Chapter 20 - The Man Standing Behind the Mafia King|
The recording was only forty-seven seconds long.
Forty-seven seconds that destroyed everything Dominic Vale believed about the night his wife disappeared.
We gathered inside his study shortly after midnight.
Dominic stood beside the computer.
I sat near the fireplace.
Gabriel remained by the door, his arms folded across his chest.
On the screen was a grainy security recording from a service station near the road where Evelyn's vehicle had been attacked.
The timestamp showed 11:43 p.m.
Two years earlier.
A black SUV entered the frame.
Seconds later, a medical transport vehicle stopped beside it.
Three men climbed out.
One of them was Marcus Bell.
Dominic leaned closer.
“Stop.”
The recording paused.
He pointed toward Marcus.
“He told me he wasn't there that night.”
I swallowed.
“Then he lied.”
Dominic restarted the video.
The men opened the rear door.
A woman lay on a stretcher beneath a gray blanket.
Dark hair spilled across the pillow.
Her face turned toward the camera.
Dominic stopped breathing.
“Evelyn.”
His voice broke.
She was alive.
Injured.
Terrified.
But unmistakably alive.
I covered my mouth.
“Dominic…”
He leaned forward, his hands gripping the desk.
The woman on the screen struggled to sit up.
One of the men gently pushed her back.
Then she spoke.
The recording had poor audio, but her words were audible.
“Where's Noah?”
Nobody answered.
She tried again.
“Please. Where's my son?”
Dominic's eyes filled with tears.
He watched the woman he'd mourned for two years begging strangers to tell her whether their child had survived.
Then another man stepped into the frame.
He wore a black suit.
His face was partly hidden.
But his left hand was visible.
A silver watch.
A distinctive ring.
And a narrow scar along his eyebrow when he turned.
I felt my stomach twist.
I had seen that scar before.
Every morning.
Every evening.
On the face of the man guarding Dominic's home.
I slowly turned toward the study door.
Gabriel Knox stood perfectly still.
His expression had changed.
“Gabriel?” I whispered.
Dominic glanced at him.
Then back at the screen.
He enlarged the final frame.
The man's face became clearer.
It was Gabriel.
Dominic stepped backward.
“No.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Dominic stared at him.
“You were there?”
A long silence followed.
Finally, Gabriel answered.
“Yes.”
Dominic's voice became frighteningly quiet.
“You told me you were in Milwaukee.”
“I know.”
“You told me Evelyn died before anyone could save her.”
Gabriel lowered his gaze.
“I know.”
Dominic took a step toward him.
“Then tell me where my wife is.”
Gabriel didn't answer.
I felt my hands begin trembling.
The door behind me creaked.
Noah stood in the hallway, holding his wooden horse.
I immediately hurried toward him.
“Sweetheart, you're supposed to be sleeping.”
He didn't look at me.
He was staring at Gabriel.
His little face had gone pale.
“Clara.”
I crouched.
“Yes?”
Noah pointed toward the man standing beside the door.
“The shadow man.”
My blood turned cold.
“What?”
Noah's voice shook.
“He was there when Mommy cried.”
Dominic slowly turned toward Gabriel.
The room seemed to lose all its air.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then he spoke.
“Dominic, there are things you don't know about your father.”
Dominic stared at him.
“My father is dead.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
Dominic's expression became almost unrecognizable.
“Don't.”
Gabriel looked directly at him.
“Anthony Vale is alive.”
Silence.
A terrible, endless silence.
Then Dominic whispered:
“Where?”
Gabriel swallowed.
“He's been running things from outside the country.”
“Running what?”
“Three Bells. The financial network. The medical facilities.”
Dominic stared.
“The attack on Evelyn?”
Gabriel looked away.
His silence answered enough.
Dominic's voice trembled.
“Where is she?”
Gabriel hesitated.
Then said:
“I helped get her out of the first facility.”
I stopped breathing.
“Did she survive?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Yes.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Where is she now?”
Gabriel's expression changed.
For the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.
“I don't know anymore.”
Then his phone began ringing.
He looked at the screen.
And went completely pale.
Dominic noticed.
“Who is it?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
The ringing continued.
Finally, he turned the phone around.
An incoming video call.
The caller's name displayed on the screen was:
ANTHONY VALE.
Dominic stared.
For a moment, he looked like a little boy himself.
Then Gabriel answered.
A man's face appeared.
Silver hair.
Cold gray eyes.
A sharp jawline that looked disturbingly familiar.
He was older than Dominic.
But the resemblance was unmistakable.
The man smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Dominic couldn't speak.
The man leaned closer to the camera.
“I hear you've finally started asking the right questions.”
Dominic's hands curled into fists.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Anthony's smile disappeared.
“Before we discuss your wife, there's something you need to understand.”
He glanced away from the camera.
A door opened somewhere behind him.
Then he looked back at Dominic.
“Your son remembers more than you think.”
I tightened my arms around Noah.
Anthony continued:
“And the girl helping him remember?”
My blood turned cold.
He was talking about me.
Anthony smiled again.
“She was never supposed to work in your mansion by accident.”
Dominic slowly turned toward me.
I shook my head.
“I don't know what he's talking about.”
Anthony laughed softly.
“Of course she doesn't.”
He leaned closer.
“Dominic, ask Clara why her brother's medical records were transferred to Three Bells six months before you hired her.”
My heart stopped.
Tyler.
The hospital.
The money.
My employment.
All of it.
Dominic's face changed.
“What did you do?”
Anthony smiled.
“Not what you think.”
Then he looked directly into the camera.
“Clara, there's something your mother never told you.”
I felt my legs weaken.
“What?”
His voice became almost gentle.
“Twenty-two years ago, Evelyn Vale wasn't the first woman we needed to silence.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
I couldn't breathe.
Anthony continued:
“Ask your mother what happened to your father.”
The connection ended.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Noah tugged my sleeve.
“Clara?”
I looked down.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
His eyes were enormous.
His voice barely audible.
“Mommy said the bad man had another little girl.”
A terrible chill crawled through my body.
“What little girl?”
Noah stared straight into my eyes.
Then whispered:
May you like
“You.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
