Chapter 7 - My Husband Was Still Alive
We found the location within hours.
An abandoned psychiatric hospital outside Manhattan.
Dominic warned me not to come.
I ignored him.
Lily stayed with Isabella.
For the first time, I entered a place with Dominic where I didn't feel like his passenger.
I felt like his partner.
The hospital was empty.
Dark.
Cold.
We found a room.
A bed.
Old restraints.
Medical equipment.
And a wall covered in dates.
Evan's name appeared again and again.
I touched it.
“Is he here?”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
Then we heard footsteps.
A man emerged from the darkness.
My father.
Alive.
Older.
But unmistakable.
I raised a weapon.
Dominic stepped beside me.
“Dad.”
My father smiled.
“You look like your mother.”
I could barely breathe.
“Where is Evan?”
“Alive.”
I almost collapsed.
“Where?”
“He was transferred.”
“By whom?”
“My employer.”
“Who?”
My father looked at Dominic.
“Your father.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“Rafael.”
“No.”
My father laughed.
“Rafael worked for him.”
Silence.
“What?”
My father explained.
There was another family.
The Belladonna family.
They had controlled the city's underground economy for generations.
Rafael had served them.
Dominic's father had rebelled.
Evan discovered the network.
My father had tried to expose it.
But everyone failed.
Evan had been captured.
They wanted the evidence in his possession.
He refused.
So they staged his death.
My father tried to protect him.
I stared.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you knew, they would kill you.”
“I thought my husband was dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me grieve for five years.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I did.”
I wanted to hate him.
I couldn't.
Not completely.
Because he had been trying to save us.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
The Belladonna family had found us.
My father pushed me toward a hidden door.
“Run.”
“I'm not leaving you.”
“You have to.”
Dominic grabbed my hand.
We ran.
My father stayed behind.
We reached a tunnel.
At the end was a car.
A driver waited.
We escaped.
My father was gone.
We returned to the city.
Three hours later, a package arrived.
Inside was Evan's watch.
The one I had buried with him.
My hands trembled.
On the back, a message.
I'm coming home.
May you like
He was alive.
And coming back.
