The kind people whispered about and pretended not to see.
Dominic folded his hands on the desk.
“Where is your sister?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think carefully before lying to me.”
“I’m not lying. Chloe and I are twins, not roommates. We don’t report our schedules to each other.”
“When did you last see her?”
“Three days ago. We had coffee.”
“How did she seem?”
“Normal. Tired, maybe. Nervous about work, but Chloe is always nervous about something. She worries if a receipt doesn’t match her spreadsheet.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“What did she say about work?”
Harper hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Dominic saw it.
“Tell me.”
“She said she found irregularities.” Harper’s voice dropped. “Accounts that didn’t make sense. Transfers that looked suspicious. I thought she was being dramatic.”
“She was not.”
The words landed like stones.
Dominic leaned back in his chair.
“Your sister works for Apex Holdings.”
“Yes.”
“Apex is attached to certain financial channels used by my organization.”
Harper let out a humorless laugh. “That sounds like a very polished way of saying crime.”
Again, that almost-smile appeared and vanished.
“Your sister accessed protected files, copied confidential records, and disappeared. Those files contain information powerful enough to ruin people. Dangerous people.”
“People like you?”
“Among others.”
“Chloe wouldn’t blackmail anyone.”
“She contacted an intermediary and demanded money in exchange for silence.”
“No.” Harper shook her head immediately. “No, that’s not Chloe.”
“You are very certain.”
“My sister cried once because a cashier gave her too much change and she couldn’t return it because the store had closed. She alphabetizes her spice rack. She still feels guilty about cheating on a spelling test in fifth grade. She does not blackmail mafia bosses.”
Dominic studied her.
Something in his face changed, not softening exactly, but focusing.
“If she found what I think she found,” he said, “she is already in more danger than she understands.”
Harper’s anger faltered.
“What kind of danger?”
Dominic did not answer right away. He looked to one of his men.
“Check her apartment again. Quietly. No police. No noise. Call me the moment you find anything.”
The man left.
Harper’s throat tightened. “Again?”
Dominic ignored the question.
“Your phone.”
One of the kidnappers placed her cracked phone on the desk. Harper reached for it, but Dominic got there first. He tapped the screen and turned it toward her.
Twelve missed calls.
All from Chloe.
All within the last hour.
Harper felt the blood drain from her face.
There was one message.
Harper, do not go home. Do not trust the police. Do not trust Apex. If a man named Moretti finds you first, tell him I did not steal from him. I stole from the man beside him.
The room went unnaturally still.
Dominic read the message over her shoulder.
His expression did not change, but Harper saw his hand tighten around the phone.
“The man beside you,” she whispered. “Who does that mean?”
Dominic’s gaze moved toward the door, then back to his men.
“Everyone out except Luca.”
Two men obeyed instantly. The tallest one remained. He had dark blond hair, a scar along his jaw, and the wary posture of someone who had survived too many rooms like this.
Dominic handed the phone back to Harper.
“There are only a few men
