Chapter 2 - The Name at the Door
Dominic moved before Mara could speak.
“Upstairs. Lock Sofia’s door.”
Mara did not argue.
That surprised him.
She ran.
Not in panic.
With purpose.
Dominic reached beneath the kitchen island and pressed a concealed switch.
Nothing happened.
The estate’s internal security system had been cut.
Someone had known exactly what to disable.
That mattered.
His men were stationed at the gate.
Two more near the rear grounds.
If the power to the security grid was gone and someone was standing at his front door, there were only two possibilities.
His men had betrayed him.
Or they were already unconscious.
Dominic preferred the second.
He hated the first.
The knocking came again.
Three times.
Slow.
Confident.
Dominic opened a locked drawer beside the pantry and removed a handgun.
He kept it low.
He walked toward the foyer.
“Mara,” he called quietly.
Her voice came from upstairs.
“She’s with me.”
“Stay there.”
Dominic approached the front door.
A narrow side window showed darkness.
No obvious figure.
“Victor?”
Silence.
Dominic unlocked the upper deadbolt.
Then the lower.
He did not open the door.
“Say something.”
A voice answered.
“It’s Anthony.”
Dominic froze.
Anthony Bellini had worked for the Russo family for twenty-two years.
He had taught Dominic to drive.
Buried Dominic’s father.
Held Sofia at her baptism.
Dominic opened the door six inches.
Anthony stood outside soaked in rain.
Blood ran from his forehead.
“Gate’s down,” Anthony said. “Two men hit us from the woods.”
Dominic opened the door wider.
“Where’s Leo?”
“Alive.”
“Sam?”
“Alive.”
“Who?”
Anthony shook his head.
“Couldn’t see them.”
Dominic let him inside.
“You said Victor.”
“What?”
“I heard someone outside.”
“It wasn’t me.”
Dominic’s grip tightened around the gun.
Anthony saw it.
“Boss?”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Dominic looked up.
Mara stood at the railing.
“Sofia’s awake.”
“I told you to stay inside the room.”
“She heard the alarm stop.”
Dominic stared at her.
Mara did not move.
“What?”
“She said somebody has been calling the house.”
Dominic climbed the stairs.
Mara met him halfway.
“Sofia said what?”
“Someone called yesterday afternoon.”
“Who answered?”
“She did.”
His face darkened.
“What did they say?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Dominic pushed past her.
Sofia sat in the center of her bed clutching a stuffed rabbit.
Dark curls framed her pale face.
“Daddy?”
Dominic put the gun behind his back and handed it to Mara without looking at her.
That single gesture startled her.
He trusted her with it.
Or had no time not to.
Dominic sat beside Sofia.
“Princess, who called yesterday?”
Sofia looked at Mara.
Then at her father.
“A man.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
Sofia hugged the rabbit tighter.
“He knew Mommy’s name.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Mara saw it.
Sofia’s mother, Elena, had died four years earlier.
Dominic never discussed her.
Not in front of employees.
Not in front of guests.
Sometimes Sofia did.
But always carefully.
“What did he say about Mommy?” Dominic asked.
Sofia whispered, “He said she didn’t die the way you think.”
Dominic rose so quickly the bed moved.
“Exactly what words?”
Sofia’s eyes filled with tears.
Mara stepped forward.
“Dominic.”
He looked at her.
She shook her head once.
Too hard.
He understood.
Dominic sat again.
His voice softened.
“Tell me, sweetheart.”
Sofia swallowed.
“He said Mommy found something. And people made her disappear because of it.”
Dominic looked toward the window.
Four years earlier, Elena Russo had died when her SUV left a coastal road during heavy rain.
Police called it an accident.
Dominic never had.
But he had never found proof otherwise.
“What else?” he asked.
Sofia looked frightened.
“He asked if you still had her blue music box.”
Dominic stood.
Anthony appeared in the doorway.
His face changed when he heard the words.
Dominic saw it.
“Anthony.”
The older man said nothing.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“Your face says otherwise.”
Anthony looked at Sofia.
“Not here.”
Dominic’s voice became dangerous.
“Then start walking.”
They returned downstairs.
Mara stayed with Sofia until the girl fell asleep.
Thirty minutes later she entered the study.
Dominic and Anthony were arguing.
“You told me everything was destroyed,” Dominic said.
“I thought it was.”
“You thought?”
“Elena gave me one thing before she died.”
Dominic went still.
Mara stopped near the door.
Anthony noticed her.
“So did Dominic.”
“Go on,” Dominic said.
Anthony opened his soaked jacket.
From an inner pocket he removed a small brass key.
Dominic stared.
“What does it open?”
“I never knew.”
“Elena gave this to you?”
“Two days before the crash.”
“And you waited four years?”
“She told me not to give it to you unless someone mentioned the music box.”
Dominic’s face twisted.
“Why?”
“She said you would go to war before you understood what you were fighting.”
Silence.
Dominic reached for the key.
Anthony closed his hand.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“She said someone inside the Russo organization was involved.”
Dominic’s gaze became cold.
“How high?”
Anthony looked miserable.
“Very.”
Dominic took the key.
Mara felt the room shift.
This was bigger than tonight.
Bigger than Sofia.
Maybe bigger than Dominic himself.
“Where’s the music box?” she asked.
Both men looked at her.
Dominic answered.
“In storage.”
“Here?”
“No. Old house in Oyster Bay.”
Mara folded her arms.
“Then someone who knows your family history wants you to go there.”
Anthony nodded reluctantly.
“That was my thought.”
Dominic picked up his coat.
Mara stared.
“You’re going now?”
“Yes.”
“You just received a threat against your daughter.”
“Which is exactly why I’m ending it.”
“You don’t know what you’re walking into.”
“I rarely do.”
“That is not reassuring.”
Dominic looked at Anthony.
“Call six men.”
“No.”
Both men stared at her.
Mara walked toward Dominic.
“You received a photograph of Sofia. Your security was disabled. Someone knows about your dead wife. Then they mention an object stored at another property.”
Dominic’s expression remained unreadable.
“It’s a trap.”
“Probably.”
“And you’re still going.”
“Yes.”
Mara exhaled.
“Then I’m coming.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
Dominic actually laughed once.
Short.
Disbelieving.
“You’re the nanny.”
“I’m the person they threatened by photographing the child I protect.”
“You protect her by staying here.”
“With a compromised security system?”
Anthony looked between them.
Mara continued.
“If the person inside your organization is high enough, how many men do you actually trust tonight?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Not many.
She had found the weak point.
“Anthony stays with Sofia,” Mara said. “You and I go.”
Dominic stared at her.
“You think you’re coming into a potentially hostile situation?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I know I am.”
Anthony covered a smile.
Dominic noticed.
“Don’t encourage her.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You’re thinking loudly.”
Mara held out her hand.
“Give me my coat.”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
“No.”
“Are you planning to physically stop me?”
He looked her up and down.
Mara raised an eyebrow.
Dominic wisely chose another path.
“You have no training.”
“I have common sense.”
“Those aren’t interchangeable.”
“You came home with blood on your sleeves and walked straight toward another trap. I’m not sure you’re currently qualified to judge common sense.”
Anthony coughed.
Dominic looked murderous.
Mara waited.
Finally he grabbed her coat.
“Stay beside me.”
“Fine.”
“If I say run, run.”
“Fine.”
“If I say get down—”
“I know what down means.”
Dominic opened the door.
“You are incredibly difficult.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Twenty minutes later they drove through the storm toward Oyster Bay.
Dominic kept one hand on the wheel.
Mara watched the dark road.
“What happened to Elena?”
He said nothing.
“You don’t have to answer.”
“She was driving home.”
His voice was quiet.
“Road was wet. Car went through a barrier.”
“But you never believed it was an accident.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“The brakes had been serviced the week before.”
Mara looked at him.
“By someone you trusted.”
“Yes.”
“Did you find him?”
“He disappeared.”
“Before or after the crash?”
“After.”
They drove another mile.
Mara asked, “Why did you ignore me?”
Dominic glanced at her.
“What?”
“For six months.”
“This is really when you want to discuss that?”
“Yes.”
He almost smiled again.
“I didn’t ignore you.”
“You absolutely did.”
“I knew your name.”
“After six months.”
“I knew your schedule.”
“That’s creepy.”
“I knew Sofia liked you.”
“That’s parenting.”
Dominic sighed.
“I don’t get close to people.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It keeps them alive.”
Mara turned toward the windshield.
“That worked well tonight.”
Dominic looked at her.
She immediately regretted it.
Not because he was angry.
Because hurt passed through his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You’re right.”
They reached the old Russo estate at 3:14 a.m.
The house had been empty for years.
Dominic unlocked the side entrance.
They entered.
Mara used her phone flashlight.
Dust covered the furniture.
Dominic led her upstairs.
“Elena kept old family things in the nursery.”
They reached a small room.
Dominic opened the closet.
Boxes.
Photographs.
Holiday decorations.
Then he found it.
A blue wooden music box.
He set it on the floor.
Mara crouched beside him.
“Key?”
Dominic inserted the brass key into a tiny hole beneath the box.
Click.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a photograph.
Dominic picked up the photograph.
His face lost all color.
Mara leaned closer.
Elena stood beside a man outside a restaurant.
A date was written across the bottom.
Three days before she died.
The man beside Elena was Anthony Bellini.
And on the back, written in Elena’s handwriting, were six words.
IF I DIE, HE KNOWS WHY.
Dominic stared at the words.
Then his phone rang.
Anthony’s name appeared on the screen.
Dominic answered.
“Anthony?”
No response.
Only breathing.
Then Sofia screamed in the background.
Dominic stood.
A strange male voice came through the phone.
“You found the picture.”
Dominic’s face turned deadly.
The voice laughed softly.
“Now ask Anthony why your wife was afraid of him.”
May you like
The line went dead.
And somewhere downstairs, the front door slowly opened.
