Chapter 4 - The Boy Behind the Locked Gate
The boarding school stood at the edge of a forest.
It was expensive.
Beautiful.
Quiet.
And entirely wrong.
Grace stared through the car window.
"Why would a missing child be here?"
"Because someone wanted him hidden in plain sight."
Dominic checked his phone.
"Daniel has been enrolled here for six years."
Grace felt sick.
"Six years."
"Yes."
"How could my mother not know?"
"Someone changed the records."
They entered the administration building.
A woman met them.
"Mr. Romano."
"Where is Daniel?"
The woman's smile faltered.
"We've been expecting you."
Grace frowned.
"Expecting who?"
She looked at her.
"You."
A door opened.
A teenage boy stepped into the hallway.
Thirteen years old.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A small scar above his eyebrow.
Grace stopped breathing.
"Daniel?"
He stared at her.
"You're Grace."
She ran to him.
He froze.
Then, slowly, hugged her.
The moment he did, Grace cried.
"I thought you were dead."
"I thought you were."
"My mother told me you didn't survive."
"She was trying to protect me."
Dominic approached.
Daniel looked at him.
"You are Dominic Romano."
"Yes."
"You're not what I expected."
"People rarely are."
Daniel smiled.
Grace noticed how much he sounded like their father.
"Who brought you here?"
Daniel glanced toward the administrator.
She left the room.
Then he whispered, "A man."
"What man?"
"I never saw his full face."
"Did he have a name?"
"Mr. R."
Dominic stiffened.
"R?"
Daniel nodded.
"Every year he sent someone to check on me."
"Did he ever come himself?"
Daniel looked at Dominic.
"Once."
"Who?"
"He called himself Roberto."
Dominic's face went pale.
"Roberto is my father's middle name."
Grace stared.
"Your father is alive."
Dominic didn't answer.
They left the school with Daniel.
The trip back to Milwaukee was tense.
Daniel slept in the backseat.
Grace watched Dominic.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"How long?"
"Years."
"And you never looked for him?"
"I did."
"Then why stop?"
"Because every trail ended with people telling me he was dead."
Daniel woke.
"My father isn't dead."
Dominic turned.
"What did you say?"
Daniel sat up.
"My father told me you shouldn't look for him."
"Your father?"
"No."
He looked at Grace.
"Our father."
Grace felt her heartbeat change.
"Daniel knows something."
Daniel reached into his backpack.
He pulled out an old cassette tape.
"My mother gave me this."
Grace stared.
They didn't have a tape player.
Dominic did.
He had one in his office.
They listened.
A man's voice filled the room.
Thomas Miller.
Grace nearly collapsed.
"Grace, if you're hearing this, then you found Daniel."
She covered her mouth.
"I know I failed you."
Dominic closed his eyes.
"Your grandmother and I tried to expose them."
A pause.
"But Dominic's father discovered us."
The recording continued.
"I made a deal with him."
Grace whispered, "What deal?"
"I would disappear. He would keep my family safe."
A second voice appeared.
Dominic's father.
"You won't be allowed to contact them."
Then Thomas said:
"If anything happens to me, the ledger goes to my daughter."
The tape stopped.
Grace stared.
"The ledger is mine?"
Dominic nodded.
"Apparently."
Daniel interrupted.
"He told me one more thing."
"What?"
"Never trust Gianna."
Grace and Dominic looked at each other.
Gianna.
Dominic's sister.
The woman who had given them the key.
"Why would he say that?" Grace asked.
Daniel shrugged.
"He said she knew where the ledger was."
Dominic called Gianna.
No answer.
Again.
Still nothing.
They returned to the Romano estate.
Rose was waiting.
She saw Daniel and began crying.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Daniel hugged her.
Grace watched.
The whole family seemed to carry wounds nobody discussed.
Then Dominic found an envelope on his father's old desk.
Inside was a photograph of Gianna standing beside a man Grace had never seen.
On the back was a date.
Yesterday.
Dominic's expression hardened.
"She isn't in the hospital anymore."
"What?"
"She left hours ago."
Grace stared.
"Maybe she was taken."
"Maybe."
Daniel suddenly pointed at the photograph.
"I know that man."
"Who?"
"Mr. Roberto."
Dominic went still.
"My father."
The room seemed to freeze.
Then the front gates exploded.
Gunfire erupted.
Dominic pushed Grace to the floor.
Men rushed into the estate.
Daniel screamed.
Rose was pulled behind a marble pillar.
Dominic drew his weapon.
The attackers advanced.
Then a black car drove directly through the gates.
The driver stepped out.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Cold eyes.
Dominic stared.
For the first time in Grace's presence, he looked like a frightened son.
"Father."
The older man smiled.
"Hello, Dominic."
Then he looked at Grace.
"You've grown into your grandmother's face."
Grace stepped forward.
"You know me?"
"I've watched you your entire life."
Dominic raised his gun.
"Why?"
May you like
His father answered without hesitation.
"Because she was always the key."
