Chapter 5 - The Secret Hidden Beneath the Mansion
The tunnel was narrower than Elena expected.
Stone pressed close on both sides.
Dust filled the air.
Dominic could barely walk.
Every twenty feet he needed to stop and breathe through the pain.
Marcus's men would eventually discover the passage.
They had minutes.
Maybe less.
“Where does this lead?” Elena whispered.
“Old boathouse.”
“How far?”
“Half a mile.”
Elena looked at him.
“You're joking.”
“No.”
“You can barely stand.”
“Excellent observation.”
“Dominic.”
“Complaining doesn't shorten tunnels.”
Despite terror, Elena nearly laughed.
They continued.
At one point Dominic stumbled.
Elena caught him against the wall.
His face had gone pale.
“You're not okay.”
“I haven't been okay for approximately twenty-two days.”
She touched his side.
Warm.
Not fever.
Strain.
“You're going to reopen the wound.”
“If Marcus catches us, infection becomes a secondary concern.”
Footsteps echoed far behind.
Elena looked back.
“They're inside.”
Dominic pushed away from the wall.
“Then we move.”
The next ten minutes felt endless.
Finally cold evening air appeared ahead.
They emerged into a collapsing wooden structure near the harbor.
The boathouse had not been used in years.
Dominic sank onto an overturned crate.
Elena looked outside.
Darkening sky.
Water.
No road nearby.
“How are we leaving?”
Dominic pointed toward an old tarp.
Elena pulled it away.
A black motorcycle stood underneath.
She stared.
“No.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
“You're injured.”
“Yes.”
“I haven't ridden a motorcycle in nine years.”
“You know how?”
“My ex-husband had one.”
Dominic tossed her a key from a hook inside the shed.
“You're driving.”
Elena stared.
“You trust me with your life?”
Dominic slowly stood.
“You returned to a basement after my brother threatened you.”
He looked at her.
“I trusted you before I admitted it.”
For some reason, that sentence affected her more than it should have.
They reached the motorcycle.
Elena climbed on.
Dominic sat behind her, one hand holding the seat rather than her waist.
She started the engine.
Headlights appeared near the old access road.
“Marcus?” she asked.
“Probably.”
“Hold on.”
Dominic's eyebrows lifted.
“To what?”
Elena pulled onto the dirt path.
The motorcycle jumped.
Dominic's arm instantly wrapped around her.
Elena almost smiled.
They reached pavement as black SUVs appeared behind them.
“Faster,” Dominic said.
“I know!”
“Elena.”
“I said I know!”
They cut through narrow industrial streets toward Boston.
Dominic directed her away from major roads.
Fifteen minutes later they entered an underground garage beneath an abandoned commercial building.
Elena stopped.
Dominic slowly dismounted.
“What is this place?”
“A safe property.”
“You own abandoned buildings?”
“I own many regrettable things.”
Inside, the upper floors appeared empty.
Dominic led her to a freight elevator requiring a fingerprint.
It still recognized him.
The top floor was different.
Secure apartment.
Food.
Clothing.
Medical supplies.
Computers.
Weapons locked inside cabinets.
Elena stared.
“This is your version of emergency planning?”
“People in my profession prepare.”
“Your profession being billionaire?”
“Among others.”
She gave him a look.
Dominic lowered himself onto a sofa.
The escape had drained him.
Elena immediately moved into caretaker mode.
She checked his wound.
“You pulled some stitches.”
“I never had stitches.”
“Exactly.”
She found a medical kit.
Better than anything she had carried.
After cleaning and closing the wound properly, she sat back.
Dominic watched her.
“You should have finished nursing school.”
Elena looked down.
“Life happened.”
“You can go back.”
She laughed quietly.
“With what money?”
Dominic said nothing.
Elena immediately looked at him.
“No.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“You were thinking money.”
“I frequently think about money.”
“You're not paying for my school.”
“Why?”
“Because then this becomes something I owe you.”
Dominic's expression grew serious.
“You would owe me nothing.”
“That's not how people like you work.”
A pause.
“People like me?”
“Powerful men.”
Dominic leaned back carefully.
“You have experience.”
Elena's silence answered him.
He did not push.
After a moment she asked, “What happens now?”
Dominic looked toward the windows.
Boston glittered below.
“Marcus believes he controls my companies because I'm dead or missing.”
“You're neither.”
“No.”
“So you go public.”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't know who belongs to him.”
Dominic crossed the room to the computer.
Slowly.
Painfully.
He entered several passwords.
A corporate security system appeared.
Employee names.
Financial records.
Shipping schedules.
Maps.
“Marcus didn't do this alone,” Dominic said.
Elena stood beside him.
“We find who helped him.”
“And then?”
Dominic's eyes became cold.
“Then I take everything back.”
Elena watched him.
For the first time she understood what Marcus feared.
The injured man from the basement was disappearing.
In his place stood Dominic Crane.
The man newspapers described as one of the most dangerous businessmen in Boston.
A king without a throne.
And now he wanted it back.
The computer beeped.
A security notification appeared.
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
He opened it.
A photograph filled the screen.
Elena stopped breathing.
Noah.
Leaving school.
Taken less than an hour earlier.
Beneath it was one sentence.
You took my brother. I can take your son.
Elena's knees weakened.
“No.”
Dominic stared at the image.
Every trace of softness vanished from his face.
Elena grabbed her phone.
“I have to call Mrs. Patterson.”
Dominic caught her wrist.
“Wait.”
“My son—”
“Elena, listen.”
“No!”
“Elena!”
His voice filled the room.
She froze.
Dominic immediately lowered it.
“If Marcus sent this, Noah is probably still safe.”
“Probably?”
“He wants you frightened. If he'd taken Noah, he would show proof.”
Elena's eyes filled.
“I brought this into his life.”
“No.”
“I went back.”
“Elena.”
“I should have stayed away.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“This is Marcus's choice. Not yours.”
She looked at him.
“What do we do?”
Dominic picked up his phone.
For the first time in weeks, he dialed one of the few men he still trusted.
When someone answered, Dominic said four words.
“Find Noah Marquez. Now.”
Then he looked at Elena.
“And nobody touches that boy.”
On the other side of Boston, Noah walked into Mrs. Patterson's apartment carrying his astronomy project.
He did not notice the black sedan parked across the street.
But the man inside noticed him.
May you like
And lifted his phone.
---
