Chapter 8 - The Dead Sister
Dominic stared at the screen like he had seen a ghost.
“Your sister?” I asked.
He didn’t move.
“Her name was Sofia.”
“Was?”
“She died two years ago.”
The room felt suddenly colder.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Dr. Harlan looked away.
Dominic noticed.
“You know something.”
Harlan shook his head.
Dominic stepped toward him.
“You have five seconds before I stop asking politely.”
Harlan swallowed.
“She came to see me.”
“When?”
“A month before she died.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Why?”
“She thought Victor was stealing from you.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“She said he had access to accounts, communications, medical records. She thought he was building something.”
“Building what?”
“Insurance.”
I understood.
“Secrets.”
Harlan nodded.
“Enough dirt on enough people that nobody could touch him.”
Dominic looked at the footage.
“And Sofia found out.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She tried.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“I was deaf.”
The words landed hard.
Victor hadn’t just taken Dominic’s hearing.
He had isolated him.
Controlled what he heard.
What he knew.
Who could reach him.
For three years, every conversation around Dominic had passed through people Victor controlled.
Tablets.
Assistants.
Interpreters.
Security.
Dominic wasn’t simply deaf.
He had been trapped.
His phone rang.
Rafael.
“The apartment is clear,” Rafael said. “Device wasn’t a bomb.”
“What was it?”
“Camera and microphone.”
Dominic looked at me.
Victor had been watching my apartment.
My bedroom.
Marcus.
My life.
I felt sick.
“Destroy it,” Dominic said.
“Already done.”
“Families safe?”
“Yes.”
I exhaled.
Then Harlan’s office phone rang.
He stared at it.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Dominic answered.
Victor.
“Still chasing ghosts?” Victor asked.
Dominic’s face tightened.
“You killed Sofia.”
Victor sighed.
“Careful.”
“You killed my sister.”
“I didn’t touch her car.”
“That isn’t a denial.”
Victor chuckled.
“You were always smarter before you became emotional.”
Dominic gripped the phone.
“Where is Caroline?”
“Alive.”
“For now?”
“For as long as Elena cooperates.”
My stomach dropped.
Dominic looked at me.
Victor continued.
“She has something I need.”
I grabbed the phone.
“I don’t have anything.”
Victor laughed softly.
“You do. You just don’t know it.”
“What?”
“Ask your son.”
My blood froze.
Marcus looked up at me.
I crouched.
“Baby, did Mr. Victor give you anything tonight?”
Marcus thought hard.
Then nodded.
“A key.”
Dominic moved closer.
“What key?”
Marcus dug into the pocket of his little jeans.
He pulled out a tiny brass key.
I stared at it.
“When did he give you that?”
“When he found me.”
“Why?”
“He said it was a secret.”
Dominic took the key.
Victor’s voice came through the phone.
“You have one hour.”
“For what?” Dominic asked.
“To bring me that key.”
“And if I don’t?”
Victor paused.
Then we heard Caroline scream.
May you like
A gunshot exploded through the speaker.
The line went dead.
