Chapter 6 - Eva's Last Promise
The flash drive remained untouched for almost an hour.
Not because Dominic Rosetti feared what it contained.
Because he feared what it might confirm.
The small waterproof device rested in the center of the conference table while the first rays of morning sunlight reached through the tall windows. Marcus had already disconnected the estate's internal network. A separate encrypted laptop sat ready beside the drive.
"No internet," Marcus said.
"No wireless connections."
"No outside access."
Dominic nodded.
"Only the four of us."
Sophie looked around the room.
Dominic.
Marcus.
Arthur.
And herself.
Lily was still asleep under the supervision of Dr. Moretti.
Arthur hesitated.
"I'm not family."
Dominic looked at the elderly gardener.
"You were Eva's family."
Arthur lowered his eyes.
"Thank you."
Marcus inserted the flash drive.
A single folder appeared.
FOR DOMINIC
Inside was one video file.
Dominic clicked play.
The screen flickered.
Eva Rosetti appeared sitting in the very art studio that now stood upstairs.
She looked thinner than in the family photographs.
Her smile remained warm.
But illness had already left its mark.
"Hello, my stubborn husband."
Dominic looked away for a brief second.
Sophie quietly reached over and paused her hand near his on the table without touching him.
He noticed.
Then looked back at the screen.
"If you're watching this," Eva continued gently, "one of two things has happened."
She smiled sadly.
"Either Lily has finally convinced you to organize my studio..."
Arthur laughed through tears.
"...or the danger I feared has reached our family."
Her expression slowly became serious.
"Dominic."
"I know you."
"You've spent your whole life believing strength means protecting everyone yourself."
She shook her head.
"You're wrong."
The room fell completely silent.
"Strength is knowing when someone else's heart is stronger than your own."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
Eva continued.
"If Lily is in danger, don't search for the strongest soldier."
"Don't search for the smartest investigator."
"Search for the person who stayed when leaving would have been easier."
Sophie's breath caught.
Eva smiled again.
"If that person exists..."
"...trust them."
The video paused automatically before beginning a second recording.
This one looked different.
Eva stood beside the old stone gazebo that had once occupied the eastern gardens.
She pointed toward the carved wolf crest.
"There are things about this family I never wanted Lily to inherit."
She placed her hand against one particular stone.
"But there are also things I hoped she never lost."
The camera moved closer.
Inside the carved wolf was a small inscription.
Honor before power.
Eva touched the words gently.
"My father-in-law told me the Rosetti family forgot these words long before Dominic was born."
She looked directly into the camera.
"I believe my husband can remember them."
The third recording lasted less than thirty seconds.
It changed everything.
Eva stood beside Daniel Cross.
Alive.
Healthy.
Smiling.
Daniel looked several years younger.
"If you're watching this," Eva said, "Daniel has already fulfilled the promise he made me."
She turned toward him.
"Thank you for protecting Lily."
Sophie's eyes widened.
Marcus immediately paused the video.
Nobody spoke.
Finally Sophie whispered,
"Daniel?"
Dominic stared at the frozen frame.
"No..."
Marcus replayed it.
Again.
Daniel wasn't threatening Eva.
He wasn't hiding.
He looked loyal.
Comfortable.
Trusted.
Arthur slowly removed his glasses.
"I don't understand."
Neither did Sophie.
If Daniel had promised to protect Lily...
Why had he abandoned her in the alley?
Marcus resumed the recording.
Eva continued speaking.
"Daniel knows something no one else in this house knows."
She smiled.
"If he ever disappears..."
"...he didn't betray us."
The video ended.
Silence filled the room.
Dominic slowly stood.
"Everything we believed..."
Marcus finished the sentence.
"...was wrong."
Before anyone could speak again, Marcus's phone vibrated.
He answered immediately.
"Yes."
His expression changed.
"When?"
He looked toward Dominic.
"They found Daniel."
Every person in the room froze.
"Alive?"
Marcus listened.
"Bring him here."
He ended the call.
"He's alive."
Sophie exhaled.
"They found him forty miles outside Chicago."
"In an abandoned warehouse."
Dominic frowned.
"What condition?"
Marcus answered quietly.
"He'd been chained to a wall."
Two hours later Daniel Cross entered the mansion under heavy guard.
He looked nothing like the photograph.
His beard had grown thick.
Bruises covered his face.
His wrists were raw from restraints.
He struggled to stand.
The moment he saw Dominic...
He lowered his head.
"I'm sorry."
Dominic didn't speak.
Daniel looked at Sophie.
"You found her."
"Yes."
Tears filled Daniel's eyes.
"Thank God."
Marcus stared.
"You expected her to survive?"
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"I prayed."
Dominic finally spoke.
"Explain."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"They took Lily before I could stop them."
"They?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I never worked for them."
"I was trying to protect her."
Marcus crossed his arms.
"Then why were you in the alley?"
"They forced me."
Daniel's voice shook as he continued.
"They kidnapped my younger brother six months ago."
"They threatened to kill him unless I followed orders."
Dominic remained expressionless.
"What orders?"
"Gain access to Lily."
"Report her movements."
"And eventually..."
He swallowed hard.
"...leave her where they told me."
Sophie's heart sank.
"You stabbed her?"
Daniel looked horrified.
"No."
"Never."
"I couldn't."
He took a shaky breath.
"When the time came..."
"I refused."
Marcus leaned forward.
"Then how was she injured?"
Daniel's answer stunned the room.
"I tried to stop the real attacker."
Daniel rolled up his sleeve.
A long scar crossed his forearm.
"They stabbed me."
"I fought back."
"I managed to carry Lily into the alley."
"I called for help."
"My phone was destroyed."
He looked toward Sophie.
"When I heard someone coming..."
"I hid."
"Because I knew they'd kill anyone who saw me."
Sophie's memories rushed back.
The moving curtain.
The blood found upstairs.
The missing phone.
Everything fit.
Dominic's voice became almost inaudible.
"The surveillance photo."
"They forced me to stand there."
Daniel nodded.
"They wanted it to look like I abandoned her."
Marcus slowly lowered his eyes.
"We hunted the wrong man."
"But who?" Sophie asked.
Daniel looked directly at Dominic.
"The only person Lily would willingly follow."
Nobody answered.
Daniel continued.
"Someone she trusted."
He reached into his pocket.
Marcus instinctively moved forward.
"It's okay," Daniel said.
"It's for Lily."
He carefully unfolded a small drawing.
Crayon.
Childlike handwriting.
A smiling family.
At the corner was another adult.
A woman.
Dark hair.
Elegant dress.
Sophie frowned.
"Who is she?"
Daniel answered.
"Lily calls her Aunt Isabella."
Dominic's face changed instantly.
"No."
Arthur whispered,
"She came back?"
Sophie looked between them.
"Who is Isabella?"
Dominic walked slowly toward the window.
"My cousin."
"I haven't seen her in eight years."
"She disappeared after arguing with my father over the family business."
Daniel nodded.
"She didn't disappear."
"She built her own organization."
Marcus immediately understood.
"And now she's returned."
Daniel looked toward Dominic.
"She believes everything should have belonged to her branch of the family."
Sophie finally understood.
"This was never about money."
"No."
Dominic looked at Lily's drawing.
"It was revenge."
Just then the conference room door opened.
Lily walked in wearing her light-blue pajamas, holding her stuffed rabbit.
She looked sleepy.
"Daddy?"
Dominic immediately crossed the room.
"You should be resting."
"I had a dream."
"What kind of dream?"
She looked around the room.
Then smiled when she saw Daniel.
"You came back."
Daniel couldn't stop crying.
"I'm sorry, little bird."
She walked over and hugged him as tightly as her healing ribs allowed.
"I knew you didn't leave me."
The room fell silent once again.
Children, Sophie realized, sometimes saw the truth long before adults did.
Lily looked up at her father.
"Can we help him now?"
Dominic looked at Daniel.
Then at Sophie.
Then at the words frozen on Eva's final video.
Honor before power.
For the first time in many years, Dominic Rosetti made a decision not as the head of a powerful family...
But as the husband Eva had believed he could still become.
"Yes," he said quietly.
"We're going to help him."
Outside the conference room windows, the estate looked peaceful once more.
But somewhere beyond the iron gates, Isabella Rosetti had learned that Lily was alive.
And she had just discovered something even more dangerous.
May you like
The people inside the mansion had finally stopped suspecting one another.
Now they stood together.
