Chapter 4 - Seven Days
On the second morning, Valentina woke before sunrise.
Dominic found her sitting halfway down the main staircase, wearing new pajamas and clutching Matteo's gray rabbit.
"Couldn't sleep?"
She shrugged.
Dominic sat beside her.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Then she asked, "When does my week end?"
Dominic looked toward the tall windows.
"Five days."
"What happens then?"
"I don't know yet."
"You always say that."
"Because it's true."
Valentina picked at one of the rabbit's ears.
"Rich people aren't supposed to know everything?"
"No. We just pay more when we're wrong."
She smiled.
Then her expression changed.
"If you don't want me after seven days, will Rosa?"
The question tore through him.
"This isn't about wanting you."
"What is it about?"
Dominic couldn't answer without telling a seven-year-old girl he might be dead before spring.
So he changed the subject.
"Tell me about your mother."
Valentina's shoulders tightened.
Dominic immediately regretted it.
"Only if you want."
Valentina was silent.
"My mama used to say we were playing a hiding game."
"From whom?"
"Bad men."
"Did she say why?"
"No."
"Where did you live?"
"Different places."
"Did she have friends?"
"A lady named Elena sometimes helped."
Dominic memorized it.
"What happened to your mother?"
Valentina's fingers tightened around the rabbit.
"She got sick."
"Where?"
"A room."
"What kind of room?"
"I don't know."
"Hospital?"
She shook her head.
"She told me to run."
Dominic's stomach tightened.
"When?"
"Last winter."
Nearly a year.
"What happened after you ran?"
Valentina stared downward.
"I waited."
"For your mother?"
A nod.
"She never came."
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
"Valentina, I need you to know something."
She looked at him.
"If she told you to run, she was trying to save you."
"Then why didn't she come find me?"
Dominic chose the only answer he could live with.
"Maybe she couldn't."
Valentina's lower lip trembled, but she refused to cry.
Dominic had seen grown men collapse under less.
He reached for her hand.
She allowed it.
Later Dominic called Marco into his office.
"Find everything on Lucía Alvarez."
Marco hesitated.
"Everything?"
"Employment, addresses, police reports, hospital records."
"And Elena?"
"Find her too."
Marco closed the door.
"Does Aleandro know?"
"No."
"Do you trust him?"
Dominic looked out the window.
"He is my brother."
"That isn't what I asked."
Dominic didn't answer.
Meanwhile Aleandro visited Dr. Falcone.
Rico was surprised when the younger Moretti appeared at his clinic.
"What can I do for you?"
"I'm worried about Dominic."
Rico's expression closed.
"You know I can't discuss a patient."
"I know he's dying."
Falcone studied him.
"Did Dominic tell you?"
"No."
Aleandro smiled thinly.
"But I know my brother."
Falcone returned to his desk.
"Then you should encourage him to consider the clinical trial."
Aleandro's eyes sharpened.
"A trial?"
"There are no guarantees."
"But it could work?"
"It could."
Aleandro nodded thoughtfully.
"Of course. We all want Dominic to recover."
Rico watched him leave.
Something about the visit bothered him.
That afternoon Marco returned with a file.
"Lucía Alvarez technically disappeared eleven months ago."
"Technically?"
"No body."
"Police report?"
"Filed by a shelter volunteer. Closed after three months."
"Family?"
"One daughter."
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
"Valentina."
"Yes."
"Anything else?"
Marco slid a photograph across the desk.
It showed Lucía leaving a courthouse.
Behind her was a man.
Victor Sarto.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"When?"
"Eight months before Lucía disappeared."
"Why was Victor following her?"
"I don't know."
Dominic stared at the photograph.
"Find out."
That evening, Valentina wandered into Dominic's office.
He quickly covered the files.
"I'm bored."
Dominic looked at her.
"I have twenty-two rooms."
"Most are boring."
"That's offensive to the architect."
She climbed into the chair opposite him.
"Can I draw?"
He gave her paper.
For half an hour Dominic worked while Valentina sketched.
It felt strangely peaceful.
Then she placed something on his desk.
A small brass key.
"What's this?"
"It was in my old skirt."
Dominic looked up.
"What?"
"My mom sewed it inside."
"When?"
"Before she told me to run."
Dominic lifted the key.
Stamped onto one side were numbers.
314.
"Do you know what it opens?"
"No."
"Did she say anything?"
Valentina thought.
"She said if something happened, find the place where people leave but don't fly."
Dominic and Marco exchanged a look.
Train station.
Bus terminal.
Ferry terminal.
"Did she say anything else?"
Valentina nodded.
"She said don't give it to the smiling man."
Dominic felt cold.
"What smiling man?"
Valentina looked toward the office door.
"Your brother."
The room went silent.
Dominic lowered the key.
"How did your mother know Aleandro?"
Valentina whispered, "Because he came to our room once."
Dominic's voice became dangerously soft.
"What happened?"
"He asked my mama for something."
"What?"
"I don't know."
"What did she say?"
Valentina looked frightened.
"She said she'd rather die."
Dominic stood.
At that exact moment, the lights throughout the mansion went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
A second later an alarm began screaming downstairs.
Marco reached beneath his jacket.
Dominic grabbed Valentina.
From somewhere in the dark came the sound of breaking glass.
Someone had entered the house.
And for the first time in three years, Dominic Moretti was not afraid for his own life.
May you like
He was terrified someone had come for his daughter.
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