Chapter 3 - the music box secret
The air in Charlie's bedroom felt cold as Dominic knelt down beside the small wooden closet. Bruno stood right beside him, his tail silent, his head lowered as he sniffed the floorboards.
Dominic lifted the loose mahogany plank near the back corner of the closet. Resting in the dark dust beneath was a small, hand-carved wooden music box inlaid with mother-of-pearl flowers—the exact box Sophia had kept on her vanity table before her passing.
Dominic pulled the box out into the warm light of the bedroom. He took the silver key from his pocket, inserted it into the tiny brass lock, and turned it slowly.
Click.
The lid sprang open. Instead of a dancing ballerina or a delicate melody, the internal gears had been removed to make room for a folded piece of thick, yellowed parchment and a small USB flash drive.
Dominic unfolded the paper. Written in delicate, elegant cursive was a letter from his late wife, dated two days before Charlie's birth.
Dominic,
If you are reading this letter, it means I was right to be afraid. Vanessa Crowe discovered the truth about the clinic. She knows what doctor was paid to alter the birth registry. She will try to use our child to break your hold over the council. Do not trust anyone who was in that room the night our son was born.
Yours forever, Sophia.
Dominic’s jaw tightened until the muscles in his cheek stood out like carved stone. He stood up slowly, holding the paper tight in his fist.
"Frank," Dominic called out into the hallway.
Frank stepped into the room immediately, his hand resting near his holster. "Yes, Boss?"
"Bring the private server reader up to my study," Dominic commanded flatly. "And find out which doctors were present at Saint Jude’s Hospital eight years ago. Every single one of them."
"Boss," Frank hesitated, his face grim. "Dr. Harrison, the chief surgeon from that night... passed away four years ago. But his private assistant, Nurse Elena, still lives in upstate New York."
"Send a car for her," Dominic said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Offer her total protection. If she refuses to come... tell her I know about the box."
Before Frank could respond, a sudden sharp alarm echoed through the estate grounds. Down in the central courtyard, a security vehicle's horn began to blare continuously.
May you like
Dominic stepped over to the window, looking down at the driveway.
A sleek white sedan had slammed into the heavy decorative gates of the estate. The driver's side door swung open, and a young woman staggered out onto the gravel, clutching a sealed envelope against her chest before collapsing onto the ground.
