Chapter 3 - Blood in the Mansion
Dominic reached the eastern wing in less than ten seconds.
His guards were already moving.
One had been shot in the shoulder.
Another was kneeling beside the shattered window.
Isabella's bedroom door stood open.
Dominic entered.
"Mother!"
She was gone.
The bed was empty.
The writing board lay broken on the floor.
Dominic's heart stopped.
He turned.
"Lock the house."
Every security door slammed shut.
"No one leaves."
Carlo appeared behind him.
"Boss, the shooter escaped through the service corridor."
"Forget him."
Dominic's voice was terrifyingly calm.
"Find my mother."
Marin appeared at the end of the hall.
"Dominic."
He turned.
"Stay there."
"Isabella—"
"I said stay there."
She stopped.
Dominic looked around.
Then noticed something.
The curtains were moving.
He crossed the room.
Behind them was a narrow door.
He opened it.
A passage.
Old.
Hidden.
Leading toward the private medical wing.
Dominic's face changed.
He knew that passage.
His grandfather had built it decades earlier.
Very few people knew about it.
He turned slowly.
"Who knows about this?"
Carlo shook his head.
"Only family."
Dominic looked at Vivien.
She stood downstairs beneath the emergency lights.
She was smiling.
"You knew."
Vivien said nothing.
Dominic walked toward her.
"How?"
She shrugged.
"I've been in this house for two years."
"You've never been shown this passage."
"Maybe I found it."
"Who told you?"
She smiled.
"You have bigger problems."
Dominic grabbed her arm.
"Where is my mother?"
Vivien looked at him.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
"Then listen carefully."
Her voice became almost gentle.
"Your mother wasn't taken by an outsider."
Dominic stared at her.
"She was moved."
"By whom?"
Vivien smiled.
"Someone she trusted."
Dominic released her.
He turned toward Carlo.
"Search every room."
The guards spread through the mansion.
Seconds later, a voice came through the radio.
"Boss!"
Dominic answered.
"What?"
"We found Mrs. Virelli."
"Where?"
"The old chapel."
Dominic ran.
The chapel stood at the edge of the property, surrounded by wet trees.
When Dominic reached it, the door was open.
His mother sat inside.
Alive.
Her hands were tied.
A cloth had been placed over her mouth, though she could not speak anyway.
Dominic crossed the room and dropped to his knees.
"Mother."
Her eyes filled with tears.
He cut the restraints.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
Dominic pulled her into his arms.
For several seconds, the feared Dominic Virelli simply held his mother.
Then Isabella pushed him away.
She grabbed a pen.
Her hands shook as she wrote.
Dominic read.
Vivien did not take me.
He looked up.
"What?"
Isabella wrote again.
She opened the door.
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Who took you?"
His mother hesitated.
Then wrote:
Your uncle.
Dominic froze.
His father's younger brother.
Rafael Virelli.
A man who had supposedly retired from the family business five years earlier.
A man Dominic had trusted.
A man who had attended his mother's bedside after the attack.
A man who had held Dominic's shoulder and told him the family would protect her.
Dominic stood.
"Where is Rafael?"
Carlo's voice came through the radio.
"Boss."
"What?"
"Rafael Virelli's private jet left Newport twenty minutes ago."
Dominic closed his eyes.
"Destination?"
"Unknown."
"Find it."
"Already trying."
Dominic looked at his mother.
She wrote another message.
He was there the night I was attacked.
Dominic's breathing slowed.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
She wrote:
You were grieving.
He stared at her.
"You knew?"
She nodded.
"You knew Rafael betrayed us?"
Another nod.
Dominic's face hardened.
"Why protect him?"
Isabella looked at him.
Then wrote:
Because he threatened you.
Dominic's hands curled into fists.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The attack.
The silence.
The fear.
The hidden passage.
Vivien.
Rafael.
The missing ledger.
Adrian Hayes.
Elias.
It was all connected.
But there was one piece missing.
Why had Rafael waited three years?
Why had Vivien entered Dominic's life?
Why now?
Dominic returned to the mansion.
Vivien was gone.
His guards had lost her.
He stood in the center of the foyer.
"Where is she?"
Carlo looked grim.
"She escaped through the kitchen."
Dominic stared at him.
"How?"
"She had a key."
"Who gave it to her?"
"We're checking."
Dominic's eyes went cold.
"Find her."
Marin approached slowly.
"Dominic."
He turned.
"What?"
"I know where she went."
He stared at her.
"How?"
"She took something from my room."
"What?"
Marin reached into her pocket.
"A photograph."
She handed it to him.
It was old.
A young Adrian stood beside another man.
Dominic recognized the second man.
Rafael.
His uncle.
Dominic looked at Marin.
"Why did you have this?"
"Adrian gave it to me."
"When?"
"Two weeks before he died."
"What did he say?"
Marin swallowed.
"He told me that if anything happened to him, I should never trust the Virelli family."
Dominic stared at the photograph.
"Why didn't you show me?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Of me?"
"Of everyone."
She looked at him.
"I have been afraid for ten years."
Dominic softened.
For the first time, he understood something.
Marin had not been weak.
She had been surviving.
And survival often looked like silence from the outside.
Dominic returned the photograph.
"You should have told me."
"I know."
"I don't blame you."
She looked surprised.
"You don't?"
"No."
He stepped closer.
"But from now on, no more secrets."
Marin nodded.
"Agreed."
Carlo entered.
"Boss."
Dominic turned.
"We found Vivien's car."
"Where?"
"At the marina."
"Is she gone?"
"Yes."
"What about Rafael?"
"We found the flight."
"Where?"
"Monaco."
Dominic looked toward the rain.
"Get the jet ready."
Marin stepped forward.
"You're going after them?"
"Yes."
"Alone?"
"No."
"Can I come?"
Dominic looked at her.
"Absolutely not."
"My son is involved."
"That's exactly why."
"I need to know what they want."
Dominic hesitated.
She continued.
"If I stay here, I'll be afraid of every phone call."
She looked at him.
"I've spent ten years being afraid."
Dominic studied her face.
Then he nodded.
"You're coming."
Carlo looked surprised.
"Boss—"
"She knows things we don't."
Marin exhaled.
"Thank you."
Dominic turned away.
But before he could move, Isabella touched his arm.
He looked at her.
She wrote one final message.
Do not trust Vivien, but do not underestimate her.
Dominic nodded.
"I won't."
His mother looked toward Marin.
Then back at Dominic.
Her expression was strangely gentle.
Dominic understood.
His mother was afraid of losing him.
But she was also telling him something else.
Protect her.
Dominic looked at Marin.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then the lights flickered.
A phone rang.
Not Dominic's.
Marin's.
She looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
Dominic held out his hand.
"Don't answer."
But Marin already had.
A voice whispered through the speaker.
"Marin."
Her face went white.
Vivien.
"Listen carefully."
Dominic moved closer.
Vivien continued.
"Your son is safe."
Marin closed her eyes.
"But he won't stay safe if Dominic comes to Monaco."
Dominic's expression darkened.
Vivien laughed softly.
"You still don't understand."
"What do you want?" Marin asked.
"I want the ledger."
Marin froze.
"What ledger?"
"The one Adrian hid."
"I don't have it."
"You do."
"I don't."
Vivien's voice became colder.
"Then I will start taking things from you until you remember."
The call ended.
Marin stood motionless.
Dominic took the phone from her hand.
May you like
Then he said:
"We're going to Monaco."
