Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO HAD NEVER BEEN DEADDominic ordered the driver to pull over.
For the first time in years, he felt genuinely unprepared for what he was hearing.
His mother, Isabella Moretti, had supposedly died from complications following a sudden illness. Dominic remembered the funeral, the closed casket, and Anthony standing beside him while promising that the family would survive.
He had never questioned the story.
Now Michael was telling him that a financial company connected to Raymond Cross was registered under Isabella's name.
"Explain yourself," Dominic demanded.
"I've been checking the registration documents. The company was created six months ago. Whoever established it used your mother's old identification records."
"That doesn't mean she's alive."
"No. But it means somebody had access to information that should have been sealed."
Dominic ended the call.
Elena watched him carefully.
"Was it bad news?"
"My mother died twelve years ago."
"I'm sorry."
"Apparently, someone disagrees."
He instructed the driver to continue toward Queens.
When they arrived at Noah's school, the parking lot was nearly empty. A frightened security guard explained that a man in a gray coat had approached Noah, claiming Elena had been involved in an accident.
The guard had assumed the man was a relative.
Then he noticed the boy had not returned.
Elena struggled to breathe.
"Where did he take my brother?"
The guard shook his head.
"I don't know. But the man had a school photograph and knew his full name."
Dominic called the police and arranged for the school's security footage to be preserved.
A shop owner across the street agreed to share his exterior camera recordings. Within minutes, Michael's investigator identified the vehicle.
A dark Mercedes with a damaged rear bumper.
The registration belonged to a rental company.
Dominic sent the details to his trusted contacts.
"Find that vehicle. No unnecessary confrontation. The boy comes home unharmed."
Elena grabbed his arm.
"Please don't hurt anyone because of Noah."
Dominic looked at her.
"Your brother is missing. Right now, that's the only thing that matters."
For a moment, she leaned against him, unable to hold herself upright.
He did not pull away.
An hour later, they received a call.
The Mercedes had been spotted near an abandoned commercial building in Long Island City.
Dominic wanted to go immediately, but his investigator warned him that the location might be a trap.
He listened.
For once, he chose patience over anger.
Two officers approached the building first. A second team watched the surrounding streets.
Inside, they found Noah sitting in a small office, frightened but physically unharmed.
A man had abandoned him after receiving a phone call.
Elena ran toward her brother as soon as the officers brought him outside.
"Noah!"
He wrapped his arms around her.
"I thought they were going to take me somewhere."
"You're safe. You're safe now."
Noah looked over her shoulder at Dominic.
"Who is that?"
"Mr. Moretti. He helped me find you."
The boy hesitated.
"Did you send those people?"
"No," Dominic answered. "And I intend to find out who did."
Noah reached into his jacket.
"They gave me something."
He produced a folded piece of paper.
Elena opened it.
There was a handwritten message:
YOUR SISTER KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO MARIA. NEXT TIME, WE WON'T MAKE A MISTAKE.
Dominic took the paper.
"Who gave you this?"
"The man who picked me up. He said it was from someone named Victor."
Dominic's expression darkened.
Back at the mansion, Noah was placed in a secure guest suite with a doctor and two guards. Elena refused to leave his side.
Dominic went directly to the security office.
Victor was absent.
The night supervisor explained that he had taken an emergency leave of absence.
"Did he give a reason?"
"He said his wife was ill."
Dominic knew Victor was unmarried.
He ordered the office sealed and requested a complete audit of its equipment.
Behind a locked cabinet, investigators discovered a second phone and a folder of printed photographs.
One showed Elena entering Dominic's study.
Another showed Noah outside his school.
The final photograph made Dominic's blood run cold.
It showed Maria Santos standing beside a woman in an expensive coat.
The woman had her back to the camera.
But Dominic recognized the distinctive diamond bracelet on her wrist.
May you like
It belonged to his mother.
And the photograph was dated three days earlier.
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