Chapter 2 - The Snake on His Wrist
At 4:37 a.m., Marco called.
I answered on the first ring.
“We have a problem.”
“Talk.”
“Daniel Carter isn’t at the rehabilitation center.”
I looked through the hospital window.
“What?”
“He checked out six days ago.”
Emma had told me her brother had been recovering there.
She had never mentioned him leaving.
“Who signed him out?”
“That’s the problem.”
Silence.
“No signature?”
“No official signature.”
I stood.
“Then how did he leave?”
Marco exhaled.
“Someone paid the center thirty thousand dollars in cash.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Who?”
“They don’t know.”
“Security footage?”
“Erased.”
Of course.
Everything disappeared around the Kolovs.
Records.
Cameras.
People.
I looked back at Emma.
She was awake.
She had heard enough.
“Dominic?”
I walked toward her.
“Your brother left the center six days ago.”
Her face changed completely.
“No.”
“Emma…”
“No. He told me yesterday he was still there.”
I watched the color leave her face.
“What number did he call you from?”
She gave it to me.
I memorized it.
Marco said quietly, “Boss, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The number belongs to a prepaid phone.”
“Location?”
“Switched off.”
“Then turn it on.”
“We’re trying.”
I ended the call.
Emma pushed herself up.
“I need to go.”
“You need to stay in bed.”
“My brother is missing.”
“I know.”
“Then let me go.”
“No.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“No, you don’t.”
She tried to stand.
The doctor immediately stopped her.
“Miss Carter, you have broken ribs.”
Emma ignored him.
“My brother cannot walk without assistance.”
That sentence hit differently.
Daniel wasn’t simply missing.
He was vulnerable.
And someone knew exactly how vulnerable he was.
I turned toward Marco’s men waiting outside.
“Two cars.”
Emma stared at me.
“You’re coming?”
“No.”
“Then where are you going?”
“To find your brother.”
Her expression softened for half a second.
Then suspicion returned.
“Why?”
“Because this happened under my roof.”
“That isn’t your fault.”
“It became my problem the moment they put my crest on you.”
She looked at the torn uniform.
“They didn’t put it on me.”
I froze.
“What?”
Emma touched the fabric.
“It was already there.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“They took something from my bag.”
“What?”
“A small envelope.”
“What was inside?”
“I don’t know.”
She frowned.
“It belonged to Lucia.”
I turned toward the door.
Lucia was waiting outside.
I called her inside.
“What envelope?”
Her face went blank.
“What envelope?”
Emma looked between us.
“You gave it to me yesterday.”
Lucia’s lips parted.
“I did not.”
I stared at her.
Emma slowly lifted her hand.
“Maybe I’m confused.”
“No,” Lucia whispered.
Her eyes had gone to the crest.
“I remember giving you something.”
I looked at my sister.
“What?”
“A key.”
My chest tightened.
“What key?”
Lucia said nothing.
Then she reached inside her handbag.
She pulled out a small brass key.
I recognized it immediately.
My father had used that key.
Twenty years ago.
Before he died.
It belonged to a room in the old Castellano warehouse.
A room no one had opened since his death.
“Why did you give Emma this?”
Lucia stared at me.
“I didn’t.”
Emma’s voice came softly.
“Yes, you did.”
Lucia stepped back.
“I never gave her that key.”
My eyes moved from one woman to the other.
Someone was lying.
Or someone had altered their memory of the night.
Before I could speak, one of my security men rushed inside.
“Boss.”
“What?”
He handed me a tablet.
“Someone just accessed the mansion camera system.”
“When?”
“Three minutes ago.”
I looked at the screen.
One camera was active.
Not outside.
Not at the gates.
Inside.
The hallway outside Emma’s room.
A grainy figure stood in the shadows.
Watching us.
I zoomed in.
The person raised one hand.
Around the wrist was a snake tattoo.
The screen went black.
May you like
And beneath the footage appeared one sentence.
YOU BROUGHT HER INTO THE WRONG HOUSE.
