Chapter 4
“Stop him!”
Dominic’s shout cracked through the corridor.
The man bolted toward the service stairs.
Marco and two guards chased him.
The staff scattered.
I grabbed Lily and pulled her against me.
Ethan stood frozen until Dominic swept him behind his body.
For a few seconds, the whole corridor became chaos.
Feet pounded.
A woman screamed.
A metal cart crashed into the wall.
Then a gunshot exploded from somewhere below.
Lily screamed into my shoulder.
Ethan cried out.
Dominic’s face changed from fury to pure fear.
“Upstairs,” he ordered.
“No,” I said. “Not without knowing—”
“Anna.”
His voice was sharp, but his eyes were on the stairwell.
“Take the children upstairs. Now.”
Another shout echoed below.
Marco’s voice.
“Drop it!”
Then a second shot.
My knees nearly gave out.
Dominic pushed Ethan toward me.
“Go.”
I took Ethan’s hand with one hand and held Lily with the other.
We ran.
Rosa met us at the private residence doors, face pale.
She pulled us inside and locked every bolt.
Two armed guards stood outside.
For ten minutes, no one told us anything.
Those ten minutes felt like an entire lifetime.
Ethan paced like a trapped bird.
Lily sat on my lap, shaking.
Rosa prayed under her breath in Italian.
I held both children as close as I could, but my mind stayed downstairs with Dominic.
I hated that.
I hated the sharp fear that moved through me every time I imagined him bleeding on the marble.
He was my employer.
A dangerous man.
A man with enemies.
A man I should not care about beyond what he could do to protect my daughter.
But fear did not listen to what made sense.
Finally, the door opened.
Dominic came in.
Alive.
No blood.
I breathed before I knew I had been holding my breath.
Ethan ran to him.
Dominic bent and caught him with one arm.
“Did they get him?” Ethan asked.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Is he dead?”
“No.”
The answer seemed to matter to Dominic.
Maybe because Ethan was listening.
Maybe because Lily was.
Maybe because fathers wanted to be better than the violence around them, at least in front of their children.
Marco entered behind him with blood on his sleeve.
I stood too fast.
“Are you hurt?”
He looked at the sleeve.
“Not mine.”
Dominic gave him a look.
Marco corrected himself.
“Grazed. Nothing serious.”
Lily peeked from behind my skirt.
“The running man?”
Dominic crouched.
“Yes.”
“Was he the cake man?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“He looked at me like the cake man.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“Did you see his face last night?”
She nodded slowly.
My heart stopped.
“You told me he smiled,” I said.
“He was sideways,” Lily whispered. “And the room was cold. But I saw.”
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Bring photos. Not in a line. Not pressure. Just faces.”
I lifted a hand.
“She’s scared.”
Dominic looked at me.
“I know.”
That surprised me again.
He knew.
Not because fear made him softer.
Because fear made him precise.
Rosa brought juice and cookies Lily barely touched.
Marco returned with a tablet.
He sat on the floor, several feet away, so he would not tower over her.
Dominic sat beside Ethan.
I sat beside Lily.
“No wrong answers,” Marco said gently. “If you don’t know, say you don’t know.”
Lily nodded.
He showed her a photo of a waiter.
She shook her head.
A cook.
No.
A florist.
No.
A guest in a black tuxedo.
She looked longer.
“No.”
Then the running man.
Lily’s whole body stiffened.
I felt it immediately.
She pulled her knees to her chest.
Dominic leaned forward.
“Lily?”
She whispered, “That’s him.”
Marco’s face hardened.
“The cake man?”
She nodded.
“The one who said little girls should forget?”
“Yes.”
I pulled her close.
She began to cry for the first time since it happened.
That broke me.
My brave little girl had held the truth inside her tiny body all night.
Now it came out in broken sobs.
Dominic stood and walked to the window.
His hands closed into fists.
“Name,” he said.
Marco looked at the tablet.
“Salvatore Bianchi. Works as a private driver. Usually assigned to Vincent.”
Dominic turned.
“Usually?”
“Tonight, he came as part of the guest transport team.”
“And the Falcone connection?”
Marco hesitated.
“His sister married into the Falcone family.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
The room shifted around that name.
Even Ethan sensed it.
“Dad, who are the Falcones?”
Dominic looked at his son.
“Old enemies.”
“I thought Uncle Vincent was family.”
“He is.”
“Then why would his driver hurt me?”
Dominic’s face flickered.
Because family could be worse than enemies.
I knew that look.
I had worn it when Mark’s creditors came to my apartment and called themselves friends of my husband.
Dominic did not answer Ethan.
Instead, he turned to Marco.
“Where is Vincent?”
Marco’s silence answered.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Where is my cousin?”
“He left after the party with the last guests.”
“Phone?”
“Off.”
“House?”
“Empty.”
Dominic smiled without warmth.
“So Vincent runs, his driver poisons the cake, and a fake box appears in Anna’s locker.”
Marco nodded once.
“It looks that way.”
“No.” Dominic’s eyes moved to me. “It looks exactly how someone wants it to look.”
I stared at him.
“You think Vincent is being framed too?”
“I think betrayal is never as simple as the first body on the floor.”
That sentence chilled me.
Before I could answer, Rosa’s phone rang.
Everyone looked at her.
She glanced at the screen.
Her face went white.
“Dominic,” she whispered.
“What?”
“It’s Vincent.”
Dominic held out his hand.
Rosa gave him the phone.
He put it on speaker.
For a moment, there was only static.
Then Vincent Moretti’s voice filled the room.
“Dom.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Where are you?”
“Listen to me. I didn’t touch Ethan.”
Ethan looked up sharply.
Dominic said nothing.
Vincent’s breathing sounded ragged.
“I was supposed to scare you. That’s all.”
Dominic’s voice became deadly calm.
“Scare me with my son’s allergy?”
“No. No, I swear on my mother. They told me it was business. Pressure. A message. I didn’t know it was the cake until after.”
“Who is they?”
Vincent sobbed once.
I had never heard a grown man make that sound.
“Falcone.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because they have my daughter.”
The room went silent.
May you like
Vincent’s voice broke.
“They took Sofia.”
