Chapter 14 - The Choice Dominic Made
We returned to the mansion.
Not because the message ordered us to.
Because Dominic had realized the mansion contained the original trust documents.
The entire estate was surrounded by police and security.
Leo was taken somewhere safe.
Evelyn stayed with him.
I entered the library with Dominic.
The room was quiet.
“Are you afraid?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“So am I.”
I looked at him.
“You?”
He nodded.
“I'm afraid of making the wrong choice.”
“You've made plenty.”
He smiled faintly.
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“Then make this one right.”
He touched my hand.
“I choose you.”
My heart stopped.
“Dominic…”
“I don't care about the trust.”
“You should.”
“No.”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“I spent years believing power was the only thing that could protect the people I loved.”
“And now?”
“Now I know power can't protect anyone if you have nobody worth protecting.”
I squeezed his hand.
“We'll get through this.”
A sound came from behind the bookshelf.
Dominic drew his weapon.
The bookshelf moved.
A hidden room appeared.
Inside was a safe.
He entered the combination.
The safe opened.
Inside was a box.
My mother's handwriting was on it.
For Beatrice.
I opened it.
Inside was a letter.
My mother's words explained everything.
She had loved Gabriel.
She had hidden me because Gabriel's enemies wanted his children dead.
Evelyn had been taken first.
I had been hidden with my mother.
The trust had been created by Gabriel to protect both daughters.
The Russo family had been chosen as guardians.
But Dominic's uncle had discovered the arrangement and spent years trying to control it.
My mother had trusted only one person.
Dominic.
Even before I met him.
There was one final paragraph.
I read it aloud.
“If Beatrice ever meets Dominic Russo, she must know that he was never meant to own her future. He was meant to protect her freedom. If he loves her, he must let her choose.”
I looked at Dominic.
His eyes were wet.
“I didn't know she wrote that.”
“I know.”
He stepped closer.
“I choose you.”
I whispered:
“And I choose you.”
Then the mansion lights went out.
Dominic immediately pushed me behind him.
A voice came through the speakers.
“Beautiful.”
His uncle.
Dominic raised his gun.
“Come out.”
The voice laughed.
“Check the nursery.”
My heart stopped.
“Leo.”
We ran.
The nursery door was open.
The room was empty.
A small toy car lay on the floor.
Beside it was another note.
Dominic picked it up.
His hands began to shake.
“What does it say?”
He read it.
You have ten minutes.
I stared.
“Where is Leo?”
Dominic looked toward the old service corridor.
Then he heard something.
A child's voice.
Faint.
Terrified.
“Bea…”
We ran.
At the end of the corridor stood a locked steel door.
Dominic tried the handle.
Locked.
“Leo!”
“Daddy!”
I dropped to my knees.
“Leo, I'm here!”
His little voice came through the door.
“Bea, he has a gun.”
Dominic looked at me.
Then he stepped back.
“I'll open it.”
He reached for the door.
And from the other side, a man's voice whispered:
“Choose which one you save.”
May you like
The lock clicked.
And the door began to open...
