Chapter 7 - The Woman at the PreschoolDominic could barely breathe.
His mother had been at the preschool on the day Isabelle died.
He replayed every moment of that day in his mind.
He had been at a meeting in Manhattan.
Isabelle had gone to pick up the girls.
Then the call came.
Gunshots.
Panic.
His world ended.
He had never questioned Lucia's story.
Now Olivia's words had opened a crack.
Dominic turned to his daughter.
“What did Grandma do?”
“She talked to Mommy.”
“What did they say?”
Olivia shook her head.
“I don't remember.”
Sophie stepped closer.
“She gave Mommy something.”
“What?”
“A key.”
Dominic looked at Evelyn.
“The brass key.”
Evelyn's expression changed.
Dominic suddenly remembered.
The key in his pocket.
The same one Grace, Evelyn, claimed Isabelle gave her.
He pulled it out.
“What does this open?”
Evelyn stared.
“Nothing ordinary.”
She took it.
There was a number engraved into the metal.
17.
“Locker seventeen,” she said.
“Where?”
“Garden City.”
They left the mansion with the girls under heavy security.
Lucia was rushed to the hospital.
Dominic refused to go with her.
He needed answers first.
At the abandoned community center near the preschool, the lockers were almost completely forgotten.
Number seventeen opened with the brass key.
Inside was a small envelope.
A photograph.
A flash drive.
And a handwritten note.
Dominic unfolded it.
Dominic,
If you found this, then they failed to stop me.
His hands shook.
Do not trust anyone who says they loved me.
Especially family.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Dominic inserted the flash drive into a laptop.
A video appeared.
Isabelle sat in a hotel room.
She looked exhausted.
Bruises darkened one side of her face.
Dominic felt sick.
She stared into the camera.
“If you're watching this, I am already dead.”
She took a breath.
“The person who wants me dead is not Vincent.”
Dominic looked at Evelyn.
“It isn't Grace.”
Isabelle's voice trembled.
“It isn't your mother.”
Dominic's heartbeat slowed.
“Then who?”
On the video, Isabelle leaned closer.
“It is the person who knows you will always choose the family name over the truth.”
The screen went black.
A second video loaded automatically.
Isabelle was standing with a man.
Dominic recognized him.
His older brother, Anthony.
Dead for seven years.
Dominic stumbled backward.
“No.”
Evelyn stared at the screen.
“That's impossible.”
The timestamp appeared.
Recorded eleven months ago.
Four months before Isabelle's murder.
Anthony was alive.
Dominic's entire family history had just become a lie.
The video continued.
Anthony said:
“You don't understand, Isabelle.”
She answered:
“I understand perfectly.”
“You can't expose this.”
“Then stop it.”
“You don't know who is behind it.”
“I know enough.”
Anthony stepped closer.
“Dominic can't know.”
“Why?”
“Because he's next.”
The video ended.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Anthony died seven years ago.”
Evelyn said nothing.
Dominic's phone rang.
The caller ID displayed a number he recognized.
His brother's old number.
Dominic answered.
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
“You finally found me.”
Dominic's blood went cold.
“Anthony?”
A quiet laugh.
“Yes.”
The line disconnected.
Before Dominic could speak, the laptop screen changed.
A final message appeared.
COME TO THE OLD ROMANO CHAPEL ALONE.
Dominic looked at the girls.
Olivia was crying.
Sophie whispered:
“Daddy, Mommy said never go there.”
Dominic asked why.
May you like
Sophie looked at him.
“Because that's where the first body was buried.”
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