Chapter 5 - THE GIRL HE THOUGHT NO ONE WOULD SAVE
“I want to speak to her.”
“No.”
“Lucian.”
“You’re not in a position to command anything.”
I had killed men for less.
But anger was useless when the person I wanted dead was holding a seven-year-old child.
“What do you want?”
“Now we understand each other.”
Behind Lucian’s voice, I could hear traffic.
Maybe a truck.
A horn.
Water.
Calvin stood beside me with a notepad.
I motioned for him to trace the call.
Lucian continued.
“You have documents that belong to me.”
“Your room is full of documents.”
“You know which ones.”
“The medical records?”
“And Rose Bennett’s statement.”
“She hasn’t given one.”
“Not yet.”
“So you want evidence.”
“I want everything connecting me to Harlan, the clinic, and the trust.”
“And Mia comes home.”
Silence.
Then Lucian said, “Perhaps.”
Wrong answer.
I closed my eyes.
For twelve years, Lucian had taught me that hesitation was weakness.
He had forgotten who learned the lesson.
“If you harm her, there is nowhere on earth you can hide.”
He chuckled.
“There’s the Dominic I remember.”
“No. You don’t know this version.”
I looked toward Leo sleeping in Mrs. Harlow’s arms.
“This version has something to lose.”
I disconnected.
Calvin stared.
“I almost had the trace.”
“You had enough.”
He nodded.
“West Side. Near the river.”
I remembered the horn.
Industrial traffic.
Water.
Lucian had spent years using abandoned freight warehouses through shell companies.
We identified five possible buildings.
Meanwhile, Elena arrived at the mansion.
I saw her walking through the foyer and stopped completely.
Twelve years.
She stopped too.
Neither of us moved.
Then she slapped me.
Hard.
Calvin suddenly became fascinated with the ceiling.
I rubbed my cheek.
“I deserved that.”
“Yes.”
She slapped me again.
“That one was for not opening my letters.”
“I didn’t know—”
“I know.”
Her eyes filled.
“That’s why I’m angry at both of us.”
Then she hugged me.
I forgot how to move.
For twelve years, I had imagined this woman married somewhere else.
Happy.
Children.
A husband who did not live behind armored gates.
Now she was crying against my chest.
“I thought you hated me.”
“I thought you left me.”
“We were idiots.”
“I already said I was worse.”
“You were.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
She pulled away.
“Where’s the baby?”
I led her to Leo.
The second Elena saw him, something changed in her face.
“He looks like you.”
Mia had said the same thing.
I looked toward the empty staircase.
“We have to get Mia back.”
Elena nodded immediately.
“Tell me what happened.”
When I finished, she asked one question.
“Why Mia?”
“Leverage.”
“No.”
“What?”
“You’re thinking like Lucian.”
“I was trained by him.”
“Exactly. So think differently.”
She walked toward the table where Mia’s belongings had been collected.
A torn backpack.
Two mismatched socks.
A drawing she had made that morning of Leo wearing a crown.
Elena picked up an old photograph.
Mia with Rose.
“Lucian watched them for weeks.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Rose knew about the baby.”
“Then why not kill her?”
“He tried at the hospital.”
“But before that.”
I understood.
“He needed her.”
“For something.”
We returned to St. Catherine.
Rose was stable and under guard.
When I showed her Mia’s photograph from Lucian’s room, she broke down.
“He knows.”
“What?”
Rose gripped the blanket.
“Mia saw Anna.”
“The surrogate?”
Rose nodded.
“The night Leo was born, Anna realized something was wrong. She heard Lucian talking about custody papers and your death.”
“Where is Anna?”
“She escaped the clinic with me.”
My heart accelerated.
“You said she was missing.”
“I lied because I was trying to protect her.”
“Rose.”
“I didn’t know if I could trust you.”
“Where is she?”
Rose looked toward the guards.
“I hid her.”
“Where?”
“In our warehouse.”
The same abandoned warehouse where Mia and Rose had been living.
“What does Mia know?”
“She knows Anna was hurt. She knows we were hiding her.”
“Did Mia talk to her?”
“Yes.”
“What did Anna tell her?”
Rose swallowed.
“She gave Mia a key.”
“To what?”
“A storage locker.”
My mind raced.
“What’s inside?”
“Lucian’s original documents. Anna stole a briefcase before we escaped.”
Now I understood why Lucian had taken Mia.
Not because she mattered to me.
Because Mia knew where the evidence was.
“Which warehouse?”
Rose gave Calvin the address.
We were already moving when my phone rang again.
Lucian.
“I hope you haven’t become sentimental.”
“I have what you want.”
“So do I.”
“Put Mia on.”
A pause.
Then her frightened voice.
“Mr. Dominic?”
“I’m here.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“He asked about the key.”
My heart tightened.
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Good girl.”
Lucian grabbed the phone.
“That was unwise.”
“She’s seven.”
“She’s stubborn.”
“She learned that from me.”
“You’ve known her three days.”
“Long enough.”
Silence.
Then Lucian said, “Midnight. Pier fourteen. Bring the records alone.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Mia for the records. Nobody gets clever.”
“You’re not negotiating.”
“Neither are you.”
He laughed.
“We’ll see.”
The call ended.
We reached Rose’s warehouse twenty minutes later.
Inside, beneath an old mattress, Elena found a handwritten note.
Mia—if something happens, blue train station. Box 312. Don’t trust the lion. —Anna
“Blue train station,” Calvin said.
“Grand Central?” Elena asked.
I shook my head.
Mia’s world was small.
Warehouse.
Soup kitchen.
Hospital.
Subway.
Then I saw a child’s drawing taped to the wall.
A blue building with tracks.
Beneath it:
HOBOKEN WITH GRANDMA
Calvin was already calling men.
We found locker 312 at Hoboken Terminal.
Inside was Lucian’s entire plan.
Trust documents.
Forged guardianship petitions.
Payments to Dr. Harlan.
The fertility-clinic contract.
A proposed medical declaration stating I had died from a sudden cardiac event.
Dated three weeks in the future.
And a custody document naming Lucian Bellini temporary guardian of my biological son.
I stared at my own planned death.
Elena whispered, “He was going to kill you.”
“Yes.”
Then Calvin opened a second envelope.
His face hardened.
“Boss.”
Inside was a photograph of Pier Fourteen.
A red circle marked a warehouse roof.
Written beneath it:
SNIPER POSITION.
Midnight was never supposed to be an exchange.
May you like
It was supposed to be my execution.
And Mia would be standing close enough to watch.
