Chapter 5 - THE SHADOW MAN
Dominic tore through the mansion doors, leaving a trail of terrified guards in his wake.
He sprinted up the grand staircase and kicked down the door to his private office. The room was destroyed. Bookshelves toppled. Glass shattered.
But Sophia and the children were completely unharmed, huddled in the corner.
On the floor in the center of the room lay Vincent.
He was bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was unconscious, his gold Rolex missing from his wrist.
Marco rushed in behind Dominic. "Boss! Did he attack them?"
"No," Sophia sobbed, shaking uncontrollably. "He burst in and locked the door. He said someone was trying to kill him. Then the window shattered. A sniper, from the tree line."
Dominic dropped to his knees next to his brother. Vincent wasn't the mastermind. He was a target. Someone was tying up loose ends and framing everyone in Dominic's bloodline.
"Get a medic!" Dominic yelled.
Ethan slowly crawled out from under Dominic’s heavy oak desk. The eight-year-old boy was pale, but he wasn't crying. He held a crumpled piece of drawing paper in his hand.
"Dad," Ethan whispered. "I drew a picture of the man who gave me the cake design."
Dominic took the paper. Ethan loved to draw. The sketch was childish but incredibly detailed. It showed a tall man with a scarred hand, standing in the estate's library.
But it was the object the man was holding in the drawing that made Dominic freeze.
It was a unique, custom-made leather briefcase with silver clasps.
Only one man in the entire organization carried a briefcase exactly like that.
Paul.
The family’s most trusted lawyer. The man who had drafted Ethan’s inheritance papers just last week.
"Ethan," Dominic said, keeping his voice steady. "Did Uncle Paul bring this man into the house?"
Ethan nodded. "Uncle Paul said the man was a special baker. He told me to keep it a secret so my cake would be a surprise."
Dominic stood up, the betrayal burning in his veins like acid. Paul had been with the family for twenty years. He was the godfather to Dominic's late wife.
"Bring me Paul," Dominic said to Marco. "Do not let him leave the grounds."
But as Marco turned to the door, Paul walked right in.
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His hands were raised. He looked terrified.
And strapped tightly around his chest was a vest wired with blinking red explosives.
