Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW EVERYTHINGSister Agnes was being held inside a private hospice in Westchester.
Madeline discovered it by studying the flowers.
Three white roses stood in a vase beside the elderly woman’s bed in Salvatore’s photograph.
The vase carried a blue emblem.
Madeline enlarged the image.
“I know that logo.”
Dominic looked at her.
“How?”
“My foundation reviewed their elder-care program last year.”
Lorenzo leaned over the phone.
“Where?”
“Saint Raphael Residence.”
Mateo checked the computer.
“Forty-two miles north.”
Dominic reached for his coat.
Madeline stopped him.
“Not alone.”
“He specifically said—”
“Salvatore lies professionally.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“I like her.”
Dominic gave him a look.
“No one asked.”
They arrived before dawn.
Rather than storm the hospice, Madeline called the administrator she knew and arranged a silent evacuation of the east wing using a false gas-leak warning.
Dominic watched her coordinate nurses, security, and emergency exits from the passenger seat.
“You do this often?”
“Save people without shooting anyone?”
“Yes.”
“All the time.”
He almost smiled.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I am learning.”
By 6:10 a.m., the east wing was empty except for two rooms.
Sister Agnes.
And whoever guarded her.
Lorenzo’s men entered from the service corridor.
Mateo took the roof.
Dominic and Madeline approached through the chapel.
She wore borrowed jeans and a sweater beneath Dominic’s coat.
He noticed she had not returned it.
He said nothing.
At the end of the hall, a door opened.
A gunman stepped out.
Dominic moved first.
He struck the man’s wrist, slammed him against the wall, and took the weapon without firing.
Madeline stared.
“No gunshot.”
Dominic restrained the man.
“I told you I was learning.”
“Don’t get proud.”
They reached Sister Agnes’s room.
The elderly woman was awake.
Her silver hair framed a thin face.
When she saw Dominic, tears filled her eyes.
“Antonio’s boy.”
Dominic froze.
Not Salvatore’s.
Antonio’s.
He crossed the room.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did Salvatore touch you?”
“He threatened.”
Dominic’s face darkened.
Sister Agnes reached for his hand.
“You look like Isabella when you are angry.”
Madeline closed the door.
“We need to move.”
Agnes shook her head.
“First he needs truth.”
Dominic sat beside her.
“Salvatore says you know who my biological father is.”
Agnes looked at him for a long time.
“Yes.”
Dominic’s hand tightened.
“Was it Salvatore?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Dominic stared.
“Then who?”
Sister Agnes looked toward the window.
“Your mother was twenty-two when she met Salvatore.”
Dominic listened.
“He was charming. Possessive. She confused intensity for love.”
Madeline glanced at Dominic.
Agnes continued.
“When Isabella tried to leave him, Salvatore became violent.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“She went to Antonio for help. He protected her.”
“And they fell in love.”
“Yes.”
“Then why does the test say Antonio wasn’t my father?”
Agnes closed her eyes briefly.
“Because before Antonio and Isabella became lovers, there was another man.”
Dominic said nothing.
“A doctor.”
Madeline frowned.
“A doctor?”
“Michael Brennan.”
The name meant nothing to Dominic.
“He worked in an emergency clinic in Queens,” Agnes said. “He treated Isabella after Salvatore hurt her.”
Dominic went still.
“What happened?”
“They became close.”
“Was she unfaithful to Antonio?”
“No. This was before Antonio.”
“So Brennan was my father.”
Agnes nodded.
“What happened to him?”
Her expression became filled with sorrow.
“Salvatore killed him.”
Madeline’s breath caught.
Dominic leaned back slowly.
“Why?”
“Because he learned Isabella was pregnant.”
The room felt smaller.
“Salvatore believed the child was his?”
“At first.”
“And when he discovered it wasn’t?”
“He decided no other man would raise the child either.”
Dominic looked toward the floor.
“But Antonio did.”
“Yes.”
“Knowing everything.”
“Yes.”
Agnes smiled faintly.
“Antonio married Isabella. He gave you his name before you were born.”
Dominic pressed his hands together.
“Where is Michael Brennan buried?”
Agnes’s face changed.
“He isn’t.”
Dominic looked up.
“What?”
“He survived.”
Silence.
Madeline stepped closer.
“Sister Agnes.”
The old woman’s eyes filled.
“Antonio helped him disappear.”
Dominic could barely speak.
“Why would my father send my biological father away?”
“To keep him alive.”
“Did Brennan know about me?”
“Yes.”
Dominic stood.
Anger flashed across his face.
“He knew he had a son and disappeared?”
“Dominic—”
“He left.”
“He obeyed Isabella.”
“What?”
Agnes reached toward him.
“Your mother begged him to go.”
Dominic stared.
“She knew Salvatore would kill him. She knew he would kill you if he believed another man might claim you.”
“So Brennan simply vanished?”
“He wrote.”
Dominic froze.
“What?”
“Letters.”
“To whom?”
“To you.”
Dominic looked almost physically struck.
“I never received them.”
“I know.”
“Where are they?”
“Antonio kept them.”
Madeline whispered, “The archive.”
Agnes nodded.
“There should be a box marked MB.”
Dominic turned toward Lorenzo.
“Did we take every box?”
“No. We moved only what we could.”
Dominic cursed.
The church was now controlled by Salvatore.
Agnes squeezed his hand.
“One letter is not there.”
“Where?”
She reached beneath her pillow.
Nothing.
Her expression changed.
“It’s gone.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Who entered this room?”
“Salvatore.”
“When?”
“Before the photograph.”
“What did the letter say?”
Agnes hesitated.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“Michael Brennan is alive.”
He stared.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said—”
“He contacted me last month.”
Dominic sat again.
“Why?”
“He said Antonio’s old secrets were moving again.”
Madeline and Lorenzo exchanged a look.
“He knew about Salvatore’s operation?” Madeline asked.
“Some of it.”
“Did he say where he was?”
“No.”
“What did he want?”
Agnes looked at Dominic.
“To meet his son.”
Dominic’s expression became unreadable.
Then gunfire erupted from outside.
Mateo’s voice came through the earpiece.
“Movement! North entrance!”
Lorenzo drew his gun.
“Salvatore’s here.”
Dominic helped Agnes into a wheelchair.
Madeline pushed.
They headed toward the service elevator.
The doors opened.
A man stood inside.
Gray hair.
Brown coat.
No weapon.
He was perhaps sixty-five.
His eyes locked on Dominic.
The hallway seemed to disappear.
Sister Agnes whispered, “Michael.”
Dominic stopped.
The stranger stared at him.
Years of emotion passed across his face.
“Dominic.”
No one moved.
Lorenzo kept his gun lowered but ready.
Dominic stared at the man who might be his biological father.
“You came.”
Michael Brennan nodded.
“I should have come decades ago.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
Gunfire sounded closer.
Michael stepped out of the elevator.
“We don’t have time.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Apparently my entire family specializes in saying that.”
Michael flinched.
Madeline touched Dominic’s arm.
“We have to move.”
They entered the elevator.
As the doors closed, Dominic stood opposite Michael.
The resemblance was subtle.
The same eyes.
The same line of the jaw.
Dominic hated noticing.
When they reached the basement parking level, Mateo was waiting.
He saw Michael.
His eyes widened.
“You’re alive.”
Michael stared.
“Mateo Bianchi.”
“You know me?”
“I knew your mother.”
Mateo’s expression changed.
Before he could ask another question, an SUV exploded outside the garage.
The blast knocked everyone against the wall.
Smoke filled the ramp.
Salvatore’s men entered from both sides.
Lorenzo fired.
Mateo returned fire.
Dominic pushed Madeline and Agnes behind a concrete pillar.
Michael grabbed a fallen guard’s weapon.
Dominic saw how comfortably he held it.
“You’re a doctor?”
“Long story.”
“You seem to have several.”
Michael fired once.
A shooter fell.
Then he looked at Dominic.
“If we live through this, you can hate me properly.”
Dominic almost laughed.
They fought their way toward a maintenance exit.
Mateo covered them.
Lorenzo reached the door first.
Then a shot rang out.
Mateo stumbled.
Dominic turned.
Blood appeared across Mateo’s chest.
“Mateo!”
He fell.
Dominic caught him before he struck the ground.
Another shooter raised his weapon.
Michael fired.
The man dropped.
Madeline ran to Mateo.
Blood spread rapidly beneath her hands.
“Pressure!”
Dominic pressed both hands against the wound.
Mateo’s eyes fluttered.
“Boss.”
“Don’t talk.”
“I need…”
“You need a hospital.”
Mateo grabbed Dominic’s sleeve.
“Marco wasn’t the only one.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“What?”
“My mother.”
Blood touched Mateo’s lips.
“She had another child.”
Dominic froze.
“Who?”
Mateo tried to speak.
Gunfire thundered nearby.
Madeline bent closer.
“What did he say?”
Mateo’s eyes found Dominic.
May you like
“Salvatore has a daughter.”
Then he lost consciousness.
