Chapter 3 - THE GIRL DOMINIC NEVER KNEW EXISTED
Dominic read my grandmother’s warning twice.
He didn’t ask permission.
He simply took the letter from my hands, read it again, and looked at Samuel.
“What did my father do?”
Samuel’s answer came immediately.
“I don’t know everything.”
Dominic laughed without humor.
“Convenient.”
“I know enough to tell you Margaret had reason to be afraid.”
“And you expect me to accept that?”
“No. I expect you to stay alive long enough to learn the rest.”
Celeste sank onto the crate beside the rocking horse.
“My father is already moving Sofia.”
Dominic turned toward her.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said he has her.”
“He controls the people around her. That isn’t the same thing.”
“Where was she living?”
Celeste hesitated.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Every second you protect Bernard is another second my daughter is with him.”
The word daughter sounded strange in his mouth.
Not because it was wrong.
Because he had never been allowed to say it before.
Celeste stared at the floor.
“Lancaster.”
Nathan was already opening his laptop.
“Name?”
“Rachel Bennett raised her.”
Samuel nodded.
“That’s the woman Margaret chose.”
“Address?”
Celeste gave it.
Dominic’s men moved before he finished speaking.
Cars.
Phones.
Routes.
Within three minutes, we were leaving R-17.
Dominic ordered Samuel into one SUV with two guards.
Celeste went into another.
I expected Dominic to tell me to go home.
Instead he opened the rear door of his Bentley.
“Grace.”
“What?”
“You’re coming.”
I crossed my arms.
“My grandmother specifically wrote not to let you take Sofia home.”
“I noticed.”
“So why would I help you find her?”
“Because Margaret trusted you.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
He looked at me.
For the first time since I had known him, Dominic Romano looked uncertain.
Not weak.
Not frightened.
Uncertain.
“I lost eighteen years today.”
His voice was quiet.
“I’m not asking you to trust me with the nineteenth.”
That stopped me.
“I’m asking you to be there so she doesn’t have to.”
I got into the car.
Nathan joined us.
Two hours later, we reached a narrow two-story house outside Lancaster.
The front door was open.
Dominic’s security men entered first.
Nobody inside.
The kitchen light was on.
A mug of coffee sat on the table.
Still warm.
A chair had been knocked over.
But there was no sign of a struggle.
A seventeen-year-old photograph hung beside the refrigerator.
Rachel Bennett stood beside a little girl with dark hair and serious eyes.
Sofia.
Dominic stared at the picture.
His hand rose toward it.
Then stopped before touching the glass.
“She looks like Elena.”
I saw something else.
“She looks like you.”
He didn’t answer.
Upstairs we found Sofia’s room.
College brochures.
Old mystery novels.
A cheap guitar.
A stack of scholarship letters.
A life.
Eighteen years Dominic had never seen.
On the dresser stood a framed photograph of Sofia at a high school graduation ceremony.
Around her neck was a silver locket.
I knew it instantly.
“That belonged to my grandmother.”
Nathan looked at me.
“You’re sure?”
“I polished it every Christmas.”
Dominic picked up the photograph.
“So Margaret met her.”
“More than once.”
A voice came from the doorway.
Rachel Bennett.
One of Dominic’s men stood behind her.
She looked about fifty, exhausted and furious.
The second she saw Dominic, she stopped.
“No.”
Dominic put down the photograph.
“Rachel?”
“You need to leave.”
“I’m looking for Sofia.”
“I know exactly who you’re looking for.”
“Then tell me where she is.”
Rachel laughed.
“Eighteen years late, Mr. Romano.”
Dominic took the insult without reacting.
“I learned she existed two hours ago.”
That changed her face.
Only slightly.
“Who told you?”
“Samuel.”
Rachel grabbed the doorframe.
“He’s alive?”
“So I’m told.”
She sat on the edge of the bed.
Then looked at me.
“You’re Grace.”
My skin prickled.
“How do you know me?”
“Margaret showed me pictures.”
“When?”
“Every year until she died.”
I stared at her.
“My grandmother never mentioned you.”
“She couldn’t.”
“Why?”
Rachel looked at Dominic.
“Because Anthony Romano promised that if anyone connected Sofia to your family, people would die.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“My father threatened her?”
Rachel shook her head.
“That’s what Margaret thought at first.”
“At first?”
“Later she realized Anthony was frightened too.”
That was the second time someone had suggested Dominic’s father might not have been the real enemy.
Rachel walked to the closet and pulled down a cardboard box.
Inside were letters.
Dozens.
All addressed to Sofia.
None mailed.
The handwriting was my grandmother’s.
I opened one.
Dear Sofia, one day you will be told that you were hidden because your father did not want you. That is not true.
Dominic read over my shoulder.
His breathing changed.
Rachel handed him another.
It was older.
Dominic never knew you survived.
He sat down.
Actually sat.
Not because anyone told him to.
Because his knees seemed to forget their purpose.
Rachel looked at him.
“I hated you for years.”
Dominic nodded.
“I understand.”
“No. You don’t.”
“Then tell me.”
“She cried every Father’s Day when she was little.”
His eyes closed.
Rachel continued.
“She asked why every other kid knew where they came from.”
“Rachel.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“Yes, you are.”
She looked directly at him.
“Yes.”
Then her voice softened.
“But I’m also trying to make sure you understand that finding out you’re her father does not make you her father.”
Dominic opened his eyes.
“I know.”
Rachel looked surprised.
“So where is she?” I asked.
Rachel checked the hallway.
Then lowered her voice.
“She left yesterday.”
“With whom?”
“A woman Sofia trusted.”
Dominic stood.
“Name.”
Rachel looked ashamed.
“She called herself Claire Bennett.”
Celeste’s middle name was Claire.
I knew because I had handled her wedding invitations at the estate.
I looked at Dominic.
He had already understood.
“Celeste.”
Rachel nodded.
“She started contacting Sofia almost a year ago.”
Nathan swore.
“What did she tell her?”
“That she knew the truth about her biological family.”
Dominic’s face turned cold.
Rachel walked downstairs and retrieved Sofia’s laptop.
“She left this.”
Nathan opened it.
Most of the messages had been deleted.
But not all.
There were hundreds between Sofia and someone using the name Claire.
At first they were harmless.
Family questions.
College advice.
Stories about Philadelphia.
Then they became darker.
Your father knew.
Your father chose his empire.
Your mother tried to take you back.
Dominic stopped her.
Dominic read every line.
He never moved.
Finally Nathan found an attachment.
A scanned police report.
Elena Ward.
Vehicle explosion.
Presumed dead.
There was a handwritten note across the bottom.
AUTHORIZED BY D.R.
Dominic stared at the initials.
“Fake.”
Rachel said, “Sofia believed it.”
“Where did Celeste take her?”
Rachel looked at me.
“She said they were going to meet someone who could prove everything.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone stopped.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A young woman spoke.
Her voice was shaking.
“Grace Miller?”
“Yes.”
Dominic turned toward me.
The young woman inhaled.
“My name is Sofia.”
I put the phone on speaker.
Dominic’s face changed instantly.
“Sofia—”
“Don’t.”
One word.
Sharp.
Terrified.
He stopped.
“I’m not calling for you.”
I swallowed.
“Okay.”
“I’m calling because Margaret said if everything went wrong, I should find Grace.”
My heart thudded.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
A muffled sound came through the phone.
Then Sofia whispered:
“They told me Dominic killed my mother.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
I said carefully, “We don’t believe that’s true.”
“They showed me proof.”
“Celeste showed you forged documents.”
Silence.
Then Sofia said something none of us expected.
“Celeste isn’t here.”
Dominic looked up.
“Who is?”
Sofia’s breathing quickened.
“A man named Mason.”
The lawyer.
Nathan began typing.
I asked, “Can you see anything outside?”
“A river. An old bridge.”
Dominic’s security chief was already moving.
Sofia suddenly whispered, “Someone’s coming.”
“Don’t hang up.”
“I have to.”
“Sofia—”
“Grace.”
“Yes?”
“There’s something else.”
Dominic moved closer to the phone.
Sofia’s voice broke.
“Mason says my mother is alive.”
Everyone froze.
Then she whispered:
“And he says she’s in the room next to mine.”
The call ended.
Dominic stared at the silent phone.
Eighteen years after burying Elena Ward, he had just learned that his daughter believed she was alive.
May you like
And somewhere outside Philadelphia, Mason was waiting for him to come looking.
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