Chapter 15 - The Dollhouse
Lily remembered Elena's old sewing room.
More specifically, she remembered a dollhouse nobody had touched in years.
"The pretty lady put paper in the tiny bed," Lily said.
Sophia stared at her. "When?"
"When I was little."
"You are little."
Lily frowned. "When I was littler."
Even Quinn smiled at that.
The dollhouse had belonged to Elena. After her death, I moved it to a storage room because I couldn't stand looking at it.
We found an envelope beneath the miniature mattress.
My name was written on the front.
DOM.
I sat on the floor to open it.
The letter was short.
Dominic,
If you are reading this, then I failed to come home. Frank is not loyal to your father, to you, or to the family. He is loyal only to the power he believes he built. Arthur helped me document what he has done. Do not trust the first evidence you find. Frank survives by choosing someone else to look guilty.
There was more.
The final line broke me.
Tell Ethan I did not leave him. Tell him I ran because I loved him enough to be hated.
For a while, I couldn't speak.
Sophia sat beside me without touching me.
That kindness nearly made it worse.
Ethan read my face. "Was that from Mom?"
"Yeah."
"Did she love me?"
I pulled him into my arms.
"More than anything."
Lily climbed into Sophia's lap and whispered, "I love Mommy more than cake."
Ethan wiped his eyes. "That's a lot."
For the first time all night, somebody laughed.
Then Vincent walked in holding a recovered security tablet.
"We found Sloan."
"Alive?"
"Yes. He gave us the location where Frank planned to meet Harris."
"The airfield?"
Vincent shook his head.
"No. The airfield is a decoy."
Quinn stepped forward. "Then where?"
Vincent turned the tablet around.
A live camera showed a private medical clinic on the edge of the city.
In one room, Dr. Harris was tied to a chair.
Frank Delaney stood behind him.
And on the table between them sat Sophia's cedar box.
May you like
Frank looked directly into the camera.
Then he lifted Elena's letter and set it on fire.
