Chapter 2 - The Second Shadow
Before Dominic could lunge, the heavy oak doors at the top of the cellar stairs slammed open.
Footsteps clattered against the iron steps—fast, hurried, and unmistakably feminine.
“Dominic?”
Claire Bennett appeared at the top of the cellar stairs. She was wrapped in a silk designer robe, her blond hair perfectly styled even at dawn, though her face was pale and drawn. She clutched a gold pendant at her throat as she descended into the damp air, her eyes widening in theatrical shock as she took in the scene.
“Oh, my word,” Claire gasped, pressing a manicured hand to her chest. “What is happening down here? I heard shouting all the way from the master suite. And... Mia? Why is Mia out of her room?”
Mia flinched against the wine rack, her grip tightening around little Harper.
Dominic turned his gaze from Nathan to the woman he was scheduled to marry in six weeks. They had shared dinners, charity galas, and quiet evenings overlooking the Hudson. He had trusted her with the keys to his life, his home, and his future.
“She wasn't in her room, Claire,” Dominic said, his voice devoid of emotion. “She was locked in the wine cellar for three days. Without food. Without water.”
Claire’s eyes darted toward Nathan for a fraction of a second—a tiny, imperceptible exchange that did not escape Dominic’s hawk-like observation.
“That’s... that’s impossible,” Claire stammered, her voice pitching slightly higher. “I saw her three days ago! She said she was taking a sudden leave to visit her sick mother in Pennsylvania. Didn't she, Nathan?”
“She did,” Nathan confirmed smoothly, stepping back beside Claire.
Dominic stared at them. Standing together in the gloom of the cellar, framed by the stone arches and the broken padlock, they looked less like panicked bystanders and more like co-conspirators who had rehearsed their lines a hundred times.
“Mia didn't go to Pennsylvania,” Dominic said softly. “Her bag is still in her quarters. Her passport is in her drawer. And her four-year-old daughter spent three nights listening to her mother knock on this very door.”
Claire’s lower lip quivered. She looked at Dominic with liquid, pleading eyes—eyes that had manipulated boardrooms and social circles for years.
“Dom, darling, you’re exhausted. You’re letting this ungrateful woman manipulate you. Why would Nathan and I lock her up? What possible reason could we have?”
“That,” Dominic said, drawing his Sig Sauer and cocking the hammer with a sharp, metallic click, “is what you are going to tell me upstairs. In my study. With your phones on the desk.”
The silence that followed was absolute.
Claire’s theatrical tears vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, calculating glaze. Nathan shifted his weight, his eyes locked on the barrel of Dominic’s gun.
“Marcus, Daniel,” Dominic ordered without breaking eye contact with the traitors. “Get Mia and Harper to the medical suite. Have Dr. Vance check every inch of them. Then secure the perimeter. No one leaves this estate. No one uses a phone. If a bird flies over the fence, shoot it.”
“Boss,” Marcus nodded, stepping forward to help Mia to her feet.
Mia looked up at Dominic, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and profound gratitude. “Mr. Vale... be careful. They... they weren't just locking me up. They were looking for something.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened. “Looking for what?”
“The ledger,” Mia whispered, shivering as Marcus draped an extra jacket over her shoulders. “The offshore wire transfer records you keep in the floor safe. They thought you left them with me before you went to Atlantic City.”
Dominic’s blood turned to ice.
May you like
He didn't answer. He simply gestured with his gun toward the stairs.
“After you, Claire. Nathan.”
