Chapter 5 - The Black Door
Dominic did not move.
Sophia had never seen fear on his face before.
Not even under gunfire.
Now she did.
“Rafael?”
A laugh came from the darkness.
Then emergency lights activated.
The hallway was empty.
Dominic ran toward the sound.
At the far end, a service door swung closed.
His guards searched the grounds.
Nothing.
But beneath the door lay a black chess piece.
A king.
Dominic picked it up.
“My brother used these.”
Sophia understood.
Rafael was alive.
And he wanted Dominic to know.
The next morning, Dominic told Sophia everything.
Rafael had always hated being second.
Their father had chosen Dominic to inherit control because Rafael was reckless.
Months later, Rafael’s boat exploded.
Dominic had blamed himself for years.
“What if he staged it?” Sophia asked.
“Then he has been stealing from me while letting me mourn him.”
“And James found him.”
Dominic looked at the ledger.
“Yes.”
Emma wandered into the study holding Mr. Hops.
“Mommy, Daddy’s rabbit is crunchy.”
Sophia frowned.
“What?”
Emma squeezed one ear.
Paper crackled.
Sophia opened a second hidden seam.
Inside was a miniature photograph.
It showed James standing before a black door.
Not the mansion door.
A warehouse door.
Painted on the wall beside it:
17-B.
Pier Seventeen.
Again.
They returned after dark.
Warehouse 17-B had no electricity.
Behind the black door was an office preserved like a tomb.
James’s handwriting covered a whiteboard.
Names connected by arrows.
Adrian.
Vivian.
Rafael.
And Dominic.
But Dominic’s name had a circle around it.
Beside it:
TARGET, NOT PARTNER.
Sophia exhaled.
James had been trying to prove Dominic was being betrayed.
A floorboard creaked.
Dominic drew his weapon.
“Come out.”
Vivian stepped from behind a filing cabinet.
Her gown was gone.
She wore jeans and a dark coat.
Her eyes were red.
“You followed us?” Dominic asked.
“No.”
She looked at Sophia.
“I came because Rafael is going to kill you both.”
Sophia stared.
“You knew he was alive.”
Vivian nodded.
“For six years.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“You were working with him.”
“My father was.”
“You took his money.”
“I didn’t know where it came from at first.”
“And later?”
Vivian looked away.
“Later I knew enough.”
Dominic laughed once without humor.
“You planned to marry me.”
“My father ordered it. Rafael wanted access to your private accounts.”
Sophia stepped forward.
“And James?”
Vivian’s eyes filled.
“He found the transfers.”
“Who killed him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
“I swear.”
Vivian pulled out a phone.
“I have something James recorded.”
She pressed play.
James’s voice filled the room.
“If anything happens to me, Sophia must never trust—”
A shot exploded.
Vivian jerked backward.
The phone hit the floor.
Dominic fired toward the broken window.
Sophia crawled to Vivian.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
“Who?” Sophia demanded. “Who shouldn’t I trust?”
Vivian grabbed her wrist.
“He wasn’t talking about Dominic.”
“Then who?”
Vivian tried to answer.
Before she could, the black warehouse door slowly opened behind Sophia.
Someone stepped inside.
May you like
Sophia turned.
And Emma’s babysitter, Mrs. Walsh, was holding a gun.
