Chapter 4 - THE LEDGERAnna Bennett woke with her wrists tied to a metal chair.
Gunfire had rhythm.
Fear had smell.
And betrayal had a silence all its own.
That silence followed him through the hidden service passage beneath the Halcyon Crown.
Sophie was in Gabriel's arms twenty feet ahead.
Julian limped beside them.
Dominic followed last, pistol raised, listening for footsteps from behind.
The attack upstairs had lasted less than four minutes.
Three attackers dead.
Two captured.
At least one escaped.
But one sentence had done more damage than all the bullets.
She's his daughter.
Dominic couldn't stop looking at Sophie.
Her face.
Her eyes.
The shape of her eyebrows when she was frightened.
There were things he had ignored because coincidence was easier.
Now coincidence felt like cowardice.
They reached the underground garage.
Gabriel put Sophie inside an armored SUV.
Dominic grabbed Julian before he could enter.
“Is she mine?”
Julian looked at him.
“Ask Anna.”
“I'm asking you.”
“I don't know.”
Dominic shoved him against the vehicle.
“You knew she had a child.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Anna disappeared around the time she would've been pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“And you never thought to mention that?”
Julian lowered his voice.
“I thought about it every day.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because Anna made me swear.”
“Why?”
Julian looked toward Sophie.
“To keep her alive.”
Dominic's hand tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“Sloane found out Anna had discovered the leak. He didn't know what she knew, but he knew she knew something.”
“And?”
“If he discovered she was carrying your child, Sophie would've become leverage.”
Dominic went still.
“So you do know.”
Julian closed his eyes.
That was answer enough.
Dominic punched the SUV beside Julian's head.
Metal dented beneath his fist.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I had a daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You let me spend five years—”
“I was trying to keep her breathing!”
Dominic grabbed him again.
“And Anna?”
“She made the decision.”
“She made the decision to erase me from my daughter's life?”
“She made the decision to stop Sloane from putting a gun to her child's head.”
Dominic released him.
His chest rose and fell.
Sophie was watching through the window.
Dominic noticed.
He forced himself to calm down.
Then he opened the passenger door and climbed inside.
Sophie sat behind Gabriel's seat.
She had found a blanket somewhere.
“Are the bad men gone?”
“For now.”
“Did you get hurt?”
“No.”
She reached forward and touched Dominic's bleeding knuckles.
“That looks hurt.”
He glanced at his hand.
“It'll be okay.”
She looked unconvinced.
“You should put a Band-Aid on it.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“I probably should.”
The convoy pulled into the street.
Three black SUVs moved through wet Manhattan traffic.
Dominic gave Gabriel an address.
“Vale Tower.”
Julian turned.
“You're going now?”
“Yes.”
“Sloane knows about the archive.”
“Probably.”
“He'll have people there.”
“Then we'll arrive first.”
Gabriel glanced in the mirror.
“Or walk into a trap.”
Dominic looked outside.
“Same difference.”
Sophie leaned against the seat.
“Who's Sloane?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Dominic turned.
“A man who wants something from your mother.”
“What?”
“We're going to find out.”
“Is he scary?”
Dominic considered the question.
“Yes.”
Sophie pulled the blanket closer.
“Are you scared?”
Julian glanced at Dominic.
Dominic looked at Sophie.
“Yes.”
She seemed surprised.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Mom says brave people get scared.”
Dominic's throat tightened.
“What else does your mom say?”
“She says being brave means you don't let scared decide.”
Julian looked away.
Dominic nodded slowly.
“Your mom says smart things.”
“She talks a lot.”
This time Dominic did smile.
“So did she when I knew her.”
Sophie sat up.
“You knew Mommy?”
“Yes.”
“Were you friends?”
Dominic stared through the windshield.
“We were.”
“Best friends?”
Julian coughed to hide a laugh.
Dominic gave him a cold look.
Sophie waited.
“We were very close,” Dominic said.
“How close?”
Gabriel suddenly became extremely interested in driving.
Julian looked out the window.
Dominic exhaled.
“Close enough that I cared about her very much.”
Sophie smiled.
“She'll like that.”
Dominic's chest hurt.
He turned away.
Vale Tower stood on Forty-Sixth Street, wrapped in scaffolding.
The lobby had been closed since a burst pipe destroyed several floors.
Dominic's crew entered through the underground loading dock.
Gabriel sent men ahead.
Clear.
They took the service elevator to Basement Three.
Dust coated the corridor.
Rows of steel archive doors disappeared into darkness.
Julian led them toward Room 17.
“Anna used this one.”
Dominic opened it.
Old filing cabinets filled the room.
Shelves.
Boxes.
Nothing obvious.
Sophie stood beside him.
“Where winter lives in summer,” Dominic murmured.
Julian opened cabinet after cabinet.
Gabriel searched behind shelves.
Dominic noticed an unplugged industrial freezer in the corner.
He walked toward it.
Inside were empty shelves.
Except one.
A child's drawing lay on the bottom.
Dominic picked it up.
Crayon.
A house.
A woman.
A little girl.
And a tall dark-haired man standing apart from them.
Above the figures Sophie had apparently written names in uneven letters.
MOMMY.
ME.
And over the man:
D.
Dominic couldn't breathe.
Sophie looked over his arm.
“That's mine!”
He turned.
“You drew this?”
“At home.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Who's this man?”
Sophie pointed.
“Mommy said he's someone who kept us safe even when he didn't know it.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Under the drawing was an envelope.
His name was written across it.
DOMINIC.
He tore it open.
Inside was a photograph.
Anna.
Pregnant.
Five years earlier.
Beside her stood Julian.
On the back were four words:
SHE IS YOURS. FORGIVE ME.
Dominic gripped the freezer door.
Gabriel saw the message.
So did Julian.
No one spoke.
Sophie tugged Dominic's sleeve.
“Why are you sad?”
He crouched.
For a moment he didn't know what to say.
How did a man tell a five-year-old that he had just discovered her entire existence?
How did he explain five stolen birthdays?
Five Christmas mornings.
Five years of first words, scraped knees, bedtime stories, and nightmares.
He looked into her eyes.
“Sophie, there's something your mom never told you.”
She tilted her head.
“What?”
Before Dominic could answer, Julian shouted.
“Down!”
The archive door exploded inward.
Gunfire tore through the room.
Gabriel dragged Sophie behind a cabinet.
Dominic rolled behind the freezer.
Julian fired toward the doorway.
Three attackers rushed inside.
Dominic shot one.
Gabriel hit another.
The third vanished behind shelving.
“Rear exit!” Julian shouted.
“There isn't one!”
“There is now!”
A section of wall crashed inward.
More men appeared.
Dominic grabbed Sophie's hand.
“Run!”
They moved deeper into the archive.
Bullets punched through cardboard boxes.
Sophie screamed.
Dominic shielded her with his body.
Then Gabriel stopped.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
He pointed.
A small red light blinked beneath a shelf.
Bomb.
“Move!”
They ran.
The explosion hit seconds later.
The blast threw Dominic forward.
His ears screamed.
Dust filled his lungs.
He opened his eyes.
“Sophie!”
No answer.
He pushed debris off his chest.
“Sophie!”
A small hand appeared through the smoke.
“I'm here!”
Dominic crawled toward her.
She was beneath an overturned steel shelf.
Gabriel lifted it.
Dominic pulled her free.
She threw herself into his arms.
He held her too tightly.
She cried into his shoulder.
“I want my mom!”
“I know.”
“I want Mommy!”
“I know.”
Dominic pressed his face against her wet hair.
Then he whispered the truth before fear could stop him.
“Sophie.”
She sniffled.
“What?”
“I think I'm your dad.”
She stopped crying.
Slowly, she lifted her head.
“What?”
Dominic's voice cracked.
“Your father.”
Sophie stared at him.
For several seconds, there was only smoke and distant alarms.
Then she frowned.
“But Mommy said my daddy didn't know where I was.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“That part was true.”
Sophie studied his face.
“Do you want to be my daddy?”
Dominic Vale had made decisions worth hundreds of millions of dollars without blinking.
This question nearly destroyed him.
“Yes.”
Her chin trembled.
“Even if I'm trouble?”
His expression hardened with emotion.
“Who told you that?”
“One of the men said Mommy made trouble because of me.”
Dominic wiped soot from her cheek.
“Listen to me.”
She stared at him.
“You are not trouble.”
“But—”
“You are never the reason someone hurts your mother.”
He swallowed.
“And from now on, anyone who wants to reach you goes through me.”
Sophie looked at him for a long time.
Then she wrapped her small arms around his neck.
Dominic held her.
Julian watched silently.
Gabriel turned away.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Vale.”
Victor Sloane's voice came through.
“Congratulations.”
Dominic said nothing.
Sloane laughed.
“Fatherhood suits you.”
“Where is Anna?”
“Alive.”
“For how long?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“You.”
Dominic held Sophie tighter.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger Anna stole.”
“I don't have it.”
“You will.”
Dominic's eyes moved toward the destroyed archive.
Sloane continued.
“Midnight tomorrow. Pier Seventeen.”
“For Anna?”
“For Anna.”
“And if I refuse?”
A pause.
Then Dominic heard a woman's voice in the background.
“Dominic?”
Anna.
Alive.
His entire body went rigid.
“Anna.”
“Don't give him—”
A slap.
Dominic's expression transformed.
Sloane returned.
“Tomorrow.”
The call ended.
Sophie was staring at him.
“Was that Mommy?”
Dominic looked at his daughter.
“Yes.”
“Is she okay?”
Dominic stood.
Around him, smoke drifted through the ruins.
“No.”
May you like
He looked at Gabriel.
“But she will be.”
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