Chapter 3 - The Woman Dominic Never BuriedDominic listened to the recording three times.
Not because he failed to understand Michael.
Because he refused to accept him.
The person who ordered Sofia’s death is someone you call family.
Michael’s voice continued through the old recorder.
“I don’t know how much time I have. If they discover I moved the baby, they’ll come for me too. Don’t trust the police report. Don’t trust the hospital records. And, Dom—whatever you do, don’t trust the DNA alone.”
The message ended.
Dominic stood beneath the swinging bulb.
Outside, rain struck the boarded windows.
He picked up the recorder.
Something rattled inside.
A memory card.
Michael had hidden it beneath the battery compartment.
Dominic smiled faintly.
His brother had always loved puzzles.
By 1:17 a.m., Dominic was back at Rourke House.
Elena waited in his office.
Clara slept in a portable crib beside the fireplace.
Dominic had doubled security and removed every staff member who did not need to remain inside the estate. Phones had been collected. Gates sealed.
Owen connected the memory card to an isolated computer.
Three folders appeared.
S.B.
C.R.
IF I’M DEAD.
Dominic opened the first.
Photographs filled the screen.
Sofia Bell leaving a medical clinic.
Sofia entering a townhouse in Cambridge.
Sofia visibly pregnant.
Dominic sat down.
He had never seen her pregnant.
Never known.
One photograph showed her standing beside Michael.
She looked frightened.
Another showed Elena beside her.
Dominic turned.
“You knew Sofia.”
Elena nodded.
“She found me before Michael did.”
“You told me Michael brought Clara to you.”
“He did.”
“You left out everything before that.”
“I didn’t know what you would do.”
Dominic slammed his palm against the desk.
“She was carrying my child!”
Clara stirred.
Elena rushed to her.
Dominic immediately lowered his voice.
The instinct startled him.
He looked toward the crib.
Clara settled again.
Elena whispered, “Sofia loved you.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Don’t.”
“She did.”
“People who love you don’t disappear without explanation.”
“People who are being threatened do.”
He stared at her.
Elena sat beside the crib.
“She came to the restaurant where I worked. She asked whether I knew Michael. I didn’t. She had seen him there once. She needed someone outside the Rourke circle.”
“Why you?”
“She said I looked like someone who knew how to keep secrets.”
“That was enough?”
“No.”
Elena looked down.
“She offered me ten thousand dollars.”
Dominic’s eyebrows lifted.
“I refused.”
That surprised him.
“My mother raised me to know that when someone offers that much money for secrecy, the secret is usually worth more than your life.”
“So why help?”
“Because Sofia started crying.”
Elena’s voice softened.
“She said she was pregnant. She said someone had shown her photographs of you leaving restaurants with other women. They told her you had arranged for her medical records to be monitored. They made her believe you wanted the baby taken away.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I did none of that.”
“I know that now.”
“Who told her?”
“She never knew.”
Dominic stood.
Someone had engineered Sofia’s disappearance.
Someone close enough to imitate his power.
Someone who knew how he operated.
Owen opened the second folder.
C.R.
Inside were financial transfers.
Shell companies.
Offshore payments.
One name repeated.
Cumberland Restoration Holdings.
Owen frowned.
“I know this company.”
Dominic looked at him.
“How?”
“They bought three properties from us.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Who approved it?”
Owen searched.
Then stopped.
His face became unreadable.
“Your uncle.”
Dominic’s eyes darkened.
Patrick Rourke.
His father’s younger brother.
The man who had helped raise Dominic and Michael after their mother died.
The man who called Dominic “son” whenever alcohol softened him.
Patrick had been at Michael’s funeral.
He had stood beside Dominic’s father’s grave and sworn he would help uncover the truth.
Dominic remembered something Michael had said years earlier.
Uncle Pat smiles with his whole face when he lies.
At the time, Dominic had laughed.
He was not laughing now.
“Find everything Cumberland owns.”
Owen nodded.
Dominic opened the last folder.
IF I’M DEAD.
A scanned document appeared.
Hospital transfer records.
A baby girl born under Sofia’s name.
Then another record.
Infant deceased six hours after delivery.
Elena whispered, “That was the lie.”
Dominic stared.
A second birth certificate existed beneath it.
Different mother.
Different hospital.
Same date.
Baby Clara Marlowe.
Elena was listed as the mother.
“The records were manufactured,” Owen said.
Dominic scrolled further.
Then a video file appeared.
He clicked.
Sofia filled the screen.
She sat in what looked like a cheap motel room.
She was heavily pregnant.
Dominic’s chest tightened.
Her hair was longer than he remembered.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Dominic, if Michael ever shows you this, something went wrong.”
He leaned forward.
Sofia breathed shakily.
“I didn’t leave because I stopped loving you.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“I left because someone convinced me you wanted our baby gone. By the time I realized the messages were fake, Michael had already discovered someone was following me.”
She looked off camera.
“I should have trusted you.”
Dominic’s scar felt suddenly hot.
Sofia continued.
“But there’s something worse. Someone has been stealing from you for years. Not small amounts. Tens of millions. Michael found the accounts. Our daughter became leverage because whoever is doing this believes she could eventually inherit your controlling interest.”
Owen muttered, “Jesus.”
Sofia touched her stomach.
“If anything happens to me, protect her.”
The video shook.
Then Sofia leaned closer.
“Michael believes Patrick is involved.”
Dominic’s face became stone.
“But he doesn’t believe Patrick is the one in charge.”
The recording ended abruptly.
A sound came from the hallway.
Dominic reached for his weapon.
The door opened.
Mrs. Callahan entered.
“Mr. Rourke?”
“What?”
“There’s someone at the front gate.”
“At two in the morning?”
“She claims she knew Sofia.”
Dominic stared.
“Name?”
Mrs. Callahan hesitated.
“Dr. Evelyn Shaw.”
Elena gasped.
Dominic looked at her.
“You know her?”
“She delivered Clara.”
The room went silent.
Dominic strode downstairs.
A silver-haired woman stood behind the locked inner gate, drenched beneath an umbrella.
Owen scanned her.
No weapon.
Dominic approached.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Dr. Shaw looked at his scar.
Then at the gun in his hand.
“I was told you were charming.”
“Twenty-eight.”
“Sofia Bell did not die in childbirth.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just used twenty of your seconds.”
“Because the men who took her paid me to falsify her death.”
Dominic unlocked the gate himself.
Owen swore.
Dr. Shaw stepped inside.
“Why come now?”
“Because someone tried to kill me tonight.”
She opened her purse slowly.
Inside was a photograph.
Sofia.
Alive.
Standing beside a window.
A newspaper lay on a table beside her.
Dominic looked at the date.
Six months after Clara’s birth.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
“She survived.”
Dr. Shaw nodded.
“At least that long.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Dominic turned the photograph over.
A message was written on the back.
THE CHILD IS THE KEY.
Below it was an address.
Dominic recognized it instantly.
The Rourke family cemetery.
The place where Michael was supposedly buried.
By sunrise, Dominic stood beside his brother’s grave.
A private excavation crew removed the soil under Owen’s supervision.
Elena remained several yards back holding Clara.
Dominic watched until the coffin was lifted.
The lid opened.
Mrs. Callahan crossed herself.
Owen stared.
There was no body inside.
Only a stack of bricks.
And another envelope.
Dominic picked it up.
His name was written across the front.
He opened it.
Inside was one sentence.
IF YOU WANT SOFIA ALIVE, FIND OUT WHO REALLY DIED IN MICHAEL’S CAR.
Dominic looked at the empty coffin.
For two years, he had mourned his brother.
Now he had a new question.
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