Chapter 2 - THE MAN STANDING IN THE DARK
The warehouse lights went out.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then the woman screamed.
“Down!”
Dominic reacted before he understood why.
He shoved her beneath the SUV door and turned toward the loading dock.
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
The windshield of a parked vehicle exploded.
“Get her down!” Dominic shouted.
Marco grabbed the woman and pulled her behind the SUV.
Two more shots tore through the warehouse.
Dominic drew his pistol.
He didn't fire blindly.
He listened.
One shot from the upper catwalk.
Another from somewhere near the eastern doors.
Then silence.
“Boss,” Marco whispered.
“I know.”
Dominic crouched beside the woman.
Her breathing was rapid.
Her injured eye was swollen almost completely shut, but her good eye remained fixed on him.
“Are you hit?”
She shook her head.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Can you move?”
“Yes.”
“Then stay behind the vehicle.”
She caught his sleeve.
“No.”
Dominic looked down at her hand.
“He's not shooting at you.”
Her voice shook.
“He is.”
“No. If he wanted you dead, you would already be dead.”
She stared at him.
“He's trying to scare you.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
She swallowed.
“Because he knows you found me.”
Another shot rang out.
Dominic immediately pushed her lower.
“Stay.”
He disappeared into the darkness.
Marco followed.
The woman pressed herself against the SUV and tried to breathe quietly.
Then she noticed something on the ground.
A small silver object.
She reached for it.
A bracelet.
Thin.
Worn.
With a tiny heart-shaped charm.
Her fingers closed around it.
For the first time since Dominic had found her, tears appeared in her eyes.
“No,” she whispered.
She knew that bracelet.
She had not seen it in eleven years.
Dominic returned less than a minute later.
His expression was colder than before.
“Everyone out.”
Marco stared at him.
“What happened?”
“He escaped through the drainage tunnel.”
“Who?”
Dominic looked toward the warehouse.
“The man she identified.”
The woman stood unsteadily.
“He dropped this.”
Dominic looked at the bracelet.
His face changed.
“You know it?”
She nodded.
“It belonged to my sister.”
Marco frowned.
“You said you were alone.”
“I said I was afraid.”
She looked down at the bracelet.
“I never said I was alone.”
Dominic took a step closer.
“What happened to your sister?”
The woman closed her fist around the charm.
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
“And you think that man had her bracelet?”
“I know he did.”
Dominic studied her.
“What is your name?”
She hesitated.
“Evelyn Hart.”
The name landed heavily.
Marco looked at Dominic.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“You're Evelyn Hart?”
“Yes.”
“Terrence Cole's accountant?”
Her face went pale.
“I was.”
Dominic had spent months searching for Evelyn Hart.
Not because he wanted her dead.
Because she had disappeared with financial records connecting Vincent Caldwell to a network of shell companies, illegal weapons shipments, and bribed officials.
Everyone assumed Caldwell had killed her.
But Dominic had never believed it.
Now she was sitting in his SUV, bruised and barely able to stand.
“Why did you let everyone think you were dead?” he asked.
“Because Vincent wanted me dead.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
She looked at him.
“Because someone else wanted me alive.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“Who?”
Evelyn stared at the bracelet.
“My sister.”
Marco exchanged a glance with Dominic.
“You said she disappeared.”
“She did.”
“Then how could she keep you alive?”
Evelyn looked toward the dark warehouse.
“Because she wasn't dead when she disappeared.”
Dominic said nothing.
Evelyn pulled the coat tighter around herself.
“Eleven years ago, my sister discovered something about Caldwell. She tried to expose him.”
“What did she discover?”
“That he wasn't the person actually controlling the operation.”
Dominic's expression shifted.
“Who was?”
“I don't know.”
“But your sister did.”
“Yes.”
“And that's why she disappeared.”
Evelyn nodded.
Dominic stared at the bracelet.
“What happened tonight?”
“They wanted the records.”
“What records?”
“The ones I stole from Cole.”
Dominic frowned.
“You stole them?”
“I copied them.”
“Where are they?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Not with me.”
Dominic's voice hardened.
“Where?”
She reached slowly beneath her torn shirt.
Dominic's hand moved toward his gun.
But Evelyn pulled out a small brass key.
It was old.
The metal was scratched.
A number had been engraved into it.
“Locker 317.”
Dominic took it.
“Where?”
“Union Station.”
Marco immediately said, “That's public.”
“That's why they haven't found it.”
Dominic looked at Evelyn.
“What's inside?”
“My sister's photograph.”
“That all?”
“No.”
She looked him directly in the eyes.
“A recording.”
Dominic's fingers tightened around the key.
“Of whom?”
Evelyn's voice barely rose above a whisper.
“Vincent Caldwell.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“What does he say?”
“I don't know.”
“You've never heard it?”
“No.”
“Then why risk your life for it?”
Evelyn looked away.
“Because my sister died protecting it.”
Dominic went silent.
Then Evelyn added quietly—
“And because the recording was made the night she disappeared.”
The rain intensified.
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Get the doctor.”
Marco nodded.
“And get someone to watch Union Station.”
Evelyn grabbed Dominic's wrist.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Don't send anyone.”
“Why?”
“Because if Caldwell knows about the key, he'll expect you to go there.”
Dominic stared at her.
“You think he knows?”
Evelyn nodded.
“He knew everything else.”
Dominic looked toward the warehouse.
Then at the bracelet.
Then at the frightened woman standing in his coat.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Evelyn's face crumpled.
“My sister didn't just disappear.”
She took a breath.
“She left me a message.”
“What message?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“She told me never to trust the man who saved me.”
Dominic's expression froze.
Then Evelyn whispered—
“And she gave me one name.”
May you like
Dominic waited.
“Yours.”
