Chapter 2 - The Man in the Rain
Nobody moved.
The voice came again.
“Vincent. Open the door.”
Alina held Mia tighter.
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“Who is it?”
Vincent didn’t answer immediately.
His gaze remained fixed on the door.
Finally he said, “Someone who shouldn’t be here.”
Dominic moved to the side and opened it cautiously.
An elderly man stood outside.
He was thin, silver-haired, and dressed in a dark wool coat. His hands were empty.
Vincent stared at him.
“Salvatore.”
The old man nodded.
“Been a long time.”
“Eleven years.”
“Closer to twelve.”
Alina looked between them.
Vincent’s voice remained cold.
“My father’s funeral was the last time I saw you.”
Salvatore glanced at Mia.
“And now I know why I had to come back.”
Vincent stepped into his path.
“You don’t look at the child. You look at me.”
Salvatore did.
“I came because somebody made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“They let her see them.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
Dominic shut the door.
“Start talking.”
Salvatore had once served as legal counsel to Vincent’s father.
After the elder Marchetti died, Salvatore disappeared from Chicago.
Vincent had assumed retirement.
Now Salvatore told them that assumption had been encouraged.
Vincent’s father had spent his final years quietly separating legitimate family companies from dangerous old associations.
Not everyone benefited.
Some people lost money.
Others lost influence.
Salvatore had helped him document the transition.
“And the ring?” Vincent asked.
Salvatore looked at the frozen security image.
“That isn’t your father’s ring.”
“It has his crest.”
“There were two.”
Vincent stared.
“My father had a duplicate made?”
“No.”
Salvatore’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone made one without his permission.”
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
Vincent gave a humorless laugh.
“You crossed three states to tell me you don’t know?”
“I came because of the car.”
Everyone went silent.
“How did you know about the car?” Dominic asked.
Salvatore looked toward Vincent.
“Because it happened once before.”
Vincent stopped breathing for a beat.
“To my father?”
Salvatore nodded.
“Eleven years ago.”
Alina saw the shift in Vincent immediately.
His father’s death had officially been attributed to natural causes after a sudden medical emergency.
Vincent had never publicly questioned it.
Apparently Salvatore had.
“What was under his car?” Vincent asked.
“We never found out. Your father refused to use it after one of the gardeners reported seeing somebody near the garage.”
“Why wasn’t I told?”
“Your father ordered me not to tell you.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“He’s dead. You’re alive. Try again.”
Salvatore’s face tightened.
“He was trying to get you out.”
“Out of what?”
“The life everyone assumed you would inherit.”
That answer landed harder than Alina expected.
Vincent looked away.
For years, he had believed his father had considered him too soft for the old world and too stubborn for the new one.
Now Salvatore was suggesting something different.
Protection.
Dominic interrupted.
“We need facts. Who had access three nights ago?”
Frank’s records showed seven employees, two contractors, and three members of Vincent’s security staff had entered the property during the relevant hours.
But there was a problem.
One gate entry had no name.
At 1:47 a.m., the east service gate opened.
No badge.
No authorization code.
No vehicle record.
It closed forty-one seconds later.
“Impossible,” Dominic said.
Frank stood across the room.
“Not impossible.”
Everyone looked at him.
Frank swallowed.
“The system has a maintenance override.”
“Who knows it?”
“Me. Dominic. Vincent.”
Vincent stared at him.
“Anyone else?”
Frank hesitated.
“The original installer.”
“Name?”
“Company folded years ago.”
Vincent took one step forward.
“Frank.”
Frank rubbed his forehead.
“And your father knew it.”
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then why mention him?”
“Because somebody using his ring also used a code he knew.”
Silence.
Mia slipped from Alina’s arms.
She walked toward the frozen security image.
“Not him.”
Vincent crouched beside her.
“What?”
Mia pointed at the screen.
“Not rain man.”
Dominic frowned.
“This isn’t the man you saw?”
Mia shook her head.
Alina’s pulse quickened.
“Baby, are you sure?”
“Rain man big.”
She stretched her arms wide.
“Big?”
Mia nodded.
“Hair.”
She touched her shoulders.
Vincent became still.
Long hair.
Like his.
The image on the camera showed a slimmer person with a hat.
That meant there had been two people.
One beneath the SUV.
Another outside Mia’s window.
Dominic said it aloud.
“We’re looking for two individuals.”
Salvatore’s face darkened.
“Then this is worse than I thought.”
Vincent turned.
“Why?”
“Because the duplicate ring was never worn by the people doing the work.”
“What does that mean?”
“It was worn by the person giving instructions.”
Vincent’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Dominic told him not to answer.
Vincent answered anyway.
“Marchetti.”
Silence.
Then distorted breathing.
Finally a voice.
“You should have gotten into the car.”
Vincent’s eyes sharpened.
“Who is this?”
“You were supposed to leave the estate this morning.”
“What did you put underneath it?”
A pause.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“Why did the child have to see?”
The line went dead.
Alina’s face went white.
Vincent immediately called his technical security team.
The number had been masked.
Tracking it would take time.
He looked at Alina.
“You and Mia are staying somewhere else.”
Alina shook her head.
“No.”
“That wasn’t—”
“I know. Not a request.”
For the first time, anger entered her voice.
“But moving us without knowing who is watching might make things worse.”
Vincent studied her.
She continued.
“My daughter noticed something none of your trained adults noticed. Whoever did this already knows where she sleeps. I’m not putting her into another car until I know who knows where we’re going.”
Dominic glanced at Vincent.
“She has a point.”
Vincent clearly disliked hearing it.
But he nodded.
“Main house. Interior rooms. Two security people outside.”
“No strangers near her.”
“Agreed.”
“And I stay with her.”
“Obviously.”
Alina looked surprised.
Vincent almost smiled.
Almost.
They returned to the mansion.
By afternoon, the inspection of the SUV had produced a disturbing but incomplete answer.
The black object was electronic.
But it had been damaged by water and could not immediately be identified with certainty.
Vincent ordered it preserved for professionals.
No guessing.
No assumptions.
They needed evidence.
Meanwhile, Dominic began reconstructing the missing security footage.
At 5:18 p.m., he found something.
A backup camera inside the detached greenhouse had not been connected to the main system.
It captured part of the driveway.
Vincent, Alina, Dominic, and Salvatore gathered around the monitor.
Rain streaked the image.
At 1:52 a.m., a figure appeared.
Large.
Dark coat.
Long hair.
The man approached the SUV.
Mia whispered, “Rain man.”
Vincent leaned closer.
The figure knelt.
A flashlight appeared.
Thirty seconds later, he stood.
Then turned toward the greenhouse.
For one frame, lightning illuminated his face.
Alina gasped.
Dominic froze.
Vincent said nothing.
The man looked astonishingly like Vincent.
Not identical.
Older.
Rougher.
But similar enough to make the room feel suddenly smaller.
Salvatore gripped the back of a chair.
“No.”
Vincent turned.
“You know him.”
Salvatore shook his head.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
Vincent’s voice dropped.
“You came into my house after twelve years. You told me my father hid things from me. Now a man who looks like my blood is crawling beneath my vehicle.”
Salvatore looked defeated.
“Your father made me promise.”
“He’s not here to release you from it.”
“No.”
“I am.”
Salvatore slowly sat down.
“His name is Gabriel.”
Vincent frowned.
“Gabriel who?”
Before Salvatore could answer, the mansion lights went out.
Mia screamed.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Dominic’s phone sounded.
“East door breach.”
Vincent moved toward Alina and Mia.
Then footsteps came from the dark hallway.
Slow.
Heavy.
Approaching.
A silhouette appeared at the far end.
Long hair.
Broad shoulders.
The man from the rain stepped into the emergency light.
He looked directly at Vincent.
May you like
Then he spoke.
“Hello, brother.”
