Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE WITH THE RED DOOR
Sophia’s aunt lived in a narrow brick house in Queens with a red front door and two flowerpots dead from the November cold.
Dominic arrived in eleven minutes.
The drive normally took twenty-five.
He stepped from the SUV before it completely stopped.
Sophia was in the second vehicle.
Victor had objected.
Dominic had objected harder.
The security detail spread along the street.
No weapons visible.
No shouting.
Neighbors peered from windows anyway.
Power attracted attention even when it tried to whisper.
Dominic reached the red door.
It opened before he knocked.
An elderly woman stared at him.
Gray hair.
Housecoat.
Kitchen towel in one hand.
“You Moretti?”
“Yes.”
She looked him up and down.
“You’re younger than I expected.”
Dominic had no idea how to answer.
Sophia ran up behind him.
“Aunt Mary.”
Mary Carter looked past them.
“You people better explain why three black SUVs just scared Mrs. Donnelly into calling the police.”
“Where’s Lily?” Sophia asked.
Mary frowned.
“Upstairs.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
Relief hit so hard she leaned against the doorframe.
Dominic felt his own lungs begin working again.
“Has anyone come here?”
“No.”
“Called?”
Mary looked at Dominic.
“Who exactly are you?”
“Aunt Mary—”
“I know the name.”
Mary’s eyes narrowed.
“My husband grew up in Brooklyn. Everybody knew the name.”
Dominic said, “Someone may have obtained this address.”
“Someone dangerous?”
“Yes.”
Mary opened the door wider.
“Then stop standing on the sidewalk.”
Dominic liked her immediately.
Lily came running down the stairs wearing one sock.
“Mommy!”
Sophia dropped to her knees.
Lily crashed into her.
Sophia held her so tightly the child squeaked.
“Ow.”
“Sorry.”
“You’re squishing.”
Sophia kissed her hair.
Dominic stood several feet away.
Lily looked over Sophia’s shoulder.
“Mr. Dominic!”
She pulled free and ran toward him.
Dominic froze.
Sophia opened her mouth.
Too late.
Lily wrapped both arms around Dominic’s leg.
Every security man on the street would later pretend not to have seen their employer completely lose the ability to move.
Lily looked up.
“Where’s Leonardo?”
“In my office.”
“He’s supposed to go with you.”
“I was not informed of that rule.”
“You have to carry him.”
“I see.”
She frowned.
“You forgot.”
“Apparently.”
“I forgive you.”
Dominic looked at Sophia.
Her eyes were wet.
He looked back at Lily.
“Thank you.”
Mary appeared behind them.
“Is this the scary one?”
Sophia covered her face.
“Aunt Mary.”
“What? You said your boss scared everybody.”
Dominic looked at Lily.
Lily considered.
“He has nice eyebrows.”
Victor coughed.
It might have been a laugh.
Dominic turned his head.
Victor immediately looked at the street.
Coward.
Inside, they checked every room.
No intruder.
No sign anyone had approached.
But the threat remained.
Sophia gathered Lily’s coat.
“We’re going home.”
“No.”
She turned toward Dominic.
“No?”
“Your apartment is compromised.”
“My apartment?”
“They know your address.”
“So?”
“So you are not taking her there.”
Sophia’s expression hardened.
“Don’t start.”
“Start what?”
“The commanding.”
“This is not negotiable.”
Her eyes flashed.
“See? That.”
Mary quietly picked Lily up and carried her into the kitchen.
Victor followed with unusual enthusiasm.
Dominic and Sophia stood alone in the hall.
“You do not decide where we live,” Sophia said.
“Tonight I decide where you sleep.”
Her eyebrows rose.
Dominic immediately realized how that sounded.
Sophia almost smiled despite herself.
“Interesting phrasing.”
His jaw tightened.
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
“Good.”
“And the answer is still no.”
“Sophia.”
“Dominic.”
His name again.
Something about hearing it from her mouth made it harder to stay angry.
He lowered his voice.
“Someone searched for your address after we recovered evidence connecting your husband to a secret operation.”
“I understand.”
“You do not.”
“Stop telling me what I understand.”
She stepped closer.
“I have spent two years worrying about rent, medical bills, babysitters, whether Lily is eating enough vegetables, whether my car will start, whether I’m working too much and whether she remembers her father.”
Her voice trembled.
“Now you walk into my life and tell me someone may have killed Daniel because of something connected to your family.”
Dominic said nothing.
“I understand enough.”
He looked at her.
The anger in her face covered fear.
He recognized that.
He had spent thirty years doing the same thing.
“You’re afraid.”
Sophia laughed bitterly.
“Congratulations.”
“So am I.”
That stopped her.
Dominic Moretti did not say those words.
Not to anyone.
Not ever.
Sophia stared.
He continued.
“I am afraid that someone will hurt Lily because I allowed you into my house.”
“You didn't cause what happened to Daniel.”
“I don't know that yet.”
“You didn't know him.”
“My organization did.”
“That isn't the same.”
“It feels the same.”
Silence.
Sophia’s expression softened slightly.
“You really think we’re safer at the mansion.”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“No.”
That surprised her.
Dominic looked toward the kitchen.
“But I can protect Moretti House better than I can protect a third-floor apartment with one stairwell.”
She considered.
“One night.”
He knew better than to argue for more.
“One night.”
Mary insisted on packing Lily six pairs of socks for an overnight stay.
Lily insisted on bringing eight plastic animals.
Dominic’s security chief insisted on two vehicles.
Sophia insisted on carrying her own bag.
Nobody asked Dominic what he insisted on.
This was becoming a disturbing pattern.
At the mansion, staff had prepared two guest rooms.
Sophia stopped in the hallway.
“We’re not staying in guest suites.”
Dominic looked at her.
“They are bedrooms.”
“They’re bigger than my apartment.”
“Most of the closets are bigger than your apartment.”
Sophia stared.
“That was obnoxious.”
“It was factual.”
“It was both.”
Lily ran into the room.
“Mommy! The bed is giant!”
Sophia sighed.
“Fine.”
Dominic watched her unpack a tiny toothbrush onto a marble bathroom counter that probably cost more than Sophia’s car.
Something about the scene felt wrong.
Not because she didn't belong.
Because the house had been built to make ordinary people feel that they didn’t.
He suddenly hated that.
Dinner was informal.
At least Dominic called it informal.
Sophia entered the dining room and stopped.
The table could seat twenty-four.
Three place settings had been arranged near one end.
Candles.
Crystal.
Silver.
Sophia looked at him.
“This is informal?”
“Yes.”
“Do you own normal plates?”
“Of course.”
“Where?”
Dominic looked at the butler.
The butler looked deeply uncomfortable.
Sophia smiled.
“You don’t know.”
Dominic pulled out a chair.
“I know where important things are.”
Lily climbed into hers.
“Do you know where cookies are?”
Dominic sat.
“No.”
Lily looked horrified.
Sophia laughed.
Dinner lasted forty minutes.
Lily talked for thirty-eight.
She explained preschool politics.
A boy named Mason had stolen a blue crayon.
Apparently this required severe diplomatic intervention.
Dominic listened.
Really listened.
Sophia noticed.
After Lily was asleep, Sophia returned downstairs.
Dominic was in the sitting room.
The blanket remained on the sofa.
She saw it.
“You kept it.”
Dominic followed her gaze.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He could have said Lily liked it.
He could have said the staff had overlooked it.
Instead he told the truth.
“Because she put it there.”
Sophia looked at him.
He hated how vulnerable that sentence felt.
She sat in the armchair.
Dominic remained on the sofa.
For several minutes, rain filled the silence.
Then Sophia said, “Daniel would have liked her.”
“Lily?”
She nodded.
“He never got to see her turn two.”
Dominic’s chest tightened.
“I'm sorry.”
“He was ridiculous with her.”
A small smile appeared.
“He used to put her in a laundry basket and push her around the apartment like it was a race car.”
Dominic imagined it.
He could.
Too easily.
“He sang badly,” Sophia continued.
“What did he sing?”
“Everything.”
She laughed softly.
“Old rock songs. Commercial jingles. The weather report.”
Dominic smiled.
“He sounds unstable.”
“He was.”
Her smile faded.
“The morning he died, we fought.”
Dominic said nothing.
“He wanted to take an extra shift. I wanted him home.”
She looked at her hands.
“I told him he cared more about that warehouse than us.”
“You didn't know.”
“I still said it.”
“People say things when they believe there will be more time.”
Sophia looked at him.
He knew that truth intimately.
She whispered, “There wasn't.”
“No.”
She wiped one tear.
“Do you ever wish you had said something different to someone before they died?”
Dominic thought of Salvatore.
His last conversation with his father had been about a port contract.
No affection.
No forgiveness.
No argument even.
Just business.
He thought of his mother.
He had been five.
I want Mommy.
She is gone.
“I wish I had said many things.”
Sophia studied him.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“You loved him.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“That is complicated.”
“Most love is.”
He looked at her.
She looked away first.
His phone buzzed.
Victor.
Dominic answered.
“What?”
“We found Gabriel’s car.”
“Where?”
“Airport garage.”
“Which airport?”
“Newark.”
“Flight?”
“None under his name.”
“So he changed vehicles.”
“Probably.”
“Anything inside?”
“Burner phone.”
“And?”
Victor paused.
“Your number.”
Dominic frowned.
“So?”
“And Sophia’s.”
Dominic looked at her.
She saw his expression.
“What?”
Victor continued.
“There was one recent outgoing call.”
“To who?”
“A number registered to Morgan Atlantic.”
“Which office?”
“It’s not an office.”
Victor’s voice grew colder.
“It’s a warehouse line.”
Dominic stood.
“Which warehouse?”
“The old Bayonne property.”
Dominic knew it.
It had been closed for eighteen months.
“What time?”
“Forty minutes ago.”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
Lily slept two floors above.
“Send a team.”
“Already moving.”
Dominic ended the call.
Sophia stood.
“What happened?”
“Gabriel contacted an abandoned warehouse.”
Her face changed.
“Daniel’s company?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going?”
“No.”
She blinked.
Dominic himself was surprised by the answer.
Old Dominic would have gone.
Immediately.
Personally.
Because he trusted no one else to finish things.
But Lily was upstairs.
Sophia was here.
For the first time in his life, remaining home felt more important than chasing an enemy.
Sophia seemed to understand.
Then the mansion lights went out.
Every lamp.
Every chandelier.
Everything.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Sophia gasped.
Dominic was already moving.
“Stay behind me.”
Emergency lights should have activated.
They didn't.
That meant one thing.
Not weather.
Not electrical failure.
Sabotage.
A voice exploded through Dominic’s security earpiece.
“BREACH. NORTH SERVICE ENTRANCE.”
Dominic’s heart stopped.
Not because someone had entered his fortress.
Because Lily was upstairs.
He ran.
May you like
Sophia ran with him.
And somewhere above them, in the darkness, a three-year-old girl began to cry.
