Chapter 3 - The Secret in the Silver RoseDawn broke over Philadelphia, painting the skyline in bruised shades of violet and gray.
Inside his private study at the Gladwyne estate, Dominic sat behind an enormous mahogany desk. Before him lay the silver bracelet that had been taken off Lia’s wrist while she slept. The black rose clasp gleamed under the harsh light of a brass desk lamp.
Matteo strode into the room, slamming a manila folder onto the desk. "You were right, Dom. Vinnie Santoro is dead. Pathologist report confirms it. But his younger brother, Leo—the one everyone thought fled to Italy two years ago—is back in the city."
"Leo Santoro," Dominic mused, turning the bracelet over in his thick fingers. "The artist. The one with the obsession for cryptography."
"That’s not all," Matteo said, pulling a photograph from the folder. "We raided Leo’s abandoned loft near the Italian Market an hour ago. It was empty, but we found a workbench. Dom... look at the tools."
The photo showed a jeweler's bench littered with micro-soldering irons, acid baths, and molds. Molds for the exact black-rose clasp on Lia's bracelet.
"He didn't just kidnap her to send a message," Dominic realized, his eyes narrowing. "He used her to deliver something."
With a sudden, violent twist, Dominic pressed his thumb against the center of the black rose on the bracelet. A tiny click echoed in the silent room. The enamel petals slid apart like the iris of a camera lens, revealing a microscopic microchip encased in medical-grade polymer.
Dominic stared at it. "Bring up the tech lab. I want this data decrypted before the sun hits the window."
While his IT specialists worked frantically in the subterranean basement of the estate, Dominic's mind drifted back to the diner waitress. Nora Ellis. He pulled up her personnel file on his monitor—a life defined by struggle: a dead-end job, an absent mother, a younger brother currently serving time for a drug possession charge he likely didn't commit.
"She's too ordinary," Dominic muttered to himself. "Or she's the best damn actress this city has ever produced."
His phone buzzed. It was Luca, stationed outside Nora’s apartment building in South Philly.
"Boss," Luca’s voice crackled through the speaker. "We dropped her off twenty minutes ago. But... you need to see this."
"See what?"
May you like
"There's a black sedan parked across the street. Two men in dark suits just forced their way into her apartment building."
Dominic stood up so fast his chair crashed backward against the wood paneling. "Get in there. If they touch a hair on her head, bring me their fingers."
