Chapter 7 - The Night Mia Disappeared
The hospital administrator’s name was Martin Vale.
For six years, he had appeared respectable.
Charity boards.
Medical conferences.
Fundraising dinners.
Photographs beside children ringing remission bells.
Behind closed doors, he had quietly routed donations through shell foundations linked to Salvatore’s network.
Dominic wanted him arrested immediately.
Matteo stopped him.
“If we move too soon, Salvatore disappears.”
Clara stared at him.
“And Ethan remains under a hospital run by one of his people?”
“Not run by him.”
“Controlled enough.”
Dominic stood.
“Move Ethan.”
“No,” Clara said.
Everyone looked at her.
“If we move him suddenly, they’ll know we found something.”
“His safety comes first,” Dominic said.
“And catching the man who killed my father matters too.”
Dominic studied her.
Three months earlier she had arrived with eleven dollars and a hospital bill.
Now she was discussing criminal strategy like she had been born into his world.
That terrified him.
“I don’t want you becoming like us,” he said quietly.
Clara’s expression softened.
“Then help me end this so I don’t have to.”
They created a plan.
Ethan’s treatment would continue normally.
Martin Vale would be watched.
The warehouse Thomas mentioned would be investigated quietly.
Nobody outside the core group would know.
For six days, nothing happened.
Then Mia disappeared.
This time for real.
It happened during a charity winter festival at the estate.
Dominic had nearly canceled the event.
Clara convinced him not to.
“If you lock the children away every time someone threatens them, fear wins.”
He hated when she was right.
The festival filled the lower gardens with lights, music, staff families, and children.
Security was doubled.
Gabriel held Clara’s hand.
Mia wore a red scarf and insisted on hot chocolate with “an unreasonable amount” of marshmallows.
Dominic actually laughed.
For twenty minutes, they almost looked like a normal family.
Then the lights flickered.
One second.
Two.
Three.
When they returned, Mia was gone.
Clara screamed her name.
Dominic transformed instantly.
Gates closed.
Music stopped.
Security spread across the property.
Gabriel began shaking.
Clara knelt.
“Where did you see her last?”
He pointed toward the hedge maze.
Clara ran.
Dominic followed.
“Mia!”
No answer.
They reached the center.
Her red scarf lay on the ground.
Dominic picked it up.
Something was pinned beneath it.
A note.
THE DAUGHTER FOR THE DRIVE. MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE.
Dominic’s face became deadly calm.
Clara grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“They want the evidence.”
“You can’t go alone.”
“I can.”
“You know it’s a trap.”
“Of course it is.”
“Then we plan.”
“There’s no time.”
“Dominic.”
He turned on her.
“That is my daughter.”
“And because she is your daughter, you cannot walk into something designed to kill you.”
He stared at her.
“You think I care what happens to me?”
“I do!”
The words burst out.
Silence.
Clara realized she had said it in front of everyone.
Matteo looked away.
Gabriel stared at her.
Dominic’s expression changed.
Clara swallowed.
“I care,” she repeated more quietly. “Your children care. So stop acting like dying for them is the same as saving them.”
He took one step toward her.
“What do you suggest?”
“Give them what they think they want.”
At midnight, Dominic arrived at an abandoned rail depot carrying the flash drive.
He appeared alone.
He was not.
Matteo and a private response team surrounded the area.
Clara had insisted on coming.
Dominic had refused.
She came anyway.
From an upper loading platform, Clara watched through binoculars.
A van rolled into the depot.
Its side door opened.
Mia sat inside.
Alive.
A masked man held her shoulder.
Dominic stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
“Drive first.”
Dominic lifted it.
“Show me she’s unharmed.”
The man pushed Mia out.
She stumbled.
“Daddy!”
Dominic’s entire body strained toward her.
“Stay there, baby.”
The masked man held out his hand.
Dominic tossed the drive onto the concrete halfway between them.
“Take it.”
The man moved.
So did Mia.
She ran.
A second figure appeared from behind the van.
Clara saw the weapon before Dominic did.
Not pointed at Dominic.
At Mia.
Clara screamed through the radio.
“LEFT!”
Dominic turned.
Matteo’s team surged forward.
A shot cracked.
Dominic tackled Mia to the ground.
The bullet struck metal behind them.
Chaos erupted.
Within seconds, the attackers fled.
One was captured.
The others escaped.
Mia sobbed in Dominic’s arms.
Clara ran toward them.
Dominic grabbed her with one arm and pulled her close.
For a brief moment, all three were tangled together on the cold concrete.
Mia crying.
Dominic breathing hard.
Clara trembling.
“You came,” Dominic whispered.
“Of course I came.”
“I told you not to.”
“You should know by now how well that works.”
Despite the terror, he laughed once.
Then Gabriel appeared with Matteo from the perimeter vehicle.
He ran toward Mia.
The twins collided in an embrace.
Clara watched them and felt tears sting her eyes.
The captured attacker was questioned before police arrived.
Dominic wanted one answer.
“Who ordered this?”
The man smiled through a split lip.
“You still think this is about your uncle?”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Salvatore is old.”
The man laughed.
“He’s not the one you should be afraid of.”
“Then who?”
The attacker looked toward Clara.
And smiled.
“The woman in yellow already knows him.”
Clara’s blood went cold.
The man leaned closer.
“Ask her brother.”
Hours later, Clara called Ethan.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
Then the hospital called.
May you like
Ethan Hayes was missing.
And the security guards Dominic had placed outside his room were unconscious.
