Chapter 10 - THE NIGHT BLACKTHORNE BURNED
Dominic drove like a man chasing death.
Mara held the dashboard.
“Faster.”
“I’m already doing ninety.”
“Then do a hundred.”
“That’s not how roads work.”
“Tonight it is.”
They reached Blackthorne House in eleven minutes.
The west wing was on fire.
Guards were shouting.
Sprinklers blasted water through smoke-filled halls.
Dominic grabbed the first guard he saw.
“Where’s Caleb?”
“We can’t find him.”
Dominic punched him.
The man dropped.
“Dominic!”
Mara grabbed his arm.
“He won’t help unconscious!”
Dominic released him.
“Where was Caleb last seen?”
“Bedroom.”
They ran upstairs.
Smoke burned Mara’s lungs.
The bedroom was empty.
Window open.
Rope hanging outside.
Mara touched the bed.
Warm.
“Someone took him.”
Dominic looked like he might tear the house apart with his hands.
Then Mara heard something.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
“Wait.”
Dominic froze.
Tap.
From the closet.
He pulled it open.
Caleb was curled inside, holding his toy dinosaur.
“Dad!”
Dominic dropped to his knees.
Caleb ran into him.
Mara nearly collapsed from relief.
“What happened?” Dominic asked.
“A man came in.”
“Kane?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he look like?”
“Old.”
Mara almost laughed despite everything.
Dominic asked, “Did he hurt you?”
Caleb shook his head.
“He told me to come with him.”
“What did you do?”
“I kicked him.”
Dominic blinked.
“Where?”
Caleb whispered, “In the balls.”
Mara covered her mouth.
Dominic stared at his son.
Then said, “Good.”
“He got mad.”
“I imagine.”
“Then Uncle Daniel came.”
Mara stopped breathing.
“What?”
Caleb looked at her.
“Your brother.”
“How do you know?”
“He said, ‘Tell Anna I’m sorry.’”
Dominic and Mara exchanged looks.
“Then what?” she asked.
“Uncle Daniel fought the old man.”
“Kane?”
“I think.”
“And he told me to hide.”
Mara’s eyes filled.
Daniel had not betrayed them.
Not completely.
Caleb pulled something from his pocket.
“He gave me this.”
A small brass key.
Mara stared at it.
She knew it.
The music box key.
On the back was an address.
A storage facility in Queens.
Dominic looked at Mara.
“The ledger.”
They went before sunrise.
Locker 417.
The brass key opened it.
Inside sat only one thing.
The old wooden music box.
Mara’s hands shook as she lifted it.
The melody began.
Blue moon over water.
She remembered her mother singing.
For a moment, she was sixteen again.
Before blood.
Before fire.
Before fake names.
Dominic found the hidden compartment.
Inside was a black leather ledger and a flash drive.
Mara stared.
Eight years of fear.
All because of this.
Dominic opened the ledger.
Names filled the pages.
Judges.
Police officers.
Union leaders.
Politicians.
Criminal bosses.
Then Dominic stopped.
His own name appeared near the middle.
Mara looked closer.
Below it was another name.
ELENA MERCER.
Next to hers, one handwritten sentence:
AUTHORIZED WITNESS. PROTECTION FAILED.
Dominic turned the page.
A photograph fell out.
Elena stood beside Victor Kane.
She was pregnant.
Behind them was a man whose face had been scratched out.
Dominic flipped it over.
Three words were written on the back.
CALEB’S REAL FATHER.
Then someone placed a gun against Mara’s head.
May you like
Daniel’s voice came from behind her.
“Don’t move.”
