Chapter 9 - Someone Inside Dominic's Family
Evan pointed the weapon past them.
Not at them.
A man emerged from the shadows.
Carlo.
He had escaped.
Evan fired into the ceiling.
Carlo dropped his gun.
Dominic's men seized him.
Kaye exhaled.
“You could have said his name.”
“I panicked.”
“You've had six years to practice communication.”
Even Dominic almost smiled.
They opened the red door.
Mateo was tied to a chair.
Alive.
August was gone.
Again.
But he had left a laptop.
On it was a video.
August appeared.
“If you're watching this, Dominic, you've chosen the woman and her child over your family legacy.”
Dominic watched without expression.
“You always misunderstood power. Your father did too. Power isn't money. It's deciding what another person is allowed to lose.”
Kaye hated him instantly.
The video continued.
August claimed the evidence on the hard drive implicated dozens of people.
Judges.
Police.
Business owners.
Politicians.
He intended to destroy it.
But first, he wanted Michael.
Dominic closed the laptop.
“He's going to the clinic.”
They called.
No answer.
They drove.
Michael's room was empty.
Helen was gone too.
A nurse had been bribed.
On Michael's pillow lay an envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Dominic and Michael as children.
On the back:
ONE BROTHER FOR ANOTHER.
Dominic finally cracked.
He punched the wall.
Kaye grabbed his wrist before he could do it again.
“Stop.”
“He took Michael twice.”
“And we're going to get him back twice.”
Dominic looked at her.
“How are you still standing?”
“Because Toby needs breakfast tomorrow.”
The simplicity of it silenced him.
Mateo discovered August had chartered a private aircraft.
Departure scheduled for dawn.
But Kaye noticed the airport was thirty miles away.
August had less than forty minutes.
They could intercept him.
Twenty men moved.
At the private airfield, Dominic blocked the runway with SUVs.
August's vehicle arrived.
Stopped.
For ten seconds, nobody moved.
Then Helen stepped out.
Alone.
Dominic approached.
“Where's Michael?”
Helen looked terrified.
“He changed the plan.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Kaye studied her mother.
Helen wouldn't meet her eyes.
“You're lying.”
“Kaye—”
“You always touch your necklace when you lie.”
Helen's hand dropped.
Dominic stared.
Helen began crying.
“He has Toby again.”
Kaye's world stopped.
“No.”
“He sent someone to the police station.”
Kaye called.
No answer.
She called the officer assigned to Toby.
Nothing.
Then her phone buzzed.
A video.
Toby sat in a vehicle.
Beside him was Michael.
Alive.
August leaned into frame.
“Bring Dominic alone.”
Kaye watched the video again.
Something was wrong.
Toby was looking downward.
His fingers moved against his knee.
Tap.
Tap-tap.
Tap.
A game Kaye had taught him.
Their secret code.
Three numbers.
Kaye knew exactly what they meant.
Locker 416.
At Cedar Ridge bus station.
They arrived twenty minutes later.
Kaye opened locker 416.
Inside was Toby's glasses case.
And a note written in his handwriting.
MOM, DON'T TRUST GRANDMA.
Kaye slowly turned toward Helen.
But Helen was no longer standing behind them.
She was running.
Dominic shouted.
Mateo chased her.
Helen reached a waiting car.
The passenger door opened.
Kaye saw the driver.
And suddenly understood why her mother had been lying.
The driver was August Vale.
Helen climbed inside.
Before the door closed, she looked directly at Kaye and screamed one sentence:
“HE'S NOT THE MAN WHO TOOK TOBY!”
The car sped away.
May you like
Kaye stood frozen.
Because if August wasn't the kidnapper, someone else had been controlling every move from the beginning...
