Chapter 9 - The Portrait Isabelle HidBack at the mansion, Dominic ordered every room searched.
The security team found nothing.
The nursery.
Library.
Basement.
Attic.
Nothing.
Until Olivia spoke.
“The dining room.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What about it?”
“Mommy never let us go behind the curtain.”
The curtains had been closed for fourteen months.
Dominic pulled them aside.
A painting stood behind them.
Covered in cloth.
The frame was old.
He removed the cloth.
Isabelle's hidden portrait.
She was younger.
Standing beside another woman.
The woman from the photograph.
The crown symbol was carved into the frame.
Evelyn touched the painting.
“The woman is Eleanor Moretti.”
Dominic looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“She was investigated years ago.”
“What happened?”
“She disappeared.”
Dominic stared at the portrait.
Eleanor's eyes seemed almost alive.
Under the painting was a small lock.
Dominic inserted the black key.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
Isabelle's handwriting.
Dominic opened it.
My dearest Dominic,
By the time you read this, the girls will probably have started remembering.
His throat tightened.
There are people who will tell you I betrayed you. Some will tell you I betrayed the family. Neither is true.
I betrayed the system.
Dominic continued reading.
The ledger is not a record of money.
He looked at Evelyn.
It is a record of blood.
Names.
Dates.
Deaths.
Disappearances.
Bribes.
Witnesses.
Everything connected to the Romano family over thirty years.
Dominic turned the page.
A list of names appeared.
At the bottom:
TARGET: DOMINIC ROMANO
METHOD: ISABELLE
Dominic's hands shook.
“They planned to kill me using my wife.”
Evelyn nodded.
Then Dominic noticed another line.
BACKUP METHOD: CHILDREN
He closed his eyes.
The room suddenly felt too small.
Evelyn took the letter.
“There is more.”
A final page.
The person who can expose them is not Vincent.
Not Anthony.
Not my mother.
It is one of the girls.
Dominic stared at the sentence.
“What?”
Evelyn continued reading.
One of them was present when the ledger was moved.
She remembers where it was hidden.
Dominic looked at the girls.
Olivia.
Sophie.
Nora.
“Which one?”
The answer wasn't written.
Instead, there was a childish drawing.
Three girls standing beside their mother.
One girl's hand was colored black.
Sophie stepped forward.
Dominic crouched.
“Sweetheart, why is your sister's hand black?”
Sophie looked at Nora.
“Nora saw it.”
“What?”
“The room.”
“What room?”
“The room Mommy told us never to forget.”
Dominic's heart raced.
“Where?”
Nora pointed toward the kitchen.
Then toward the basement.
Then the girls suddenly became silent.
All three.
Dominic heard footsteps behind him.
Vincent entered.
Bandage around his shoulder.
Dominic raised his weapon.
Vincent lifted both hands.
“I came because someone else is coming.”
“Who?”
Vincent looked at the girls.
“The person who taught them how to sing.”
Dominic frowned.
“They learned from Isabelle.”
Vincent shook his head.
“No.”
He looked directly at Grace.
“She learned from someone else.”
Grace stepped forward.
Vincent's face hardened.
“Tell him.”
Grace remained silent.
Vincent whispered:
“Tell Dominic who you really are.”
Grace looked at the girls.
Then at Dominic.
“My brother wasn't killed by the Romanos.”
Dominic said nothing.
“He was killed by Isabelle's family.”
The doors behind them locked simultaneously.
A voice came through the intercom.
“Enough.”
Dominic looked up.
A woman began speaking.
A woman he knew.
His mother.
May you like
Lucia's voice filled the mansion.
“Bring me the ledger.”
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