Chapter 3 - The Man in the Shadows
Rafael Castiglione was waiting when Dominic returned to the family estate.
The old man stood in the library with one hand resting on a marble fireplace.
He was sixty-one.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
Always composed.
He had helped raise Dominic after his father died.
He had become the voice Dominic listened to when everyone else was afraid.
“Marriage day,” Rafael said calmly.
“And you're home already.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Where is Sophia?”
Rafael's expression did not move.
“What kind of question is that?”
“You know exactly what kind.”
Silence.
Rafael smiled.
“Your sister is dead.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“You told me that.”
“I told you the truth.”
“No.”
Dominic threw a photograph onto the desk.
It showed the blue ribbon.
Rafael looked at it.
For the first time, fear crossed his face.
Only for a second.
But Dominic saw it.
“Where did you get that?”
“From my wife.”
Rafael's eyes narrowed.
“Clara?”
“Yes.”
“That woman is dangerous.”
Dominic smiled without humor.
“Interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone who lies to me calls the people telling the truth dangerous.”
Rafael's face hardened.
“You're being manipulated.”
“By whom?”
“By a woman who was sold by her brother.”
“She wasn't sold.”
Rafael stared.
Dominic leaned forward.
“I tore up the contract.”
Rafael's expression changed.
“You what?”
“You heard me.”
“That contract was important.”
“To whom?”
Rafael did not answer.
Dominic walked around the desk.
“Where is Sophia?”
“She is dead.”
“What about Matteo?”
Silence.
Dominic's eyes sharpened.
“You're avoiding the question.”
Rafael looked away.
“The boy died.”
“Did you see the body?”
“Dominic.”
“Did you?”
Rafael said nothing.
Dominic grabbed his uncle's collar.
“If you touch either of them again—”
Rafael laughed.
“You think this is about Sophia?”
Dominic stopped.
“What?”
“You still believe your little sister was innocent.”
“She was.”
“She was going to destroy this family.”
Dominic stared.
Rafael pushed him away.
“She found things she wasn't supposed to find.”
“What things?”
“Your father.”
Dominic froze.
“What about him?”
Rafael's face became unreadable.
“Your father wasn't the man you thought he was.”
Dominic heard the words but couldn't make sense of them.
His father had been a brutal man.
Complicated.
But Dominic remembered him as loyal.
Rafael continued.
“Your father built the routes.”
“What routes?”
“The ones Sophia discovered.”
Dominic's stomach turned.
Human trafficking.
His father?
“No.”
Rafael smiled.
“Ask Clara.”
Dominic didn't respond.
He walked out.
Rafael called after him.
“You'll regret turning against your family.”
Dominic stopped at the door.
“No.”
He looked back.
“I already regret trusting it.”
At the mansion, Clara had refused to rest.
Dominic found her sitting in the living room with her injured leg elevated.
Files covered the coffee table.
“You shouldn't be working.”
She looked up.
“You shouldn't be threatening your uncle.”
“I wasn't threatening him.”
“You looked like you wanted him dead.”
Dominic sat opposite her.
“He mentioned my father.”
Clara became still.
“What did he say?”
“He said my father built the routes.”
She shook her head.
“Sophia never said that.”
“Then what did she say?”
“She said your father was trying to stop something before he died.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“How did she know?”
“Sophia found an old recorder.”
Clara opened one of the folders.
“There was a message from your father.”
She pressed play.
A man's voice filled the room.
“If Sophia ever hears this, then Rafael has failed.”
Dominic froze.
His father's voice.
Older.
Tired.
Terrified.
“I made mistakes. I trusted men I should not have trusted. But I never approved what Rafael did with the freight routes.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“If I'm dead, don't trust the family ledger. It has been altered.”
The message ended.
Dominic opened his eyes.
“Where did you get this?”
“Sophia gave it to me.”
“Why didn't you tell me earlier?”
“I didn't know whether you would believe me.”
Dominic looked at her.
“That's fair.”
She studied him.
“You don't have to agree with everything I say.”
“I know.”
“You can still leave.”
“I know.”
“But you're staying.”
Dominic nodded.
“Yes.”
Clara sighed.
“Then we need to find Matteo.”
“Tomorrow.”
“No.”
She pointed at the documents.
“Tonight.”
Dominic frowned.
“You're not going anywhere with that leg.”
“I don't need to.”
She opened a map.
“Sophia marked three properties near the Wisconsin border.”
Dominic looked.
“One belongs to Rafael.”
“No.”
Clara shook her head.
“It's not officially his.”
She pointed to another.
“This one is a warehouse.”
“Abandoned.”
“That's what the records say.”
“And the third?”
“Closed summer camp.”
Dominic stared.
“What makes you think Matteo is there?”
“Sophia circled it twice.”
He looked at the map.
“Let's go.”
Clara shook her head.
“You shouldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't think Rafael wants you to find him.”
Dominic smiled.
“Then I definitely want to.”
They left with six men.
The drive north was silent.
Clara sat in the back seat with her leg immobilized.
Dominic sat beside her.
At one point she asked,
“Do you regret marrying me?”
He looked at her.
“I regret why I married you.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“No.”
She waited.
“I don't regret meeting you.”
Clara looked away.
Neither spoke again.
They reached the abandoned camp shortly after midnight.
The buildings were dark.
Snow covered the ground.
Dominic raised his hand.
His men spread out.
Then they heard something.
A child's voice.
Faint.
Behind a locked door.
Clara's breath caught.
“Matteo.”
Dominic moved first.
They broke the lock.
Inside was a small room.
Empty.
Except for a stuffed fox.
And a note.
Dominic picked it up.
The handwriting was unmistakably Sophia's.
You are too late.
But the bottom contained another sentence.
He is alive.
Keep him away from Rafael.
Dominic turned toward Clara.
She was crying.
Not from pain.
From relief.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
The men moved.
Windows shattered.
Dominic pulled Clara behind a concrete wall.
“Stay here.”
“I can help.”
“No.”
“Dominic—”
He grabbed her hand.
“I'm not losing you.”
She stared at him.
The words surprised them both.
Outside, Vincent shouted orders.
Three attackers fled.
One was captured.
Dominic found a tattoo on the man's wrist.
A black crow.
Clara recognized it.
“Sophia saw that symbol.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Where?”
“On the men who took her.”
The captured man smiled.
“You're looking for the wrong enemy.”
Dominic crouched.
“Where is my nephew?”
The man laughed.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“You'll never find him.”
Dominic pulled back.
The man whispered,
“Because the boy isn't with Rafael.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Who has him?”
The man smiled.
“The woman your wife has been protecting.”
Clara froze.
“What woman?”
But the prisoner had already closed his eyes.
He was dead.
Someone had poisoned him.
Dominic stood slowly.
May you like
The investigation had just become something much bigger.
And somewhere out there, another woman was holding the key to Sophia and Matteo.
