Chapter 2 - Trust Nobody
Dominic read the note twice.
Then a third time.
He said nothing.
That frightened Eliza more than anger would have.
“Explain,” she demanded.
“I can’t.”
“Try.”
“I don’t know why he wrote it.”
“That’s convenient.”
Dominic handed the note to Luca.
The older man’s brow furrowed.
“You think Mark expected her to find this?”
“Eventually,” Dominic replied.
Eliza snatched the note back.
“He specifically warned me about you.”
“Yes.”
“And your answer is that you don’t know why?”
“That is my answer.”
She turned toward the door.
Dominic caught her wrist.
The contact lasted less than a second.
He released her immediately.
But Eliza stared at his hand.
“Don’t touch me.”
“You walk outside this property tonight, you could be dead before sunrise.”
“And I should trust the man my missing boyfriend warned me about?”
“No.”
That stopped her.
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“You shouldn’t trust me because Mark wrote a sentence on paper. You should decide based on what I do next.”
He handed the drive to Luca.
“Do not connect it to our main system.”
Luca nodded.
“Offline station?”
“Basement three.”
Eliza crossed her arms.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Then I’m leaving.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Five minutes later, Eliza stood inside a secure underground room she had not known existed.
There were no windows.
Four computer monitors covered one wall.
Luca inserted the drive into an isolated laptop.
Nothing happened.
Then a password screen appeared.
“Encrypted,” Luca said.
“How long?”
“Could be minutes. Could be years.”
Eliza stared at the password box.
“What would Mark use?”
“Probably something meaningful,” Dominic said.
She tried Mark’s birthday.
Incorrect.
Their anniversary.
Incorrect.
Her birthday.
Incorrect.
Then Eliza remembered a joke Mark used constantly.
Whenever she complained about New York being too expensive, he would say:
One day, Lisbon.
It had been their fantasy.
Leave the city.
Move somewhere warm.
Start over.
Eliza typed LISBON.
Incorrect.
Dominic watched.
“What else?”
Eliza closed her eyes.
“One day, Lisbon,” she whispered.
She typed ONEDAYLISBON.
The screen unlocked.
A directory appeared.
Luca exhaled.
Dominic stared at Eliza.
She hated the sadness in his eyes.
“You knew him better than I did,” Dominic said.
“No,” Eliza whispered. “Apparently I didn’t know him at all.”
The drive contained hundreds of financial records.
Shell corporations.
Bank transfers.
Property purchases.
Photographs.
Names.
Many belonged to businessmen.
Some were politicians.
Others belonged to people Eliza recognized from newspaper headlines.
Luca opened a folder labeled CROWN.
Inside was an audio file.
Dominic’s face changed.
“Don’t.”
But Luca had already clicked.
Mark’s voice filled the room.
“If you’re hearing this, I probably didn’t make it out.”
Eliza stopped breathing.
“This drive contains proof that the Crown Group has been moving money through private development projects for years. Castellano knows part of it, not all of it.”
Dominic went completely still.
Mark continued.
“There is one person I trust with the whole truth.”
Eliza leaned closer.
“If Eliza Reynolds is listening, I’m sorry.”
Tears burned her eyes.
“I lied about almost everything. But I never lied about loving you.”
Eliza covered her mouth.
Dominic looked away.
“Someone inside Castellano’s organization is working for Crown. I don’t know who. I discovered it too late.”
Luca’s expression became hard.
Mark continued.
“The two million wasn’t stolen for me. It’s evidence. Every bill was marked through a federal investigation I stumbled into.”
Dominic swore softly.
“I took it because Crown intended to use the money to buy access to a state contract. If the transaction vanished, somebody would panic.”
The audio crackled.
“And they did.”
Eliza wiped her cheek.
“Dominic, if you’re hearing this, you’re probably furious.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Mark continued.
“But if you still care about what happened to your brother, stop looking outside your house.”
Eliza turned toward Dominic.
His face had changed.
“What happened to your brother?”
He didn’t answer.
The recording continued.
“Someone close to you arranged Gabriel’s death.”
Silence filled the room.
Then Mark said the final sentence.
“The proof is in a place Dominic has never been willing to look.”
The audio stopped.
Luca removed his glasses.
Eliza stared at Dominic.
“Who was Gabriel?”
“My younger brother.”
“How did he die?”
Dominic turned away.
“Car accident.”
Luca’s voice came quietly.
“That’s what we believed.”
Dominic looked toward the screen.
“No.”
“What?” Eliza asked.
“He didn’t say the proof was on the drive.”
Luca frowned.
“No.”
Dominic turned.
“He said it was somewhere I refused to look.”
Eliza watched him.
“Where?”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“My father’s house.”
The room went silent again.
His father had been dead for three years.
The estate had been locked ever since.
Dominic had not entered it once.
At dawn, they drove there.
The Castellano family home stood on thirty acres north of the city.
Unlike Dominic’s modern estate, this house looked ancient.
Stone walls.
Ivy.
Tall windows.
A chapel near the eastern garden.
Dominic stopped at the front steps.
His hands were clenched.
Eliza noticed.
“You don’t have to go inside.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Because Mark told you?”
“No.”
Dominic looked at the house.
“Because I should have done it years ago.”
Inside, dust covered everything.
Family portraits lined the hall.
Eliza saw a younger Dominic beside a smiling teenage boy.
Gabriel.
They looked alike.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
But Gabriel’s expression held something Dominic’s didn’t.
Ease.
“Were you close?” Eliza asked.
“Until we weren’t.”
“Why?”
“My father.”
That was all Dominic offered.
They searched the study first.
Nothing.
The bedroom.
Nothing.
Then Eliza noticed something strange in the family portrait.
Gabriel wore a medal around his neck.
A small silver saint.
She had seen the same symbol carved into the door of the chapel outside.
“Dominic.”
He followed her gaze.
They crossed the garden.
Inside the chapel stood six rows of wooden benches and a marble altar.
Dominic stopped.
“My mother was buried from here.”
Eliza moved carefully.
Behind the altar was a metal plaque.
Saint Gabriel.
She touched it.
The plaque shifted.
Behind it was a cavity in the stone.
Inside lay a sealed envelope.
Dominic reached for it.
His hands trembled.
He opened it.
There was a photograph.
Gabriel.
Alive.
Standing beside Mark.
The date printed in the corner was six months after Gabriel’s supposed death.
Dominic turned white.
“That’s impossible.”
Luca stared.
Eliza looked from the photograph to Dominic.
“You said he died.”
“I watched them bury him.”
Inside the envelope was another note.
Only one sentence.
If you want to know why Gabriel Castellano had to disappear, find the woman holding his child.
Dominic looked at Eliza.
“What woman?”
But before anyone could answer, Luca’s phone rang.
He listened for five seconds.
Then his face lost all color.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“The safe house was attacked.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Casualties?”
“None.”
“And the drive?”
Luca swallowed.
“They didn’t go for the drive.”
“Then what did they want?”
Luca looked directly at Eliza.
“They searched her medical file.”
Dominic went still.
Luca continued.
“And somebody accessed the clinic’s bloodwork.”
Eliza’s hand moved protectively over her stomach.
“Why would they want my bloodwork?”
Nobody answered.
Then Dominic’s phone chimed.
A laboratory report appeared from an unknown sender.
At the bottom, one line had been highlighted.
PATERNITY COMPATIBILITY: MARK TANNER EXCLUDED.
Eliza stared at the screen.
The world seemed to tilt beneath her.
“That’s impossible.”
Dominic looked at her.
May you like
And for the first time since they met, fear appeared in his eyes.
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