Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO STOOD BESIDE THE DOOR
The gunfire through the radio lasted four seconds.
To Dominic, it lasted a lifetime.
Harper screamed once.
Then the connection went dead.
Mia grabbed the radio from Dominic’s hand.
“Harper!”
No answer.
“Daniel!”
Only static.
Dominic leaned toward Marcus.
“Turn around.”
Marcus was already moving.
The convoy crossed the median and accelerated toward the estate.
Tires screamed across wet pavement.
Gabriel contacted the reserve teams.
Rose checked her weapon.
Mia kept pressing the radio button.
“Harper, answer me.”
“Please.”
“Baby, answer me.”
Nothing came back.
Dominic looked through the windshield.
His face showed no panic.
But everyone inside the vehicle felt it.
A cold pressure filled the cabin.
The kind that came before violence.
“What do we know about Elias?” Gabriel asked.
Dominic did not look at him.
“He has been my assistant for eleven years.”
“He manages my schedule.”
“My communications.”
“My legal meetings.”
“My travel.”
“And your security codes?” Rose asked.
“Some of them.”
“Enough to reach Harper?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Mia turned toward him.
“You trusted him.”
“I did.”
“That keeps happening.”
The accusation struck cleanly.
Dominic accepted it.
Nathan.
Claire.
Elias.
Every betrayal had come from someone who stood close enough to hear his breathing.
Rose looked at Mia.
“This is not the time.”
“It is exactly the time.”
Mia’s eyes remained on Dominic.
“My daughter is trapped inside a house filled with people he trusted.”
Dominic met her stare.
“You are right.”
The answer silenced her.
He did not defend himself.
He did not threaten her.
He did not hide behind the power of his name.
He simply accepted the truth.
“I brought these people into that house,” Dominic said.
“I gave them access.”
“I failed to see what they were.”
Mia’s expression broke.
Her anger remained.
But beneath it was fear.
“Bring her back.”
Dominic looked toward the road.
“I will.”
The estate appeared beyond the trees twenty-two minutes later.
Smoke rose from the east wing.
The outer gates stood open.
One guard lay motionless beside the entrance.
Another crawled near the guardhouse, leaving blood across the stone.
Marcus drove through without slowing.
The convoy stopped in front of the mansion.
Dominic exited before the vehicle fully stopped.
Mia followed.
Gunfire sounded from the upper floor.
Gabriel’s men spread across the courtyard.
Rose moved toward the western entrance with Marcus.
Dominic and Mia took the marble stairs.
The front hall was covered with shattered glass.
A chandelier hung by one chain.
Blood marked the staircase.
Mia saw a small stuffed rabbit near the first landing.
Harper’s rabbit.
She ran toward it.
Dominic caught her before she reached the open hallway.
A bullet struck the wall where her head had been.
He pulled her behind a marble column.
“Stay down.”
A gunman fired from the east balcony.
Dominic returned two shots.
The man fell over the railing and crashed onto the floor below.
Mia picked up Harper’s rabbit.
One ear had been torn.
She pressed it against her chest.
“Daniel!”
A weak answer came from the guest corridor.
“Here.”
They moved carefully.
Daniel lay near the east suite door.
Blood covered his side.
His pistol remained in his hand.
Dominic crouched beside him.
“Where is Harper?”
Daniel tried to sit.
“Elias took her.”
“Where?”
“Service tunnels.”
“He opened the panel behind the nursery.”
Mia looked toward the wall.
“There is a tunnel in Harper’s room?”
Dominic’s face darkened.
The eastern passage had been sealed before Mia began working at the estate.
Only Elias had supervised the renovation.
“He built a new entrance,” Dominic said.
Daniel grabbed his sleeve.
“Elias has explosives.”
“He said if anyone follows, he brings down the east foundation.”
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
Daniel tried to rise.
His legs failed.
Dominic lowered him again.
“No.”
“I can help.”
“You already did.”
Dominic looked at two reserve guards.
“Get him to the doctor.”
Daniel tightened his grip.
“There is more.”
“What?”
“He said Nathan was never the highest man.”
Dominic stared at him.
“What did he mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“He said Nathan took orders too.”
A weak laugh came from the doorway behind them.
Claire stood under guard.
Her wounded hand was wrapped in cloth.
Marcus held her by the arm.
Senator Bennett was being dragged behind her.
Claire looked at Daniel.
“Elias always did enjoy being dramatic.”
Mia moved toward her.
“Where did he take Harper?”
Claire smiled.
“You still believe I know everything.”
Dominic stepped between them.
“You knew Elias was involved.”
“I knew someone inside the house opened the security system.”
“You said it was him.”
“I suspected.”
Dominic grabbed her wounded hand.
Claire screamed.
Marcus looked away.
Mia did not.
“Where is he going?” Dominic asked.
Claire’s knees weakened.
“The old chapel.”
“What chapel?”
“The one beneath the north gardens.”
Dominic released her.
Rose entered the corridor.
Her face changed when she heard the words.
“There is no chapel beneath the gardens.”
Claire held her injured hand.
“Not anymore.”
“Nathan found the ruins during the estate renovations.”
“He had Elias restore the tunnels.”
Rose looked at Dominic.
“The original Vale house stood there.”
“Your grandfather burned it.”
“Why?”
Rose’s voice became quieter.
“Because that was where Samuel’s birth records were kept.”
Dominic understood.
Nathan’s conspiracy had not begun with Elena.
It had begun with the first lie about the Vale inheritance.
Every generation had built another wall over it.
Elias had been protecting those walls.
Mia pointed Claire’s fallen key toward her.
“Why take Harper there?”
Claire’s smile returned.
“Because the chapel has another exit.”
“Where?”
“Beyond the northern cemetery.”
“To the river.”
Dominic turned toward Gabriel.
“Send men to the river road.”
Gabriel raised his radio.
Claire laughed.
“You’re still late.”
“The boat was waiting before we reached the airfield.”
Mia rushed toward the stairs.
Dominic followed.
Rose caught Claire’s arm.
“Who gives Elias orders?”
Claire stared at her.
For the first time, uncertainty appeared in her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Nathan was brought into the hall.
His face was bruised.
His wrists remained bound.
When he saw the smoke and broken glass, he looked almost pleased.
Dominic crossed to him.
“Elias took Harper.”
Nathan said nothing.
“He told Daniel you took orders.”
Nathan’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
Dominic saw it.
“Who is above you?”
“No one.”
Dominic struck him.
Nathan fell against the wall.
“Who?”
Nathan laughed through the blood.
“You still think power has a face.”
“It does not.”
“It has agreements.”
“Families.”
“Banks.”
“Governments.”
“Men who never touch the weapon.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“Give me a name.”
Nathan looked toward the old family portraits.
“Your mother.”
The hallway became still.
Dominic stepped back.
“My mother is dead.”
Nathan smiled.
“No.”
“Your mother disappeared.”
“Just like Rose.”
Dominic stared at him.
His mother, Margaret Vale, had supposedly died in Switzerland when Dominic was nine.
A private illness.
A sealed coffin.
No funeral viewing.
No photographs.
The same pattern.
The same lie.
Nathan spoke softly.
“She built the network your father believed he controlled.”
“She selected me.”
“She paid Elias.”
“She arranged Claire’s family alliance.”
“And she has waited thirty years for the Vale bloodline to destroy itself.”
Dominic grabbed Nathan by the throat.
“Where is she?”
Nathan’s smile vanished.
“In the chapel.”
Mia stopped at the end of the corridor.
Harper was not only trapped with Elias.
She was being taken to the woman who had designed the betrayal from the beginning.
Dominic released Nathan.
Then he looked at Mia.
“Stay behind me.”
She picked up a second pistol from the floor.
“No.”
“This time, I stay beside you.”
They ran toward the north gardens.
Beneath the smoke.
May you like
Beneath the house.
Toward the oldest secret the Vale family had buried.
