Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE RAIN

The click of the gun's hammer being pulled back sounded louder than the alarms blaring outside.

I froze on my knees, the confession letter trembling in my hands.

Marco, the loyal chief of security, the man who had stood by Dominic’s side for fifteen years, was holding him at gunpoint.

Dominic didn’t raise his rifle. He just stared at Marco, the betrayal cutting deeper than any bullet could.

“You,” Dominic whispered, his voice cracking. “You’re Sophie’s father?”

Marco didn’t flinch. His scarred face remained devoid of emotion, but his eyes were hard. “Clara and I… it was a mistake. A moment of weakness when you were away in New York for six months. When she found out she was pregnant, she panicked. We faked the due date. We faked the paternity test at the hospital. We let you believe she was yours.”

“She is mine!” Dominic roared, taking a step forward.

“Stop!” Marco warned, tightening his grip on the gun. “Don’t make me do this in front of her, Dominic. She’s my blood.”

On the couch, Sophie began to cry. “Daddy? Why is Marco pointing his gun at you?”

“Close your eyes, Sophie,” I said quickly, crawling in front of her to block her view. I grabbed her trembling hands, my own heart racing so fast I felt sick.

“Donatella found out,” Dominic said, piecing the nightmare together, ignoring the gun aimed at his head. “My mother found out about the affair.”

“She found the real medical files a month before Clara died,” Marco admitted, his jaw clenching. “She blackmailed us. She forced Clara to steal the fifty thousand dollars from your accounts to pay her off. But Donatella got greedy. She wanted the entire syndicate. She told me if I didn’t help her stage a coup with the Rossi family, she would tell you the truth. She said you would kill Clara, and you would kill me.”

“And you believed her?” Dominic asked, his voice breaking. “You thought I would hurt my own wife?”

“You’re a mob boss, Dominic!” Marco shouted, his calm facade finally cracking. “You’ve killed men for stealing a fraction of what I stole from you! I had to protect my daughter! I had to protect Clara!”

I looked down at the letter in my hands. The pieces were falling into place, but one thing didn’t make sense.

“Marco,” I said, my voice shaking. “If you were trying to protect Clara… why did she run from you?”

Marco’s eyes snapped to me. For the first time, he looked guilty.

“She found out about the Rossi deal,” Marco whispered. “She found out I was helping Donatella let the cartel into our territory. She said I was a monster. She said she was taking Sophie and running away.”

“So you tampered with her car,” Dominic said coldly. “You cut the brakes on the woman you loved.”

“No!” Marco yelled, his hand shaking. “I didn’t touch her car! I swear! I was trying to stop her from leaving because I knew Donatella had ordered the cartel to kill her if she tried to run! I went to the diner to save her!”

“You were the man in the alley,” I breathed out, remembering Anthony’s story. “The man with the gold signet ring.”

Marco nodded slowly. “She pawned the ring to me. I wore it that night to show her I had the money. When I found her in the alley behind the diner, she fought me. She thought I was there to kill her. I tried to pull her into my SUV to get her away from the cartel’s assassins…”

Marco swallowed hard, a tear sliding down his scarred cheek.

“She broke free,” Marco whispered. “She ran toward the bridge. The rain was so heavy… she slipped. She went over the edge before I could catch her. I tried to find her in the river, but the current was too strong. I watched her drown, Dominic. I watched the woman I loved die because she was terrified of me.”

The room fell silent, save for the muffled sound of gunfire echoing from the lower floors.

Dominic stared at the man he had called his brother. The rage in his eyes was replaced by a deep, agonizing sorrow.

“You let me mourn her for four years,” Dominic said softly. “You stood beside me at her funeral. You watched me raise a child you knew was yours.”

“I couldn’t take her,” Marco said, his voice thick with tears. “Donatella wouldn’t let me. She held the truth over my head to keep me compliant. To keep me as her inside man for tonight.”

Suddenly, the heavy oak doors behind Marco shook violently with the force of a battering ram.

BOOM.

Wood splintered. The Rossi cartel had reached the office.

Marco flinched, looking over his shoulder.

In that split second of distraction, Dominic moved.

He didn’t shoot. He lunged forward, grabbing the barrel of Marco’s gun and twisting it upward. The weapon discharged, blowing a hole in the plaster ceiling.

Dominic drove his fist into Marco’s throat. Marco gagged, dropping the gun and stumbling backward into the bookcase.

“Hannah! The secret door!” Dominic shouted, tossing his rifle to the side and drawing his handgun.

I scrambled to my feet, grabbing Sophie in my arms. I ran to the oak paneling behind the desk and pressed the hidden latch Dominic had shown me once when cleaning. The wall slid open, revealing a narrow, pitch-black staircase leading down to the escape tunnels.

BOOM.

The main office doors splintered down the middle. Men in black tactical gear poured into the room.

“Go!” Dominic screamed at me, shoving me into the dark tunnel.

I stumbled down the first few steps, holding Sophie tightly. But as the panel began to slide shut, I looked back.

Dominic was standing in the center of the room, firing his handgun at the cartel men.

But Marco had recovered. He pulled a second weapon from his ankle holster. He wasn’t aiming at the cartel.

He was aiming at Dominic’s back.

“Dominic, behind you!” I screamed.