The bullet shattered the chandelier above Laura's seven-month belly. Her husband—Miami's most feared man—looked at her once, then ran to another woman. He came home to a wedding ring, four words on a folded paper, and blood in a tunnel no one knew existed. Then three years of silence.

Dominic arrived at the address twenty minutes before midnight.

It was an abandoned seafood warehouse near the Miami River, a place that had once belonged to his father. He parked two blocks away and walked the rest of the distance alone, carrying Laura's ring in his pocket.

He had told Marco he was going to meet a source.

He had not told him about the message.

The warehouse doors stood open. Inside, a single work light illuminated a metal table and two chairs. A radio played softly in the corner, tuned to a station that had been off the air for years.

“Hello?”

A figure stepped out from behind a stack of wooden crates.

Dominic raised his gun.

“Don't.”

The man lifted both hands.

He was thin, gray-haired, and wearing a mechanic's uniform. Dominic recognized him after a moment.

“Samuel?”

Samuel Ortiz had worked for Dominic's father. He had disappeared after the old man's funeral, supposedly moving to Tampa to care for his sick wife.

“You're supposed to be dead,” Dominic said.

“So is the woman you're looking for.”

Dominic stepped forward.

“Where is Laura?”

Samuel looked at the gun.

“Put it down.”

“Answer me.”

“I don't know where she is now. I know where she was.”

Dominic lowered the weapon slightly.

“Tell me.”

“Your wife came to me six months ago. She found the ledger you mentioned. She was frightened, but she wasn't confused. She knew someone was using your father's accounts to pay the Salazars.”

“Why didn't she come to me?”

“She tried.”

Dominic remembered the yellow envelope.

Samuel continued.

“She came to the old boathouse because she thought the tunnel was the safest way to reach the documents. Someone followed her. They took the ledger, and they took her.”

“Who?”

“I never saw his face.”

“Then why contact me?”

Samuel pulled a small photograph from his pocket.

It showed a newborn baby wrapped in a hospital blanket. A tiny bracelet circled one wrist.

Dominic's breath stopped.

On the bracelet was a name.

Grace Romano.

“My daughter,” he whispered.

Samuel nodded.

“She was born alive.”

Dominic gripped the photograph so hard its edges bent.

“Where is she?”

“I don't know. The people who took Laura moved her after the delivery.”

“Who delivered the baby?”

“A doctor who worked for your father's old medical contact. He told them the child had died.”

Dominic felt something inside him break.

“You're saying they told Laura her baby died?”

Samuel looked away.

“I don't know what they told her.”

“Why would they do this?”

“Because a living heir changes everything. Your father left certain assets in trust for his first grandchild. If the child was born, the control of those assets would pass outside the organization.”

Dominic stared at the photograph.

He had believed his father had left him an empire. He had never known there was a second inheritance.

“Who knew about the trust?”

“Your father's attorney. Elena Vital. And Marco.”

Dominic's eyes lifted.

“Marco?”

Samuel nodded.

“He signed the original papers.”

Dominic's mind moved through the last three years. Marco had found Laura at the bottom of the stairs. Marco had taken her to the hospital. Marco had been the one to tell him she had left.

No.

He pushed the thought away.

“Where is the doctor?”

Samuel glanced toward the warehouse entrance.

“Not here.”

A metallic click sounded above them.

Dominic turned.

A red laser dot appeared on Samuel's chest.

“Down!” Dominic shouted.

The shot struck Samuel before he could move.

Dominic fired toward the upper platform. A shadow disappeared behind the railing. He dropped beside Samuel, pressing a hand against the wound.

“Stay with me.”