close enough to me to use my accounts without immediate detection,” he said. “My cousin Matteo. My consigliere, Salvatore. Luca.”
Luca’s face hardened. “Boss.”
“I am naming possibilities, not making accusations.”
Harper stood. “So Chloe didn’t blackmail you. Someone is framing her.”
“That appears likely.”
“Appears likely?” she repeated. “You kidnapped me because of appeared likely?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“You were not supposed to be taken.”
“That does not make it better.”
“No,” he said quietly. “It does not.”
The simple honesty took some of the force out of her anger. She expected excuses. Men like Dominic always had excuses. Power taught people to justify everything.
But he looked at the red marks on her wrists, and for one brief second, regret crossed his face.
Then his phone rang.
He answered without looking away from her.
The person on the other end spoke quickly. Dominic listened. His expression turned to stone.
“When?” he asked.
A pause.
“Send me everything.”
He ended the call.
Harper’s heart began to race again.
“What happened?”
“They found Chloe’s apartment empty.”
Harper gripped the back of the chair.
“And?”
Dominic hesitated.
She hated that hesitation.
“Blood on the floor,” he said. “Not enough to confirm she is dead. Enough to confirm she was hurt.”
Harper’s knees nearly gave out.
Luca moved as if to catch her, but Dominic reached her first. His hand hovered near her elbow without touching.
“Sit down.”
“No.” Her voice shook. “No, I need to go there. I need to find her.”
“If you leave this building without protection, whoever took her may take you next.”
“You already did that.”
Dominic flinched.
It was small.
But she saw it.
For the next hour, Dominic’s office became a command center. Men came and went. Calls were made in low voices. Maps appeared on a tablet. Security footage was requested, bribed for, hacked, or threatened out of people.
Harper sat on the leather sofa, feeling useless and furious.
Dominic did not sit at all.
He moved through the chaos with terrifying precision. Every order was clear. Every question had a purpose. He did not waste words on comfort, but he also did not forget Harper was there. Someone brought her water. Then coffee. Then a blanket she refused to use until she realized she was shivering.
At 2:17 a.m., Luca returned with footage from a traffic camera near Chloe’s building.
On the screen, Chloe stumbled out of her apartment lobby wearing a gray coat. Her hair was loose, her movements uneven. She pressed one hand to her side.
A car slowed beside her.
For one horrible second, Harper thought Chloe was being taken.
But Chloe ran from the car.
She disappeared into an alley.
Dominic leaned closer to the screen.
“Pause.”
Luca froze the frame.
In Chloe’s other hand was something small and silver.
“A flash drive,” Harper said.
Dominic nodded.
“She still has the files.”
Another camera caught Chloe thirty minutes later near Red Hook. Then nothing. The trail went cold near an old church that had been closed for renovations for years.
Harper stood immediately.
“I’m going.”
“No.” Dominic’s answer came too fast.
“She’s my sister.”
“It could be a trap.”
“Then you need me. Chloe won’t trust your men. She won’t trust you. But she’ll trust me.”
Dominic stared at
