Chapter 6 - The Photograph Behind the Wall
Sophia could not breathe.
“Connie?”
Mrs. Walsh lowered the gun.
“Get down.”
Another bullet shattered the window.
Everyone dropped.
Mrs. Walsh fired twice toward the shooter’s position.
Then silence.
Dominic’s men rushed outside.
Sophia stared at the retired nurse who had watched Emma since infancy.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who owed James Bennett my life.”
Mrs. Walsh explained.
She had once worked as an emergency nurse.
Seven years earlier, she treated a wounded man who refused police involvement.
Leon Mercer.
Through Leon she learned about Rafael.
Years later, James came to her.
He knew he was in danger.
He asked her for one thing.
“If something happens to me, protect Sophia and Emma.”
Sophia began crying.
“You knew?”
“Not everything.”
“You let me believe his death was an accident.”
“Because believing that kept you alive.”
Dominic crouched beside Vivian.
She would survive.
The bullet had passed through her shoulder.
“Who fired?”
Mrs. Walsh answered.
“Adrian.”
Dominic looked up.
“You’re certain?”
“I saw him.”
Vivian whispered, “Rafael will kill him too.”
They returned to the mansion through a private route.
Mrs. Walsh examined Emma while Sophia searched the rabbit again.
Nothing.
Then Emma said something.
“Daddy hid things in walls too.”
Sophia stared.
“How do you know?”
“Mommy showed me.”
“I never—”
Emma pointed toward an old photograph Sophia kept in her purse.
James holding infant Emma in their apartment.
Behind him was a framed landscape.
Sophia remembered.
After James died, she had left that frame hanging because she could not bear to change anything.
They drove to Yonkers.
The apartment now belonged to another tenant.
Dominic paid the landlord enough to solve the inconvenience.
Behind the old picture location was a patched section of drywall.
Inside was a waterproof envelope.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And one document that changed everything.
A life insurance policy.
Not James’s.
Rafael Moretti’s.
The beneficiary was Adrian Vale.
Dominic stared.
“They were partners.”
Sophia found another photograph.
Rafael.
Adrian.
And a third person.
Mrs. Costa.
Dominic’s house manager.
Sophia’s heart dropped.
“No.”
Dominic looked at the date.
It had been taken three months after Rafael supposedly died.
Mrs. Costa had known.
When they returned, the mansion was quiet.
Too quiet.
Dominic called her name.
No answer.
They reached her office.
Empty.
A cup of tea was still warm.
On the desk lay a letter addressed to Dominic.
He opened it.
I should have told you years ago.
Your brother survived.
I helped him disappear.
Dominic crushed the paper.
Sophia kept reading.
But I did not know what he became.
Tonight I am going to finish what your father could not.
Do not follow me.
Emma wandered toward a cabinet.
“Mommy?”
Sophia turned.
Emma was holding an old photograph she had found beneath the desk.
Mrs. Costa stood beside Rafael.
Between them was James.
On the back was an address.
And today’s date.
Dominic reached for his coat.
Then his phone rang.
It was Mrs. Costa.
He answered.
No greeting.
Only her terrified whisper:
“Dominic, Rafael knows Emma has the second key.”
May you like
A crash sounded.
Then Emma screamed from the hallway.
