.”
She recited eight digits.
Ortiz entered them into the archive.
A hidden file opened.
Inside was a current address.
A private long-term care facility outside Chicago.
Samuel Foster was listed as alive.
Natalie stopped breathing.
“My dad?”
Dominic smiled for the first time in days.
“Maybe.”
They drove immediately.
The facility administrator resisted.
Ortiz produced a warrant.
They reached Room 214.
Natalie stood outside.
Her hands shook.
Dominic crouched.
“You don't have to go in.”
“Yes, I do.”
He opened the door.
A thin man sat beside the window.
His hair was gray.
His body looked older than his forty-two years.
Natalie whispered:
“Daddy?”
The man turned.
His eyes widened.
“Nattie?”
She ran.
Samuel Foster collapsed to his knees.
Father and daughter held each other while everyone else looked away.
Dominic thought this should have been victory.
It wasn't.
Samuel eventually looked at him.
“You're Antonio's son.”
“Yes.”
Samuel's face filled with fear.
“Then Victor knows you found me.”
“We'll protect you.”
Samuel shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“Victor wasn't working alone.”
Dominic's phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived from an unknown number.
It showed Dominic standing outside the facility.
Taken seconds earlier.
Then a message appeared.
YOU FOUND FOSTER.
NOW WE FIND OUT HOW MUCH HE TOLD YOU.
Dominic looked toward the window.
May you like
Across the parking lot, a car started its engine.
And someone inside raised a phone toward them.
