Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Photograph
The next morning, Grace found an old photograph on the piano in the west wing.
A woman with dark hair sat at the keys, smiling toward a toddler on her lap.
The toddler was Noah.
Dominic stood behind them, younger, less guarded, his hand resting on his wife’s shoulder.
Grace should not have touched it.
But Noah had wandered into the room beside her, drawn toward the piano.
He pointed at the woman.
Mama?
Grace nodded.
“Yes.”
Noah walked closer to the piano. He touched one key.
The note sounded through the room.
He could not hear it.
But Grace placed his hand against the polished wood.
The vibration traveled through his palm.
His eyes filled.
Behind them, Dominic stood in the doorway.
Grace expected him to become angry.
Instead, he watched silently.
“I haven’t opened this room in five years,” he said.
Noah looked at him.
Then signed something.
Grace translated.
“He says Mama played here.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Yes,” he whispered.
Grace looked at him.
“Why did you stop bringing him here?”
Dominic’s eyes became cold.
“Because every room in this house became a reminder of what we lost.”
“And Noah?”
Dominic said nothing.
Grace’s voice softened.
“He lost her too.”
The words struck him.
Marco entered before Dominic could respond.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
“What now?”
“The traitor was not working alone.”
Marco handed Dominic a file.
Inside was a photograph of a man leaving the diner moments before the shooting.
Dominic looked at it once.
Then his face went still.
“Vincent.”
Grace had heard the name before.
Vincent Vale was Dominic’s cousin. Publicly, he managed the family’s legal businesses. Privately, rumors said he had always wanted Dominic’s power.
“He planned the attack?” Grace asked.
Dominic nodded.
“Vincent believes Noah makes me weak.”
Grace looked toward the boy at the piano.
“Noah does not make you weak.”
Dominic’s eyes met hers.
“He makes me human.”
Before Grace could answer, a scream came from the hall.
Noah.
They ran.
A security guard lay unconscious beside the open back door. Noah stood near the garden entrance, terrified, while a woman in a black coat pulled him toward a waiting car.
Grace did not think.
She grabbed a heavy brass candleholder from the hallway table and ran.
“Let him go!”
The woman turned.
She had Noah by the arm.
Grace swung the candleholder into the car door, shattering the window beside her. The woman released Noah in shock.
Noah ran toward Grace.
The kidnapper reached for a gun.
Dominic fired first.
The shot struck the wall near the woman’s hand. She dropped the weapon as Marco’s men seized her.
Noah clung to Grace, shaking uncontrollably.
Dominic dropped to his knees beside them.
His face had lost all color.
He reached for Noah.
The boy hesitated.
Then, slowly, he held out one hand.
Dominic took it.
Grace signed to Noah.
Your dad came.
Noah looked at Dominic.
Then signed something.
Dominic looked at Grace.
“What did he say?”
Grace smiled through tears.
“He said, ‘I know.’”
Dominic closed his eyes.
But the danger had only grown.
The woman who tried to take Noah carried a phone.
And on that phone was a message from Vincent.
Bring the child. The waitress comes too. She knows too much.
Grace stared at the words.
“I don’t know anything.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You know how to reach my son.”
For the first time, his voice was not threatening.
May you like
It was afraid.
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