Chapter 4 - HIS OWN NAME
Dominic carried the document downstairs without speaking.
Celia read it twice.
“This could be a forgery.”
“It isn’t.”
Hannah stood up.
Grace stirred against her shoulder.
Dominic remembered the authorization. Vincent had brought a stack of papers during a fight over an abandoned warehouse. Severance agreements. Contract settlements. Security expenses.
He had signed while taking a call.
He remembered being annoyed that Julian had missed another meeting.
“You paid them?” Hannah asked.
“I signed something I didn’t read.”
She stared at him.
“That sounds like a luxury.”
The words landed harder than shouting would have.
Dominic set the paper down.
“Yes,” he said. “It was.”
Celia plugged the flash drive into an offline laptop.
Three folders appeared.
MANIFESTS.
PAYMENTS.
IF I DON’T COME BACK.
The final folder required a password.
The first held shipping records. The second contained transfers through companies Dominic didn’t recognize.
But he recognized the accounts funding them.
His accounts.
Julian’s notebook was worse.
Dates. Initials. Container numbers. Names crossed out, then written again beside payment amounts.
One entry read: Dock 9. Night crew replaced. Ask Ada.
“Who’s Ada?” Hannah asked.
“Ada Mercer,” Dominic said. “She ran payroll at the old terminal.”
“Can you reach her?”
Celia looked up sharply.
“We need to slow down.”
“No,” Hannah said.
Both of them turned.
“I’ve been slow. I waited for him to call. I waited for someone to tell me the truth. I waited while my daughter grew into clothes he never got to see.”
She placed the notebook in front of Dominic.
“You have cars. Guards. Money. Start using them.”
Dominic called Ada.
The number had been disconnected.
He called the terminal.
The manager told him Ada had retired.
“Where does she live?”
“I’ll check.”
“Now.”
While they waited, Hannah’s phone vibrated.
A photograph filled the screen.
The east guest suite.
Taken from the garden seconds earlier.
Through the window, Hannah could see herself holding Grace.
Beneath the picture was a message.
JULIAN GOT ONE WARNING TOO.
Dominic crossed to the curtains and pulled them shut.
Marco entered at a run.
“The garden camera went down.”
“For how long?”
“Ninety seconds.”
Dominic looked at the picture again.
May you like
Someone had not just found Hannah.
Someone inside his house had shown them exactly where to stand.
