Chapter 6 - TEN MINUTES TO SAVE THE BOYDominic had faced armed enemies without blinking.
He had negotiated with men who wanted his territory, survived assassination attempts, and watched businesses worth hundreds of millions collapse overnight.
But seeing Noah trapped in his own mansion made his hands tighten.
"Michael, find another exit."
His attorney examined the emergency panel.
"The main doors are electronically locked. Someone has overridden the system."
"Can you disable it?"
"Give me a few minutes."
"We don't have a few minutes."
Elena approached the monitor.
"That's not Noah's room."
Dominic turned.
"What?"
"Look at the curtains. They're from the upstairs guest suite, not the room where he's sleeping."
She pointed toward the screen.
"The man is standing near the eastern window. That room has a connecting bathroom and a service door."
Dominic immediately understood.
The image was live, but the room had been selected deliberately to frighten them.
"He's showing us a recording."
Michael examined the transmission.
"She's right. The image is delayed."
Dominic looked at Elena with new respect.
"How long?"
"At least thirty minutes. I cleaned that room this afternoon."
A small opportunity had appeared.
Dominic contacted the guards stationed outside the guest suite through an encrypted channel. They confirmed Noah was still safe.
He ordered them to move the boy to another location inside the mansion without using the electronic security system.
Then he turned toward the hidden passage.
"There's another way out?"
Elena nodded.
"The old laundry tunnel."
Michael stared at her.
"Where does it lead?"
"To the garage."
They hurried through the narrow corridor. Dominic carried the black envelope, while Elena followed closely.
Halfway through the passage, they heard a metallic click.
A security shutter began descending.
Dominic pushed Elena through the opening.
"Keep moving!"
He barely cleared the shutter before it struck the floor.
The tunnel opened behind a maintenance room.
Two guards were waiting.
One reported that Noah had been moved successfully.
Dominic exhaled.
Then his phone received an incoming call.
Anthony.
Dominic answered.
"Your little performance didn't work."
Anthony laughed.
"You're still protecting that girl?"
"She's done nothing wrong."
"That's what your father said about Isabella."
Dominic froze.
"What did you do to my mother?"
"Ask her yourself."
The call ended.
A location appeared in a text message.
An abandoned private clinic in Westchester.
Beneath it were the words:
SHE'S WAITING FOR YOU.
Dominic immediately suspected a trap.
Michael advised him to contact the authorities and verify the address before approaching.
Dominic agreed.
Elena remained beside him.
"Do you think she's alive?"
He looked at the photograph again.
"I don't know."
"Then we'll find out."
He studied her face.
"You don't have to get involved anymore. Noah is safe. I can arrange a place for you both."
Elena shook her head.
"Maria disappeared because she tried to tell the truth. Your mother has been missing for twelve years. And someone is still threatening children to keep this secret buried."
She took a breath.
"I don't want to spend the rest of my life being afraid."
Dominic said nothing.
For a moment, he saw the person beneath the uniform: a young woman who had lost her parents, worked exhausting hours, and still found the courage to stand against people who could destroy her.
He placed a protective hand on her shoulder.
"Then we finish this together."
Before they could leave, Michael received a message from his investigator.
A vehicle registered to Anthony's private security company had been seen leaving the clinic.
The passenger was a woman.
Her face was visible in the surveillance photograph.
Dominic enlarged it.
His mother.
Alive.
But the timestamp revealed something even more disturbing.
The photograph had been taken that morning.
And the woman had been carrying a small child's photograph in her hand.
Dominic recognized the child immediately.
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It was him.
His mother had never forgotten her son.
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