Chapter 10 - The Traitor at Dominic’s Table
Rafael sent instructions.
No police.
No army of Moretti men.
Sophia and Dominic only.
The location was an abandoned riverside hotel.
Vivian insisted on coming.
Dominic refused.
She handed him her father’s private access card.
“You’ll need this.”
“Why?”
“Because my father owns the building.”
Dominic stared.
Vivian swallowed.
“He was Rafael’s partner before I ever met you.”
The betrayal ran deeper.
At the hotel, Sophia heard Emma crying through a speaker.
Rafael appeared on a monitor.
He resembled Dominic.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably his brother.
“You look well, Dom.”
“Let Emma go.”
“When I have the code.”
Sophia stepped forward.
“You killed James.”
Rafael smiled.
“James killed himself by believing truth mattered more than survival.”
“You ran his car off the road.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
Rafael’s smile faded.
“Ask Dominic.”
Sophia looked at him.
Dominic’s confusion appeared genuine.
Rafael laughed.
“He still doesn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“The man who found James alive worked for Dominic.”
Sophia’s stomach twisted.
“Who?”
Rafael leaned toward the camera.
“The same man who has been reporting Dominic’s every move to me for twelve years.”
A door opened behind them.
Marco entered.
Dominic’s head turned.
His oldest bodyguard.
His closest protector.
The man who had followed Adrian.
Marco raised his gun.
“I’m sorry, boss.”
Dominic stared at him.
“You?”
Marco’s eyes filled with something like shame.
“My brother owed Rafael money. It started small.”
“Twelve years is not small.”
“No.”
Sophia whispered, “James.”
Marco looked at her.
“I found him after the crash.”
“Was he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“I called Rafael.”
Sophia slapped him.
He accepted it.
“James was alive when Rafael arrived.”
“And you left him?”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked sick.
“You betrayed me for twelve years.”
Marco lowered his gun.
“I did.”
Then he unexpectedly turned and fired at the camera.
The screen exploded.
“Why?” Dominic demanded.
“Because Rafael has Emma upstairs, and if we keep talking, he’ll move her.”
Marco tossed Dominic a weapon.
“I can’t undo James. I can get his daughter out.”
They ran.
On the seventh floor they found the room.
Empty.
A child’s blue hat lay on the floor.
Sophia picked it up.
Still warm.
A service elevator descended.
Dominic slammed the button.
Too late.
Rafael was moving Emma.
Marco checked a security map.
“There’s a tunnel beneath the hotel.”
“Where?”
“To the river.”
They raced downstairs.
At the tunnel entrance lay a dead guard.
Beside him was Emma’s stuffed rabbit.
Sophia picked it up.
A tiny piece of paper protruded from its seam.
Emma had written in purple crayon.
MOMMY I LEFT BUNNY SO YOU FIND ME.
Sophia broke down for one second.
Then she stood.
Her daughter was leaving a trail.
They followed muddy footprints toward the river.
At the end of the tunnel, a steel door stood closed.
Dominic reached for it.
May you like
The lock clicked first.
Someone on the other side was opening it.
