Chapter 4 - SOPHIA’S LAST NIGHT
The grand piano had not been uncovered in four years.
Dominic removed the white sheet himself.
Dust rose into the afternoon light.
Leo stood beside Hannah holding his rabbit.
Maisie stood beside Leo holding nothing because, according to her, “Bun-Bun is his rabbit and I have standards.”
Hannah had no idea what that meant.
Dominic barely heard it.
“Mama,” Leo repeated.
Then he touched the piano bench.
Dominic’s chest tightened.
Sophia used to sit there every night.
Sometimes Leo climbed onto her lap.
Sometimes Dominic stood in the doorway pretending he had come to ask a business question when really he just wanted to watch them.
“What about Mama?” Dominic asked gently.
Leo struggled.
Speech did not return simply because the medication stopped.
Some words arrived.
Others remained trapped.
He pointed at the piano.
Then touched his throat.
“Drink.”
Dominic stared.
“Hannah.”
She crouched beside Leo.
“Can you show us?”
Leo walked toward the small side table where Sophia used to keep tea.
He pointed.
“Evie.”
Dominic went cold.
“Evelyn brought Mama a drink?”
Leo nodded.
Then covered his ears.
“Noisy.”
Dominic’s heartbeat changed.
“What was noisy?”
Leo could not answer.
He pressed both hands against his chest.
Then whispered:
“Mama fall.”
Hannah looked at Dominic.
He had gone completely still.
Sophia’s death had happened in the west hall.
Dominic remembered every second.
He had been in Brooklyn.
Sophia called him at 8:41.
He missed it.
At 8:53, Evelyn called.
Sophia had collapsed.
Dr. Collins arrived before the ambulance because, according to Evelyn, he had been “nearby.”
By the time Dominic reached the hospital, Sophia was dead.
Sudden cardiac arrhythmia.
Undiagnosed electrical abnormality.
Tragic.
Unpredictable.
Nothing suspicious.
Dominic looked toward Noah.
“I want every record from the night Sophia died.”
Noah nodded.
“All of them.”
“Yes.”
“And find out why Collins was nearby.”
Dr. Collins had been moved to a secure guest house while police were contacted regarding the medication.
Dominic no longer cared about family discretion.
The world could know everything if it meant Leo got the truth.
Detective Lena Ortiz arrived that evening with two investigators.
Dominic’s reputation made the meeting tense.
He understood why.
Men like Dominic were usually not enthusiastic about law enforcement inside their homes.
Tonight he opened every door.
“If my wife was killed, I want the person responsible prosecuted.”
Ortiz studied him.
“Even if it involves people close to you?”
Dominic almost laughed.
“My son just taught me what trusting the wrong people costs.”
Medical records arrived before midnight.
Sophia had been treated at a private hospital connected to Collins.
Her original blood samples had been preserved because her death was unexpected.
Ortiz ordered a new toxicology review.
Dominic waited.
Waiting was something he was terrible at.
Three days passed.
Leo improved.
Small things first.
He startled when a cabinet closed.
He turned when Hannah called his name from behind.
He laughed when Maisie sang terribly.
On the fourth morning, he said:
“More.”
Dominic nearly ordered the entire kitchen to make pancakes forever.
Hannah stopped him.
“He asked for one.”
“He can have twenty.”
“He is six.”
“He has missed four years of pancakes.”
“He has not missed pancakes.”
“You don’t know that.”
She stared at him.
He stared back.
Then Leo said, “Dad.”
Dominic surrendered.
“Two.”
Hannah smiled.
Progress existed beside terror.
The blue medication had been custom compounded through a pharmacy that did not exist anymore.
Records linked payment to a medical consulting company controlled by Collins.
But another person had signed for every delivery.
Evelyn Marsh.
Police still had not found her.
Then toxicology called.
Detective Ortiz requested Dominic meet privately.
He refused.
“Hannah stays.”
Hannah looked startled.
Ortiz nodded.
“The preserved sample from Sophia’s blood contained traces of the same sedating compound found in Leo’s medication.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Hannah’s hand moved to her mouth.
“How?”
“It was not listed in her medical record.”
“Could it have killed her?”
“Not by itself.”
Dominic stared.
Ortiz continued.
“But the laboratory also found another substance that can dangerously affect cardiac rhythm.”
The room tilted.
“Was that prescribed?”
“No.”
Dominic stood.
His chair fell backward.
Hannah flinched.
Dominic walked to the window.
Four years.
He had buried Sophia believing her heart betrayed her.
Maybe her heart had been forced to stop.
“Collins.”
Ortiz said, “We need evidence.”
“He signed the death certificate.”
“Yes.”
“He arrived before the ambulance.”
“Yes.”
“He created Leo’s diagnosis.”
“We’re examining everything.”
Dominic turned.
“And Evelyn?”
“Missing.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Noah traced it while Dominic answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then Evelyn.
“Dominic.”
Hannah saw his entire body change.
“Where are you?”
“Does it matter?”
“You poisoned my son.”
Evelyn exhaled.
“You don’t understand.”
“My wife had the same compound in her blood.”
Silence.
Dominic closed his eyes.
That silence was confession enough for his heart.
“What did you do to Sophia?”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“I never meant for her to die.”
Dominic gripped the phone.
Hannah stepped closer, terrified he might crush it.
“Then tell me what happened.”
“Richard panicked.”
“Collins?”
“Yes.”
“What did Sophia know?”
Evelyn started crying.
“She found the medication.”
Dominic looked toward Leo.
“What medication?”
“Leo’s.”
His blood went cold.
“She knew before he stopped speaking?”
“Yes.”
“Why was he being given it?”
Evelyn said nothing.
“Why?”
A second voice sounded faintly behind her.
Male.
Evelyn immediately whispered, “I have to go.”
“No.”
“Dominic, listen to me. Get Hannah and the children out of that house.”
His head lifted.
“Why?”
“Because Richard wasn’t working alone.”
The call disconnected.
Noah looked at his tracing screen.
“Signal bounced.”
Dominic stared.
Hannah whispered, “What did she mean?”
Dominic did not answer.
Then the mansion alarms activated.
Not the perimeter.
Inside.
Noah’s radio exploded with voices.
“Security breach, east wing.”
“Unknown shooter—”
“Power loss on cameras three through nine.”
Dominic grabbed Leo.
Hannah grabbed Maisie.
Noah opened the concealed safe-room passage.
Dominic pushed Hannah toward it.
“Take them.”
“What about you?”
“Go.”
Maisie started crying.
Leo clung to Dominic’s neck.
Then a gunshot echoed downstairs.
Dominic handed his son to Hannah.
Leo panicked.
“Dad!”
Dominic froze.
Full voice.
Clear.
Terrified.
“Dad, don’t go!”
Dominic looked at his son.
For four years he had begged to hear that voice.
Now it was asking him not to disappear.
He made a different choice than the man he had been before.
He stepped into the safe room with them.
Noah locked the door.
“Security handles it,” Dominic said.
Hannah stared.
“You’re staying?”
Dominic looked at Leo.
“Yes.”
Outside, men ran through his house.
Inside, Dominic sat on the floor with two frightened children and understood that protecting his family did not always mean running toward the gunfire.
Sometimes it meant refusing to leave them alone.
Twenty minutes later, Noah’s voice came through the intercom.
“We have him.”
Dominic stood.
“Who?”
A pause.
Then Noah answered.
“Luca Ferretti.”
Dominic went cold.
Luca had worked beside him for twelve years.
And in Luca’s pocket—
May you like
they found Evelyn’s missing phone.
---
