Chapter 5 - The Stranger in the Family PortraitDominic ordered every entrance to the mansion sealed.
Nobody entered. Nobody left. Not even his own men.
By the time he arrived, the gates had been chained, the security room was manned by Marco's most trusted officers, and two guards stood outside Ellie's bedroom.
Dominic went upstairs immediately.
Ellie was sitting cross-legged on the bed, wearing a pale blue sweater and holding a stuffed rabbit Margaret had found in the linen closet.
When she saw him, her face brightened.
“You came back!”
Dominic forced a smile.
“I said I'd try.”
“You missed lunch.”
“I'm sorry.”
“I saved you a pancake.”
She pointed toward a small plate on the bedside table. The pancake had gone cold, and a plastic fork rested on top of it.
Dominic picked it up as though it were the most expensive thing in the world.
“Thank you.”
Ellie watched him with solemn satisfaction.
“Mommy says sharing food makes people family.”
Dominic sat beside her.
“Your mother sounds like a wise woman.”
“She says you're a good man.”
He looked at her.
“When did she tell you that?”
“Whenever we passed a picture of you.”
Ellie climbed off the bed and crossed to her coat, which Margaret had hung beside the wardrobe.
From a torn pocket, she pulled a small folded photograph.
Dominic recognized himself immediately.
He was twenty-six in the picture, standing beside Elena outside their family's summer house. His arm rested over her shoulders, and both of them were laughing.
He hadn't seen the photograph in years.
“How did you get this?”
“Mommy gave it to me. She said if I ever found you, I should show you.”
Dominic studied the back.
Three words had been written beneath the date.
He chose wrong.
His stomach tightened.
“Ellie, did your mother tell you who the other man in her life was?”
Ellie shook her head.
“Not much. She said he was a monster who wore a beautiful suit.”
Dominic let out a slow breath.
That description could have fit half the people he knew.
Before he could ask more, someone knocked at the door.
Marco entered.
“We found a security breach.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“Where?”
“The west service entrance. One camera was disabled for eleven minutes. Someone used an employee access card to enter the property.”
“Did anyone see them?”
“A housekeeper saw a man carrying a delivery box. She assumed he was bringing supplies.”
“Where is the housekeeper?”
“Safe in the security office.”
Dominic looked toward Ellie.
“Can you stay with Margaret for a few minutes?”
She immediately grabbed his sleeve.
“Are you going to leave again?”
“Just downstairs.”
“Will you come back?”
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
Dominic knelt.
“I promise.”
Ellie released his sleeve, but not before slipping the silver pendant into his hand.
“Mommy said you might need this.”
He stared at it.
“What else did she say?”
Ellie frowned, searching her memory.
“She said the moon opens a door, but only family knows where the key belongs.”
Dominic looked at Marco.
The brass key.
The storage cabinet.
The childhood home.
“Get the car,” he ordered.
Marco looked surprised.
“You're leaving the mansion?”
“I'm going to my father's old house.”
“What about Victor?”
“Victor can wait.”
Dominic turned back to Ellie.
“I'll be back before dinner.”
This time, she smiled without asking him to promise.
It hurt more than he expected.
Their childhood home stood on a hill overlooking the East River. The mansion had been sold after their father's death, but Dominic had quietly purchased it through a holding company years later.
He had never moved back in.
The rooms were full of memories, and memories were the one thing money couldn't evict.
He unlocked the front door and entered with Marco.
Dust covered the furniture. A grandfather clock had stopped at 3:17. Their mother's piano sat beneath a sheet, and the family portraits still lined the staircase.
Dominic walked to the basement.
The old storage cabinet had been preserved behind a false wall during the renovation. He removed a panel and inserted the brass key.
The lock opened.
Inside was a black metal box.
He lifted the lid.
There were bank records, handwritten letters, and a sealed envelope bearing his father's initials.
A photograph lay at the top.
It showed two newborn babies lying side by side in a hospital nursery.
Dominic stared.
Two babies.
One wore a bracelet marked DOMINIC.
The other wore a bracelet marked VICTOR.
Marco leaned closer.
“Boss, that's impossible.”
Dominic picked up the photograph.
His father's handwriting covered the back.
If you are reading this, the truth has finally found you. I was told one child died at birth. I never believed the story. I was too afraid to ask the right questions.
Dominic's fingers trembled.
Victor Vale wasn't just his business partner.
He was his twin brother.
For years, their father had concealed the truth, allowing Victor to grow up under another family's name. When the Evans family had tried to uncover the arrangement, violence had followed.
Dominic read the letter inside the envelope.
It described a secret adoption, an old agreement between two powerful families, and a ledger connecting several prominent businessmen to a network of blackmail, illegal payments, and murder.
The final paragraph was underlined.
One son will choose power. The other must choose family. If they ever discover the truth, one will try to destroy the other.
Dominic closed the letter.
Victor had built an empire around the belief that Dominic had stolen a life that should have been his.
But Elena had known the truth.
And she had tried to stop him.
A sound came from the staircase.
Dominic drew his weapon.
“Who's there?”
No answer.
He signaled Marco to move toward the rear exit while he approached the steps.
A figure stood at the top, holding a pistol.
Dominic recognized the face.
One of his own guards.
“Put it down,” Dominic ordered.
The man shook his head.
“I'm sorry, boss.”
“Who sent you?”
The guard looked away.
“Victor.”
Dominic kept his weapon trained on him.
“Where is my sister?”
The guard's eyes flickered.
“She's not where you think she is.”
A gunshot shattered the silence.
The guard fell backward.
Dominic spun around.
Marco stood near the basement door, smoke curling from his weapon.
For one terrible moment, neither man spoke.
Then Dominic noticed something in the dead guard's hand.
A small photograph.
It showed Ellie standing in the mansion's front garden.
Someone had circled her face in red.
Below it were four handwritten words.
THE REAL TARGET IS HER.
Dominic's phone rang.
Margaret's number appeared on the screen.
He answered immediately.
“Margaret?”
Her voice trembled.
“Mr. Evans, please come home.”
“What happened?”
A child began crying in the background.
May you like
Then Margaret whispered the words that stopped his heart.
“Ellie's gone.”
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