Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO KISSED A MONSTER|
Dominic didn't move.
Serena's warning hung between them, more dangerous than any confession.
“Explain,” he said.
She looked toward the windows. Rain streamed down the glass, and the garden lights flickered beneath the storm.
“Not here.”
“You have three seconds to decide whether you want to tell me the truth.”
Serena's jaw tightened.
“You think threatening me will make me talk?”
“No. I think reminding you that a child is in danger might.”
For a moment, the mask slipped.
“I know what that family does to people who disappoint them,” she whispered.
“What family?”
“The people who wear the ring.”
Dominic placed his glass on the table.
“You've been working with them.”
Serena didn't answer.
“That wasn't a question.”
“Yes.”
The admission was so quiet that he almost missed it.
Dominic stepped away from the table. He wanted to grab her shoulders, force every hidden truth out of her, and demand to know why she had allowed a child to live under the shadow of her secrets.
Instead, he kept his voice controlled.
“How long?”
“Two years.”
“Before or after Emily died?”
Serena looked up sharply.
“Emily's death had nothing to do with me.”
“Then why did my dead wife's letter warn me about you?”
Serena's expression changed.
“You found her letter?”
“Answer me.”
She closed her eyes.
“I was told Emily had stolen something from them. Something that belonged to your father.”
“The blue key?”
Serena nodded slowly.
“They believed Emily hid it before she died.”
Dominic felt the room tilt around him.
“Who told you this?”
“Victor Sloane.”
The name was familiar. Victor was a financier whose legitimate investments had helped several criminal families move money through respectable institutions. He had attended Dominic's father's funeral and later offered to help Dominic stabilize the family's businesses.
Dominic had refused most of his proposals.
Apparently, Victor had not forgotten.
“What does Victor want with Rose?”
Serena shook her head.
“I don't know everything. I was told the child might have inherited information from Emily. I was supposed to watch her, locate the key, and report anything unusual.”
“And the letters?”
“Instructions.”
“Who sent them?”
“I never met the person who delivered them.”
Dominic laughed without humor.
“You expect me to believe you spent eighteen months in my home without knowing who you were working for?”
“I knew enough to be afraid.”
“Yet you stayed.”
Serena's eyes glistened.
“I had a younger brother. He disappeared after I refused to cooperate. They sent me a photograph of him in a room with no windows. The message said I would never see him again unless I did what they wanted.”
Dominic studied her.
He understood coercion. He had seen men forced into terrible choices by threats against their families.
But he also knew that fear could become an excuse for every betrayal a person was too weak to confront.
“Where is your brother now?”
“I don't know.”
“Why didn't you come to me?”
“Because I was afraid you would kill me.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“You have been living in my house, kissing me, and watching my daughter. You should have been more afraid of what would happen if you harmed her.”
Serena lowered her head.
“I never intended to hurt Rose.”
“Intentions don't erase consequences.”
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
The mansion plunged into darkness.
A second later, the emergency lighting activated, bathing the room in red.
Dominic drew his weapon and moved toward the door.
“Stay here.”
Serena grabbed his arm.
“Don't go upstairs.”
He turned.
“Why?”
“Because that's where they will look first.”
The security alarm sounded.
Then came three sharp reports from somewhere near the eastern wing.
Dominic ran.
He reached Rose's bedroom to find the door open and the curtains moving in the wind. A window stood shattered, and a small ladder had been thrown against the exterior wall.
Mrs. Alvarez lay unconscious near the wardrobe.
Dominic dropped to his knees beside her.
“Get medical help!” he shouted into his radio.
Marcus answered immediately.
“What's your position?”
“Rose's room. We have an intruder.”
“Where's the girl?”
Dominic looked around.
The bed was empty.
So was the little pink backpack she kept beside it.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
“Rose!”
He searched the adjoining bathroom, the closet, and the corridor. Nothing.
Then he noticed a small piece of paper beneath the pillow.
It contained a single sentence.
Bring us the blue key, or the child disappears.
Dominic crushed the paper in his fist.
Behind him, Serena appeared at the doorway.
She took one look at his face and began to cry.
“They know you found the letter.”
“Who took her?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic stepped toward her.
“You have ten seconds to give me something useful.”
Serena wiped her eyes and stared at the shattered window.
“The people who took Rose aren't the ones who sent the letters.”
He froze.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Victor isn't the one in charge.”
She reached into her pocket and produced a photograph.
It showed a man standing beside Emily Bennett at a charity event, his face partly turned away from the camera.
On his right hand was a black ring carved with a wolf.
Serena's voice broke.
“Dominic, the man who ordered this isn't a stranger.”
She turned the photograph over.
May you like
The name written on the back was one Dominic had buried with his father fifteen years earlier.
ANTHONY VITALE.
