Chapter 8 - The Wrong Traitor
Dominic called the number back before the screen had gone dark.
It was already disconnected.
Luca took the phone and began tracing the call through systems Hannah did not understand.
Dominic stood motionless beside the SUV.
Hannah had never seen a human face hold so many emotions without actually changing expression.
"Was it her?"
He looked at Hannah.
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
"I know my wife's voice."
"After eighteen months?"
His gaze hardened.
"Yes."
Hannah nodded.
"Okay."
That single word seemed to steady him more than an argument would have.
Luca looked up from the phone.
"Call bounced through three VoIP relays, but the originating tower was in Jersey City."
"How precise?"
"Maybe a mile."
"Send people."
"Already did."
Dominic opened the SUV door.
"We go back to the girls first."
Hannah agreed.
The medical suite felt wrong the moment they entered.
Too quiet.
Rosa met them in the corridor.
"They're sleeping."
Dominic looked toward the guarded door.
"Where is Sofia?"
"Still at the townhouse."
"And the staff here?"
"Only the two nurses Luca approved."
Luca's phone buzzed.
He read a message.
His face changed.
"What?"
Dominic asked.
"The photo Matteo sent was taken inside an old Vale distribution building in Jersey City."
Dominic turned.
"Which building?"
"Pier Twelve annex."
"That's been empty for years."
"Not tonight."
Luca showed him an aerial security feed.
Three vehicles were parked behind the building.
Dominic's eyes went cold.
"We move now."
Hannah stepped forward.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"She's my sister."
"If Elena is there, Matteo may be using her as bait."
"Then he expects you."
"Exactly."
"He may not expect me."
Dominic looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
"You have no training."
"I can sit in a car."
"You are terrible at sitting where you're told."
"Then keep the child locks on."
Luca looked between them.
"She's right about one thing."
Dominic turned on him.
"Choose the next words carefully."
"If Elena sees Hannah, it may help us confirm we're not dealing with a decoy or staged recording."
Dominic swore quietly.
"Fine."
Hannah lifted a finger.
"Was that another apology?"
"Get in the car."
The convoy reached Jersey City after dark.
Rain had returned, turning the industrial streets black and reflective.
The Pier Twelve annex stood behind rusting fencing near the river.
Half the windows were broken.
One loading-bay door was open six inches.
Dominic ordered Hannah to remain in the armored SUV with a driver and one guard.
For once, she agreed.
He and Luca disappeared with six men through the side of the building.
Ten minutes passed.
Then fifteen.
Hannah stared at the dark warehouse.
Her phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number appeared.
IF YOU WANT YOUR SISTER, COME ALONE TO THE EAST DOOR.
Hannah's stomach dropped.
She looked at the guard in the front passenger seat.
He was watching the warehouse.
The driver was looking at a tablet.
Hannah knew immediately that leaving the vehicle would be stupid.
She also knew whoever sent the message could see her.
She typed back.
PROVE SHE IS THERE.
A photograph appeared.
Elena sat in a metal chair with her hands apparently free.
She held today's newspaper.
Hannah's pulse jumped.
Another message followed.
EAST DOOR.
TWO MINUTES.
Hannah called Dominic.
No signal.
She tried Luca.
Nothing.
The SUV's communications display flickered.
Jammed.
"Something's wrong."
The driver looked back.
"What?"
Before Hannah could answer, the guard beside him turned and pointed a gun directly at the driver.
"Hands off the wheel."
Hannah froze.
The driver's face went pale.
"Evan?"
The guard glanced at Hannah.
"Open the rear door."
"No."
"Ms. Mercer, don't make me hurt him."
Hannah stared at the gun.
"You work for Matteo."
"Open the door."
She reached slowly toward the handle.
Then the rear window exploded inward.
Hannah screamed and dropped.
A black-clad arm reached through, grabbed the traitorous guard by the collar, and slammed his head against the door frame.
The gun fired into the dashboard.
The driver lunged sideways.
Hannah kicked the weapon away.
The rear door opened.
Luca dragged the guard out onto the pavement.
Dominic appeared behind him, furious.
"Are you hit?"
"No."
"Did he touch you?"
"No."
Dominic pulled her from the SUV and checked her arms anyway.
Hannah held up the phone.
"They sent me this."
He looked at the image.
"It's a trap."
"I know."
"For once."
"Don't ruin the moment."
Luca hauled the guard upright.
"Who changed the security rotation?"
The man spat blood.
"Go to hell."
Luca's expression did not change.
"Wrong answer."
Dominic held out his hand.
"Give me his phone."
The guard laughed.
"You're already too late."
A deep boom came from inside the warehouse.
Flames burst through two upper windows.
Dominic turned.
"Elena."
He ran toward the building.
Hannah followed before anyone could stop her.
Smoke poured through the loading bay.
Luca shouted her name from behind, but she kept moving.
Inside, sprinklers had failed.
Fire raced along stacked wooden pallets.
Dominic disappeared into the smoke.
Hannah covered her mouth with her sleeve and followed the sound of his voice.
"Elena!"
No answer.
A side room door stood open.
Hannah saw the metal chair from the photograph.
Empty.
The newspaper lay on the floor.
"Dominic!"
He appeared through smoke.
"She's gone."
Hannah pointed at the chair.
"She was here."
A beam cracked above them.
Dominic grabbed Hannah around the waist and pulled her backward as burning wood crashed where she had been standing.
"Out."
"There may be another room."
"Out now."
They reached the loading bay as firefighters approached from the street.
Luca met them outside, furious.
"You both ignore instructions like it's hereditary."
Hannah coughed.
"Not related."
"Close enough tonight."
Dominic stared at the burning building.
"Where is the guard?"
Luca's face tightened.
"Gone."
Dominic turned slowly.
"What do you mean gone?"
"Someone shot the tire of our second vehicle, triggered the fire alarm across the street, and used the confusion to pull him into a van."
"Our people let that happen?"
"Our people were trying to keep you from burning alive."
Dominic's expression said that answer did not satisfy him.
Hannah looked at the warehouse.
"This was planned to make us chase the wrong person."
Luca nodded.
"Probably."
"Then what were they doing while we were here?"
Every face changed at once.
Dominic grabbed his phone.
The jammed signal had cleared.
Seventeen missed calls.
All from Rosa.
He called back.
She answered crying.
"Dominic."
"The girls?"
"They're safe."
He closed his eyes.
"What happened?"
"Sofia came to the suite."
"How?"
"She had Luca's authorization code."
Luca went pale.
"I never sent one."
Rosa continued.
"She tried to take Emma."
Hannah's stomach turned.
"Where is Sofia now?"
Dominic asked.
"Security stopped her."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
Dominic looked at Luca.
"Do not let anyone speak to her until I get there."
They returned to Manhattan at a speed Hannah preferred not to think about.
Sofia sat in a locked consultation room with two guards outside.
When Hannah entered behind Dominic, the nanny looked devastated.
"I didn't want to do it."
Dominic closed the door.
"You had one job."
"I know."
"You helped raise my daughters."
"I know."
"You tried to take one."
Sofia began crying.
"They have my brother."
Dominic stopped.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Matteo?"
"I never saw him."
"Then who gave you the code?"
"A woman."
Hannah stepped closer.
"What woman?"
Sofia looked at her.
Her face crumpled.
"She looked like you."
Hannah's blood ran cold.
Dominic did not move.
"Elena?"
Sofia nodded.
"She called me two weeks ago."
The room became silent.
"She said Dominic was dangerous."
Sofia sobbed.
"She said the girls had to be taken away from him before Matteo could use them."
Dominic's face went blank.
Hannah stared at Sofia.
"Did she say where she was?"
"No."
"Did she explain why she stayed away for eighteen months?"
"She said she was trying to survive."
Dominic turned his back.
Sofia kept talking.
"She said if I loved the girls, I would help her."
"And then someone took my brother and sent me a photograph."
"They told me I had to bring Emma tonight."
Luca leaned closer.
"Where?"
Sofia looked at him.
"An address in the Bronx."
Dominic turned back.
"Give it to us."
Sofia recited the address.
Luca typed it into his phone.
His face changed.
"What?"
Hannah asked.
He looked at Dominic.
"It's a private rehabilitation clinic."
"Who owns it?"
Luca swallowed.
"We do."
Dominic stared at him.
"What?"
"Vale Health Holdings bought it four years ago."
"Under whose division?"
Luca checked.
"Matteo's."
Hannah felt the pieces move again.
"If Elena has been alive this whole time..."
She could barely finish.
Dominic did it for her.
"Then Matteo may have hidden her inside my own company."
Sofia's confession did not end when she gave them the clinic address.
She also admitted Elena had asked one strange question during their first secret call.
"She asked whether the girls still slept with the white-noise machine."
Dominic frowned.
"Why?"
Sofia wiped her eyes.
"I told her yes."
"Then what?"
"She told me to open the battery compartment."
Luca immediately left the room.
He returned ten minutes later carrying the machine inside an evidence bag.
A tiny memory card had been taped behind the batteries.
Dominic stared.
"How long has that been there?"
Sofia shook her head.
"I don't know."
Luca inserted the card into an isolated laptop.
It contained short audio clips recorded in the nursery during the weeks before Elena's crash.
Most were ordinary sounds.
Babies crying.
Rosa singing.
Dominic reading a picture book badly.
Then one file captured Elena whispering to someone late at night.
"If anything happens to me, the girls stay with Dominic."
A man's voice answered.
"That may not be your choice."
Hannah looked at Dominic.
The voice was Adrian Cole's, although none of them knew that yet.
Elena spoke again.
"It is legally my choice."
The man laughed softly.
"Legal choices are only as strong as the people who enforce them."
The clip ended.
Dominic's face turned cold.
"Who was in my nursery threatening my wife?"
Luca saved the file.
"We'll identify him."
Hannah looked toward Sofia.
"Elena hid this because she knew someone close was involved."
May you like
Sofia nodded miserably.
The clinic address suddenly felt less like a lead and more like the entrance to a conspiracy Elena had been documenting in secret for months.
