That was what he had been told.
That was what the doctors said after the car bomb. That was what Nathan had said when Dominic woke in the hospital, half-mad with grief and morphine, asking for his wife, asking for his unborn son.
Gone, Nathan had whispered then.
They’re both gone.
Dominic’s hand tightened around the photograph until it bent.
He opened the closest file box.
Inside were medical records.
Not copies. Originals.
Elena Vale. Trauma transfer. Emergency extraction. Infant male viable. Private relocation authorized.
Dominic stopped breathing.
Infant male viable.
He read it again.
Then again.
His heart did not beat faster. It seemed to stop entirely.
At the bottom of the page was a signature.
Nathan Cross.
Dominic moved to the next file.
Bank accounts. Payments to doctors. Payments to nurses. Payments to men who had disappeared years ago. A birth certificate with the child’s name blacked out. A photograph of a newborn wrapped in a blue hospital blanket.
A son.
His son.
Alive.
The chamber tilted.
Dominic braced one hand on the desk.
All the wars, all the blood, all the years of waking from dreams with Elena’s scream in his ears—and Nathan had stood beside him through it all, carrying a secret beneath his own house.
Footsteps approached behind him.
Dominic turned with the gun raised.
It was Mia.
She stood at the chamber entrance wrapped in a blanket, pale and barely upright. Harper was not with her. Daniel hovered behind her, furious and helpless.
“I told her to stay upstairs,” Daniel said.
Mia ignored him.
Her eyes were fixed on the files in Dominic’s hand.
“You found it,” she whispered.
Dominic stared at her. “You knew?”
Mia’s face folded with pain. “Not all of it.”
“Tell me.”
She swallowed. “Three nights ago, Miss Claire asked me to help choose wine for your return dinner. When we came down, Mr. Cross was already here. They were arguing behind the racks. I heard your name. Elena’s name. And then Claire said, ‘He’ll never forgive you if he learns the boy is alive.’”
Dominic closed his eyes.
The words entered him like a blade turned slowly.
Mia continued, each sentence costing her strength. “I dropped a bottle. They heard me. Claire grabbed me first. Mr. Cross told her not to panic, but she was terrified. She said the wedding was too close, that everything would be ruined. They tied me. Mr. Cross kept asking how much I heard.”
Dominic looked toward the passage.