Part 3 — The Man in the Hospital Records
Part 3 — The Man in the Hospital Records
Dominic did not tell Elena what he had discovered.
Not yet.
He knew fear could make people careless, and there was already too much fear in the house.
Instead, he told Enzo to investigate quietly.
“No police,” Dominic said.
Enzo nodded.
“No family.”
Another nod.
“And no one hears about this until we know exactly what happened.”
“I understand.”
By midnight, Enzo had begun pulling records from every place connected to Sophia Carter.
Hospitals.
Apartments.
Banks.
Employment records.
Old friends.
Even the small Chelsea gallery where Dominic had first met her.
Dominic stayed awake in his office, staring at Sophia’s photograph.
He remembered her laugh.
The way she used to tuck her hair behind her ear when she was nervous.
The way she would become completely absorbed whenever she talked about art.
He remembered one night, months before she disappeared, when she had rested her head against his shoulder and asked him a strange question.
“Dominic, if you ever had a daughter, what would you name her?”
He had laughed.
“I don’t know.”
Sophia had smiled.
“I do.”
“What?”
“Lily.”
He had forgotten that conversation.
Until now.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
Dominic looked up.
Elena stood in the doorway.
“Can I come in?”
He nodded.
She entered carefully.
“Lily is asleep.”
Dominic looked toward the hall.
“Thank you.”
Elena hesitated.
Then she said, “You need to know something.”
Dominic stood.
“What?”
“When Sophia was dying, she told me something.”
His expression changed.
“What did she say?”
“She told me never to let Lily come near the Moretti family.”
Dominic went still.
“Why?”
“She said your family wasn’t the only danger.”
He stared at Elena.
“What did she mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must know something.”
Elena shook her head.
“I was twenty-three. Sophia was sick, frightened, and exhausted. She wouldn’t explain everything. She only told me that if anything happened to her, I had to take Lily and disappear.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Did she name anyone?”
Elena looked down.
“One name.”
“Who?”
Before Elena could answer, footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Enzo appeared.
He carried a file.
His face told Dominic everything.
“We found him.”
Dominic took the file.
The first page contained an old photograph of a man in his early forties.
Underneath was a name.
Adrian Vale.
Dominic frowned.
“I don’t know him.”
“You were never supposed to,” Enzo said.
Dominic opened the file.
Adrian Vale had worked as a private investigator four years earlier.
He had been hired by someone to follow Sophia.
The payments had come through a shell company.
Dominic turned the page.
The company belonged to an attorney who had once represented Lucia Moretti.
His eyes darkened.
“My mother?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Dominic continued reading.
Then he saw the final report.
Sophia had been followed for six weeks before she disappeared.
But the report contained something even worse.
Adrian had documented Sophia’s pregnancy.
Dominic’s fingers tightened around the paper.
“She knew.”
Enzo nodded.
“Someone knew Sophia was pregnant before she left New York.”
Dominic looked at Elena.
She had gone pale.
“Was it him?” she whispered.
Dominic looked at her.
“Was Adrian Vale the man Sophia warned you about?”
Elena slowly nodded.
“Yes.”
The room became silent.
Then a sound came from the hallway.
A child’s voice.
“Papa?”
Dominic turned immediately.
Lily stood at the doorway in her pajamas, clutching her little violet pendant.
She looked sleepy.
But behind her stood another person.
A member of the household staff.
The woman smiled nervously.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Moretti. She woke up.”
Dominic stared at her.
Something was wrong.
The woman had only been employed by the family for three months.
And yet she knew exactly where Dominic kept his private office.
She had brought Lily directly to him.
Dominic walked toward his daughter.
“Come here, sweetheart.”
Lily ran into his arms.
He lifted her.
Then he looked at the maid.
“What’s your name?”
The woman’s smile disappeared.
“Clara, sir.”
“How long have you worked here?”
“Three months.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Who hired you?”
She hesitated.
“Mrs. Moretti.”
Dominic’s blood ran cold.
His mother had already left the estate.
But perhaps she had not left without preparing something behind.
“Enzo.”
“Yes?”
“Take Lily upstairs.”
Enzo immediately stepped forward.
But Lily clung tightly to Dominic’s neck.
“No.”
Dominic softened.
“It’s okay.”
“I want Papa.”
He held her closer.
“You’re staying with me.”
Then he looked at Clara.
“Leave.”
She turned.
Enzo followed her out.
The moment the door closed, Dominic whispered:
“Find out everything about Clara.”
Enzo nodded.
But before he could leave, his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed almost immediately.
“Boss…”
“What?”
“We found Adrian Vale.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“He’s been dead for two years.”
Silence.
Dominic slowly lowered himself into his chair.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“Who identified the body?”
“There wasn’t a body.”
Dominic looked up.
“What?”
Enzo swallowed.
“The authorities found the burned vehicle. They assumed he died inside.”
Dominic’s mind raced.
A missing man.
A fake death.
A murdered woman.
A hidden child.
And now someone inside his house who might have been planted by his mother.
Then Lily touched his cheek.
“Papa?”
Dominic looked down.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
She pointed toward the photograph on his desk.
It was the photograph of Sophia.
“Mommy said that man was bad.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
“What man?”
Lily pointed at the photograph.
Not Sophia.
Not Dominic.
The empty space beside Sophia.
She traced the edge with her tiny finger.
“That man.”
Dominic stared at the picture.
The original photograph had been cropped.
Someone had removed the man standing beside Sophia.
But Lily remembered him.
Three years old.
She shouldn’t have been able to.
Unless she had seen another photograph.
Dominic’s voice became very quiet.
“Lily…”
He knelt in front of her.
“Where did you see him?”
She pointed toward Elena.
“Mommy showed me.”
Dominic looked at Elena.
She was crying.
“I never showed her another picture,” Elena whispered.
Then Lily said something that made every person in the room freeze.
“He came to Mommy’s room.”
Dominic stood.
“Who?”
Lily looked toward the dark window.
“The man.”
Her little hand tightened around the violet pendant.
“He said he was Daddy.”
Dominic felt the blood drain from his face.
Because Adrian Vale had never claimed to be Lily’s father.
And if Lily had remembered another man…
Then someone had been inside Sophia’s life before Dominic ever knew she was pregnant.
Someone who might have wanted Lily.
And perhaps that someone had just discovered where she was.
