Chapter 2 - THE LOCKED STUDY
Everyone froze.
The sound had come from the second floor.
Arthur immediately grabbed Julian's arm.
“Don't go up there.”
Julian pulled away.
“My wife just tried to hurt a baby, someone fired a gun inside my house, and you're telling me not to investigate?”
Arthur's face tightened.
“You don't understand.”
“Then start explaining.”
But Arthur said nothing.
Julian ran upstairs.
Gabriella followed, carrying Noah.
Dominic remained downstairs.
For once, she didn't try to stop them.
At the end of the hallway stood the library.
The door was open.
The room was empty.
A lamp had been knocked over.
A window stood shattered.
On the carpet was a single bloodstained glove.
Julian looked around.
“Who was here?”
Gabriella whispered:
“Someone wanted us to think they escaped through the window.”
Julian looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed toward the broken glass.
“The glass is outside.”
He understood immediately.
The window had been broken from the outside.
Someone had staged the scene.
Then Julian noticed something else.
His father's desk drawer was open.
The Hale family file was gone.
He turned toward Gabriella.
“Who knew about that file?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic suddenly appeared in the doorway.
“I do.”
Julian spun around.
She looked exhausted.
Her cheek was still red from his earlier slap.
“I knew.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't have it.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Dominic looked at Noah.
“I've spent three years trying to keep that child alive.”
Julian's expression hardened.
“You're his mother.”
“Yes.”
“Then why isn't he my son?”
She closed her eyes.
“Because you were never supposed to know he existed.”
Julian stared.
“What?”
Dominic took a breath.
“Noah was born from a relationship I had before you.”
Julian's jaw tightened.
“And you lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the biological father was dangerous.”
She looked toward Arthur.
“And your father knew him.”
Arthur's expression became grim.
Dominic continued.
“He wasn't just a businessman.”
“He was involved in a criminal network that used wealthy families to hide money.”
Julian looked at Arthur.
“You knew?”
Arthur nodded slowly.
“Your mother discovered it.”
“And?”
Arthur's eyes filled with regret.
“She tried to expose them.”
A silence followed.
Then Arthur said:
“They killed her.”
Julian felt the room tilt.
“Who?”
Arthur looked at Dominic.
“The same people who want Noah.”
A phone suddenly rang.
Everyone looked toward the desk.
It wasn't Julian's.
It was Dominic's.
She answered.
A distorted voice whispered:
“You should have let the baby die.”
The call ended.
Dominic dropped the phone.
Julian stared at her.
For the first time, he realized something terrifying.
Dominic hadn't been trying to hurt Noah.
May you like
She had been terrified someone else would.
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