Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT DOMINIC LOST HIS BROTHER
Dominic was thirty-seven when Samuel disappeared.
It happened on a Sunday.
They were supposed to have dinner together.
Samuel had called that morning, asking to meet privately.
Dominic was busy.
A shipping contract had fallen apart.
One of his managers was demanding money.
There were problems with a construction project near the river.
He told Samuel they'd speak Monday.
Samuel said he couldn't wait.
Dominic became irritated.
They argued.
Then Samuel said something Dominic would remember every day afterward.
"You're protecting the people who will eventually destroy you."
Dominic hung up.
By Monday morning, Samuel was gone.
He told me the story while we sat on the terrace.
Chicago stretched beneath a gray evening sky.
Oliver was sleeping indoors.
I listened without interrupting.
Dominic looked toward the lake.
"I spent months believing Samuel had run away."
"Why?"
"Because he threatened to leave the family business."
I nodded.
"He wanted out?"
"He wanted the illegal operations shut down. He wanted us to separate from men like Kessler."
Dominic's voice grew bitter.
"I told him he was naive."
I looked at him.
"Was he?"
Dominic closed his eyes.
"No."
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then he continued.
"Samuel had been planning to leave Chicago with Elena. They'd already rented a house outside Madison."
I swallowed.
"And Oliver?"
"Samuel didn't know his son had survived. He believed the infant died after birth."
I looked down.
Kessler had separated an entire family through lies.
A father who believed his baby was dead.
A mother who fled with her child.
An uncle who spent months searching the wrong people.
And me.
A nurse who had carried a baby through sixteen weeks of fear because nobody had told us the truth.
Dominic took a breath.
"I think Samuel discovered why the baby was declared dead."
I looked up.
"What do you mean?"
"Elena's medical records suggest the birth registration was deliberately altered."
"To hide him?"
"Possibly."
"From whom?"
Dominic looked toward the skyline.
"Someone who needed Samuel to believe he had nothing left."
My throat tightened.
"Then they used his grief to control him."
Dominic nodded.
"That's what I'm afraid of."
That evening, the investigators identified the location where the camera footage from Elena's recording had likely been made.
A former private clinic near Lake Forest.
It had been closed for three years.
But ownership records linked it to a trust controlled by a company associated with Dr. Shaw.
The same clinic had once employed Anna Collins.
My mother.
I stared at the address.
I remembered visiting her at work when I was little.
The vending machine that never returned change.
The old elevator that smelled of bleach.
The green tile in the reception area.
This was where she had worked before our move to Rockford.
I looked at Dominic.
"My mother knew your family."
His expression changed.
"What?"
"She worked at that clinic."
I looked toward the photograph in my wallet.
For twelve years, I'd believed my mother had been an ordinary hospital employee who died in a terrible accident.
Now I was beginning to suspect she had known about Samuel, Elena, and the corruption surrounding Kessler.
And that someone had used her identity long after her supposed death.
At midnight, Dominic received a message.
An unknown sender.
One photograph.
Samuel Farrow sitting beside a window.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
A timestamp from the previous afternoon appeared beneath it, although investigators would need to verify its authenticity.
Dominic stared.
Then another message arrived.
YOUR BROTHER IS ALIVE. BRING THE CHILD AND THE NURSE. COME ALONE.
I read it over his shoulder.
My stomach dropped.
Dominic looked at me.
For a moment, I saw the old temptation in his eyes.
He wanted to rush toward his brother.
To threaten whoever sent the message.
To use all the violence he knew.
Then he closed his eyes.
May you like
And called the investigator instead.
For the first time in his life, Dominic Farrow chose not to let fear make his decisions.
