Chapter 3 - Broken Chains and Hidden Keys
The underground wine cellar of the Moretti mansion had been converted into an interrogation bunker decades ago by Dominic’s ruthless father. Cold stone walls dripped with condensation, and the scent of damp earth and copper hung thick in the air. Vincent Hale was strapped securely to a steel chair beneath an unforgiving fluorescent strip, his designer shirt shredded, blood trickling from his split lip. Gabriel stood behind him with his arms crossed over a massive chest, holding a heavy tire iron loosely at his side.
When Dominic entered with Elena directly behind him, Vincent let out a dry, raspy chuckle that sounded like coughing gravel. "Look at the master of Chicago," Vincent sneered, his eyes darting between Dominic and the maid. "Wounded by a silver tray and led around like a lapdog by a girl from Bridgeport. You always were too soft, Dominic. That's why Julian had to go."
Dominic didn't raise his voice. He didn't rush forward to throw a punch. He walked slowly around the steel chair, his presence suffocating the space like an approaching predator. "Who gave the order, Vincent? You were my brother's godfather. You stood next to my father when he built this empire. You didn't orchestrate an international abduction on a security salary."
Vincent spit toward Dominic's polished leather shoes, missing by an inch. "Your father promised me thirty percent of the offshore holdings when he died. Instead, he gave the entire shipping network to you and left Julian with the investment trusts. He treated me like a hired bodyguard after thirty years of burying his mistakes."
"So you stole my brother?" Dominic's voice was deathly calm, an ice sheet masking a raging volcano.
"I didn't steal him. I sold him," Vincent laughed, a wild, psychotic gleam in his dark eyes. "To someone who wanted leverage over the Moretti name forever. Someone who wanted you broken, guilty, and entirely dependent on outside political capital to keep your shipping lanes open."
Elena stepped forward, her instincts firing warning flares across her mind. "The engagement," she blurted out, connecting the pieces that had been floating in the background of society gossip columns for months. "The merger with the Arden family."
Dominic froze. His head snapped toward Elena, then slowly back to Vincent. The silence in the cellar became deafening. The Arden family controlled the entire midwestern shipping corridor and held two seats on the federal maritime board. The engagement between Dominic and Celeste Arden had not been born of love; it was a strategic alliance negotiated six months after Julian's supposed death, engineered to stabilize the Moretti family's collapsing stock after the tragedy.
"Vincent," Dominic whispered, his eyes turning nearly black with fury. "Did Celeste's father order the hit on Julian?"
Vincent smiled, a hideous, bloody grin. "Not her father, Dominic. Marcus Arden is a senile old fool who signs whatever papers his brilliant daughter puts in front of him. Celeste was twenty-four years old when she drew up the blueprint for your brother's disappearance. She’s had Julian locked away in a private sanitarium in northern Ontario for seven years, keeping him barely alive under medically induced amnesia. Every single shipping contract you signed over to her family was bought with your brother's stolen life."
Elena gasped, covering her mouth with her trembling hand. The beautiful, elegant blonde who had sat at the dining table demanding Elena be thrown out was not just a snobbish socialite; she was the architect of an unfathomable seven-year nightmare.
"And tonight?" Dominic demanded, his jaw locked tight enough to crack enamel. "Why order the hit tonight?"
"Because Julian's memory started returning three weeks ago," Vincent wheezed, his defiance beginning to crumble under Dominic's terrifying glare. "The Canadian doctors called her. He said your name. Celeste panicked. She knew if you ever discovered the truth, you would burn the Arden empire to ash. She told me to stage a sniper attack on the dining room, put a bullet in your chest, and pin it on rival syndicates. Then she would inherit your shares through the signed prenuptial agreement."
Dominic turned to Gabriel without blinking. "Take his phone. Get the coordinates of the Canadian facility. Call our private airfield and have the jet fueled within thirty minutes."
"What about him?" Gabriel asked, gesturing toward Vincent.
Dominic didn't even look back at his former best friend. "Leave him locked in the dark. If he screams, turn off the ventilation."
Dominic grabbed Elena’s hand, his fingers firm and warm, pulling her out of the cellar and toward the stone staircase. "You're coming with me, Elena."
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"Dominic, wait! I'm just a witness, I can't fly to Canada with you—"
"You're the only person who saw his face that night who doesn't work for the people trying to destroy me," Dominic said, stopping on the landing and looking down into her eyes with an intensity that made her heart slam against her ribs. "You saved my life tonight, Elena. Now I need you to help me bring my brother home."
