Chapter 3 - THE MAN FROM SCHOOL
Dominic went completely still.
“What did he say to you?”
Ethan looked confused.
“He said he knew Mom.”
Nobody moved.
I glanced at Dominic.
That one word changed him.
Mom.
“When?” he asked.
“Tuesday.”
“Where?”
“Outside the gym.”
“Was security with you?”
“Mr. Cole was at the car.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Ethan lowered his eyes.
“He said it was supposed to be a surprise.”
“What kind of surprise?”
“He said he had something Mom wanted me to have.”
Dominic crouched in front of him.
“Ethan, listen to me. Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Give you anything?”
“No.”
“Ask you to go anywhere?”
Ethan shook his head.
“He just said he’d see me soon.”
I felt goose bumps rise along my arms.
Dominic stood.
“Marco.”
“I’m already calling the school.”
“Pull every camera.”
“Done.”
“And find Cole.”
Marco hesitated.
Dominic noticed.
“What?”
“Cole hasn’t answered his phone.”
“What do you mean he hasn’t answered?”
“He left after the party.”
“You said nobody left.”
“He was off-site before lockdown.”
Dominic’s eyes became ice.
“Find him.”
Marco left.
Ethan rubbed his arms.
“Dad?”
Dominic turned.
“Yeah?”
“Am I in trouble?”
The question seemed to hurt him.
“No.”
“I should’ve told you.”
Dominic put both hands on his son’s shoulders.
“You should have.”
Ethan looked down.
“But you are not in trouble.”
Then he added something that surprised me.
“I should have made it easier for you to tell me things.”
Ethan looked up.
Dominic pulled him close.
I quietly stepped into the hallway.
A minute later, Dominic joined me.
“You okay?” I asked.
He laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“No.”
At least he was honest.
He leaned against the wall.
“I built security around Ethan because I thought danger would come through the gate.”
“And now?”
“It walked through his school.”
For the first time, I heard guilt instead of anger.
“You can’t watch a child every second.”
His eyes met mine.
“That sounds like something you tell yourself.”
I didn’t answer.
Because he was right.
Every parent tells themselves that.
You can’t be everywhere.
You can’t stop everything.
But when something goes wrong, logic disappears.
All you think is: I should have known.
I should have seen.
I should have been there.
Dominic looked through the open bedroom door at Lily.
“She noticed something none of us did.”
“She’s nosy.”
That got a small smile.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
I leaned against the opposite wall.
“She once told our grocery cashier his wife was mad at him because he bought flowers.”
“What happened?”
“He looked terrified.”
Dominic actually laughed.
A real laugh.
It disappeared quickly.
His phone rang.
Marco.
Dominic answered.
“Yes?”
I watched his expression.
“What do you mean gone?”
Silence.
“Search the house.”
Another pause.
“Every room.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
Dominic looked at me.
“The guest from the photo.”
“What about him?”
“He used the name Victor Hale.”
“And?”
“There is no Victor Hale.”
I folded my arms.
“Fake name.”
“Yes.”
“Then how did he get inside?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.”
Marco came back ten minutes later holding a folder.
“We found the school footage.”
He spread photographs across Dominic’s desk.
The same man stood near the gym.
Talking to Ethan.
Then another photograph.
He was entering a black sedan.
Marco tapped the license plate.
“Stolen.”
Dominic flipped to the next image.
Then stopped.
“What?”
I moved closer.
The photograph was blurry.
Two men stood beside the sedan.
Victor Hale.
And another man.
Dominic stared at him.
“Zoom it.”
Marco opened the digital image.
The second man became clearer.
I recognized him.
So did Dominic.
“No,” he said softly.
I had seen the man every day for six years.
He ate breakfast in the staff kitchen.
He joked with Lily.
He had carried Ethan upstairs after the boy broke his ankle.
He was trusted with every key in the mansion.
Robert Cole.
Ethan’s personal security driver.
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Bring Cole to me.”
Marco’s face tightened.
“We can’t.”
“Why?”
“Police just found his car.”
“Where?”
“Near the Hudson.”
Dominic stared at him.
“And Cole?”
May you like
Marco took a breath.
“There was blood in the driver’s seat.”
