Chapter 3 – The Enemy Inside the Moretti Family
The note stayed on the counter long after Dominic folded it away.
Claire watched him in silence.
She had spent seven years convincing herself that distance could bury the past. Yet within forty-eight hours of Dominic walking into Wild Harbor Café, the quiet life she had built for herself and Lily had begun to crack.
Outside, Portland looked exactly the same.
Inside, everything had changed.
The First Name
"Who sent it?" Claire asked.
Dominic didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he stared through the café window at the rain-soaked street.
"There are only a handful of people who would threaten a child just to force me into a meeting."
"And?"
"And one of them taught me everything I know."
Claire frowned.
"You mean Gabriel?"
"No."
His voice was low.
"Victor."
The name seemed to darken the room.
Claire felt her stomach tighten.
"The man who told me you abandoned us."
Dominic nodded.
"The same man."
"I thought he worked for your family."
"He did."
"Did?"
"He disappeared almost three years ago."
Claire looked confused.
"So why would he still be after Lily?"
Dominic met her eyes.
"Because if Victor is alive, this was never about protecting my family."
"It was about controlling it."
A Visit from Sofia
The bell above the café door rang softly.
Claire instinctively looked up.
A woman in her early thirties stepped inside.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
Elegant without trying.
She carried no umbrella despite the rain.
When she saw Dominic, her expression softened.
"So it's true."
Dominic sighed.
"Sofia."
Claire immediately recognized the resemblance.
Not in their features.
In their eyes.
The same unmistakable silver.
Sofia looked toward Claire.
"You must be Claire."
Claire remained cautious.
"And you are?"
"His sister."
She smiled gently.
"I've wanted to meet you for years."
Claire folded her arms.
"I wish it had been under different circumstances."
"So do I."
Sofia glanced toward the staircase.
"And Lily?"
"She's upstairs."
"Is she safe?"
"For now."
Sofia's smile disappeared.
"Not for long if Victor knows where she is."
The Truth About Seven Years Ago
They gathered around one of the empty café tables after closing.
Claire listened while Sofia unfolded a story that made every missing piece fall into place.
"Victor wasn't just an adviser," Sofia explained.
"He managed communications between the different branches of the family business."
Dominic nodded.
"He handled private correspondence."
Claire suddenly understood.
"My letters."
"They never reached him."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"I never saw a single one."
Sofia continued.
"Victor also intercepted Dominic's messages."
Claire stared.
"He wrote to me?"
"For months."
"He searched every hospital in New York."
"Every airline record he could legally obtain."
"He hired investigators."
Claire looked at Dominic.
"You really searched?"
"Every day."
Her eyes filled with tears she refused to let fall.
"I waited by the mailbox for almost a year."
"I waited by the phone."
Neither of them spoke for several seconds.
Seven years.
Destroyed by one man's deception.
The Hidden Recording
Sofia reached into her handbag.
"I didn't come empty-handed."
She placed a small flash drive on the table.
Dominic looked puzzled.
"What is it?"
"I found it yesterday."
"Where?"
"In Victor's old office."
Claire leaned forward.
"You broke into his office?"
"It isn't his anymore."
Dominic picked up the drive.
"What's on it?"
"I haven't listened to all of it."
"There wasn't time."
"But one file..."
She hesitated.
"...mentions Claire by name."
An hour later they sat around Claire's aging laptop.
Dominic inserted the drive.
Several audio files appeared.
Most were labeled only with dates.
One stood out.
Rourke_Conversation_Final.mp3
Claire's hands trembled.
Dominic clicked play.
Static.
Then Victor's unmistakable voice.
"She's leaving tomorrow."
Another voice answered.
A man's voice Claire didn't recognize.
"Does Dominic know?"
Victor laughed quietly.
"He'll know exactly what I decide he should know."
Silence.
Then—
"And the baby?"
Claire stopped breathing.
Victor replied without emotion.
"If she disappears, the child disappears with her."
The recording ended.
No explanation.
No context.
Only enough to destroy every illusion that remained.
Dominic closed the laptop.
"I should have seen it."
Claire shook her head.
"No."
"He fooled both of us."
Another Pair of Eyes
Upstairs, Lily sat at her bedroom window drawing birds.
She looked down into the street.
A blue sedan had been parked across from the café for nearly an hour.
A man sat inside.
Reading a newspaper.
Except...
He never turned the page.
Lily frowned.
Children noticed strange things adults overlooked.
She quietly climbed downstairs.
"Mom?"
Claire looked up.
"What is it?"
"That man."
"What man?"
"The one pretending to read."
Dominic immediately crossed to the window.
The blue sedan pulled away.
Too quickly.
He memorized the license plate.
Or tried to.
Rain obscured the final two digits.
"They found us."
Claire whispered,
"I thought Portland was far enough."
"So did I."
The School Call
The café phone rang.
Claire answered.
"This is Claire."
Her expression changed instantly.
"I'm sorry..."
"What?"
"When?"
She went pale.
"I'll be there."
She hung up.
"Lily's school."
Dominic stood immediately.
"What happened?"
"They said someone came to pick her up yesterday."
Claire stared in disbelief.
"They claimed to be her uncle."
Silence.
"I don't have a brother."
The Security Footage
The principal welcomed them into her office with visible concern.
"I'm terribly sorry."
Claire tried to remain calm.
"What exactly happened?"
"The man never reached Lily."
"He didn't have authorization."
"But..."
The principal opened a laptop.
"We reviewed yesterday's security footage."
The video showed a tall man approaching the office.
Cap.
Glasses.
Trimmed beard.
He handed over paperwork.
The receptionist shook her head.
The man smiled politely.
Then walked away.
Dominic leaned closer.
"Pause."
The principal froze the frame.
Dominic's expression darkened.
"I know him."
Claire looked at the screen.
"Who is he?"
"Victor's driver."
The Decision
That night no one slept much.
Claire packed emergency bags.
Passports.
Birth certificates.
Cash.
Lily's favorite stuffed rabbit.
Dominic watched quietly.
"You're planning to leave."
"I'm planning to survive."
"They'll expect that."
"What else am I supposed to do?"
He looked around the apartment.
The photographs.
The tiny kitchen.
The life Claire had built with almost nothing.
"I spent seven years trying to find you."
His voice was steady.
"I'm not asking you to trust me."
"I'm asking you to let me help protect our daughter."
Claire zipped the final bag.
"I trusted you once."
"I know."
"I lost everything."
"You lost seven years."
"So did you."
Their eyes met.
For the first time...
Neither looked away.
Elsewhere
Hundreds of miles away, inside a secluded estate outside New York, a man sat alone in a dimly lit study.
He replayed an old audio recording.
Claire's frightened voice.
Dominic's name.
A child's laughter captured faintly in the background.
He smiled.
"Seven years," he murmured.
"And now they're finally together again."
He lifted a glass but never drank from it.
Instead, he looked toward another man standing near the door.
"Has the surveillance team confirmed the child's identity?"
"Yes."
"And Dominic?"
"He's refusing to return."
The older man nodded slowly.
"I expected that."
"What are your orders?"
He closed the folder in front of him.
"Nothing violent."
"Not yet."
"We'll make him come willingly."
"And if he refuses again?"
The man's smile vanished.
"Then we'll expose everything."
Outside, thunder rolled across the hills.
Inside, Victor Dane looked at the newest photograph on his desk.
Claire.
Dominic.
Lily.
Together.
May you like
Exactly as he had feared.
Exactly as he had planned.
