DOMINIC 

 

I step through the creaky front door as slowly and quietly as humanly possible. And as I step inside and close the door gently behind me, the first place I look for any unsuspecting personnel is to my left where I've seen a shadow from outside.

It's a large formal dining room but there's nobody there. Nobody that I can see anyways. I know that someone had to have heard the shot I fired through the unnamed man's brain outside. Whether I like it or not, someone knows we're here.

Instead of just looking for my sister now though, I'm now looking for Katie too. I couldn't quite make out what she was screaming about but whatever it was, it couldn't be good. I take a little bit of comfort in knowing that most likely someone wouldn't kill her. For better or worse, villains always seem to treat women just a little bit differently. If it were me they found, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me. But because she's a beautiful woman, they probably think that they can use her for leverage.

Being used for leverage is certainly better than being dead.

I don’t have time to make a proper sweep of the entire house so once I confirm that there’s nobody in the formal dining room, I exit back out into the foyer and cut across it to check an office situated just across. I open the first of two old-fashioned wooden doors and peek inside but all I see is pitch-black darkness. I pull the door closed behind me and just as I exit back out into the foyer, the lights all go out.

"Shit," I grind out and reach for my phone with my spare hand. When the screen lights up, I realize that there is no internet or cell phone connection either. Someone is using a data blocker. I shove the phone back into my pocket and make my way down the dark hall. I briefly think about using my phone's flashlight to light the way but I don't want to give away my position if I don't have to.

My eyes slowly adjust to the darkness but even as they adjust, I know I will never be able to see properly enough to do my job. I have no advantage here. This isn't my territory and I've lost the elements of surprise. Whoever is here in this house with me will know the floor plan. They will be more able to get around in the absolute darkness.

I make sure to stay as close to the walls as possible as I continue making my way down a long hallway that looks to bleed into the oversized kitchen and entertaining area. From just up ahead, at the end of the hallway, a faint sliver of moonlight passes through oversized windows. It lights up the kitchen with just enough light so that I'm able to see efficiently. Once I come to the end of the hallway, I force myself back against the wall. I crane my head around the corner to check both the kitchen and living room, but again there doesn't seem to be anyone there.

I'm starting to believe that all of the cars parked outside are nothing more than decoys. By now, in any other situation, I'd be flanked on all sides by opposing forces. Unless of course they're all hiding together on one of the two upper floors.

Once my sweep of the primary areas of the first floor is complete, I make my way back down the marbled hallway to the front door. And then I crane my head to look upstairs at a loft that hangs over the foyer. It's dark as hell up there, even darker than it is on the first floor. Just as I had done in the hallway, I stick as close as possible to the wall as I begin to ascend the long and winding stairwell.

I want to call out for my sister so damn bad but I know that I can't. I know that the only element of surprise I might have left is my position in this very house. I can tell that the flooring of the stairwell is relatively new because in an old house like this, they should be creaking with every step but they don't. It's a sigh of relief in a night filled with the idea that if something can go wrong, it will.

Once I reach the top of the landing, I'm even more careful than I was before. I step slowly with one foot in front of the other as I make my way across the open-air loft. There is a row of doors along the hallway just on the other side of the loft.

It really would have been nice if Alice or Tosha could have gotten the schematics or blueprints for this place. Going in blind is going to get me killed. As I'm cutting across the open loft, I hear the front door open and then close from downstairs.

I crane my head over my shoulder first and then twist around on my feet so that I'm facing the landing of the stairs. And then quickly but as quietly as possible I made my way back to the landing so that I can get a good look at the downstairs.

Looking down the stairs from up here, I can see much better because even though there's not a lot of light downstairs, the moonlight still streams through the kitchen windows and lights up the hall in a pale light.

Up here, it's pitch-dark blackness.

The only thing I can hear is the pounding of my own heart, threatening to beat right out of my chest. This isn't my first rodeo with danger. I've been down this road a thousand times before, but this time it's different because the stakes are so damn high.

Faintly, I can hear someone stepping across the marble tiled floor of the foyer. But no matter how hard I try or from what angle I look down from, I can't see who it is.

I ready my gun at my side and began pacing slowly down the steps, hoping that they are as quiet as they were when I was coming up them. One noisy creak could be the death of me.

Literally.

With my gun held in front of me, my finger just itching to pull the trigger, I cling to the wall as I take one step down the stairs at a time. I'm as careful as I can be but with each step, the curiosity seems to get the better of me. I go faster and faster down the steps until my boot clatters against one of the steps, forcing me to freeze in place.

My heart races even faster now.

I force myself to continue my way down the stairs, knowing that if someone did in fact hear me, I might as well be as good as dead. I try to steady my breathing but it’s a difficult task when my heart feels like it's about to jump out of my chest. Growing impatient and deciding to take a little bit of a risk, I step towards the railing, pulling myself away from the wall. I glance down into the foyer and see a womanly silhouette of someone who appears to be wearing a dress.

My heart runs cold for a split second as I realize I'm probably looking right at my sister. I know it's not Katie because she's not wearing a dress. I don't know what my sister is wearing either considering the only footage I've seen of her is footage that was recorded nine months ago. But in those videos, she clearly favored flowery print dresses.

In the back of my mind, I know I have to be careful with this. I know that I have to think with my head instead of my heart. I know that this could just as easily be someone who is not my sister, but I just can't convince myself to play this one safe.

"Shelby?" I call out in somewhat of a lowly whisper. It does the trick though and she can clearly hear me because she cranes her head to look right up at me. And with the soft filtered light lit against her face, I can swear that it's her. "Oh my God…"

I throw all caution to the wind and begin racing down the steps. I shove my gun into my holster and hold onto the railing so the excitement doesn't get the best of me and I find myself speeding down the steps. As soon as I hit the landing and go to approach her, she spins on her feet and races towards the kitchen.

Something is telling me that it's not her but I ignore that voice in my head and give chase. My boots clatter against the hard marble floors as I race forward and towards the woman who I believe could be my sister. She cuts into the kitchen and turns left, out of sight.

And just as I exit the hallway and into the kitchen, all of the lights in the mansion flash back on.

And though my eyes want to adjust against the light, I can't force myself to look away when I realize that I'm standing right in front of her. I finally found her and to be honest, I can't quite make sense of the feelings that I'm feeling. I can't make heads from tails and though I know I'm beyond happy, I still can't manage to force any words from my lips.

All my lips do is tremble. My entire body shakes too. I've been waiting for this moment for so long that I don't know how to react when it’s become my reality. I have had so many dreams where I have found her before and every time I woke up, I wanted to go back to sleep so bad that I didn't care if I never woke up again.

And here she is, after all of these years, standing right in front of me.

She looks just the way I last saw her. It's like she hasn't aged a single day in the last ten years. Our mother was much the same way, she never aged either. I, on the other hand, could never quite get so lucky.

Long brown hair flows down her back and her tan skin is contrasted against hazel eyes that match mine. She has almost invisible freckles dotted along her complexion but they're not invisible to me.

I began to step towards her with a warm smile written all over my face. I don't think I'd be any more capable of showing how happy I am in this moment. I know that the two of us don't have a lot of time together before we have to find Katie and get the hell out of here, but I need just this one minute with her.

I take another step towards her and she does something unexpected.

She takes an equally calculated step back. Her lips fold into a frown before she forces some kind of weightless smile. That's when I know I need to stop moving towards her because something is clearly wrong.

"It's me." I cock my head sideways and smile at her. "It's Dominic."

"I know." She forces another smile but this one is weighted down by sadness even more so than the last. "I thought I was never going to see you again."

"I never stopped looking for you." My lips purse together, buckling underneath the weight of emotions I've been carrying with me for the last ten years. "I never stopped believing that I would find you." That's a little bit of a white lie considering just two weeks ago I had no more hope in me. But I'm telling her what she needs to hear right now and those are the words, "I love you, Shelby. And I miss you and it's time to come home."

She nods slowly, her eyes shift to the floor.

The one thing I've been dreaming about for years is suddenly turning into somewhat of a nightmare. I can't understand why she's not as excited to see me as I am to see her. I'm saving her from this place, saving her from whatever fate Christopher Lawson and his people have for her and have had for her for the last ten years.

"Do you want to come home?" It's an ugly question but given her lack of enthusiasm for seeing me, it's one I have to ask. "What have these people done to you?"

She runs a knuckle over her eyes, wiping away tears that I hadn't even noticed were there. "I'm ready," she cries out and with tears now pouring down her face. "I'm ready to go home."

"Me too, sis." I step up to her and she fumbles against my chest, burying her head against me as she cries. My hand travels to the back of her head and I hold her in place as she lets out all of the emotions she's been holding the last ten years. "It's going to be all right."

She sobs and she sniffles against my chest. And though she's obviously carrying so many emotions on her shoulders and crying them into my chest, I'm not going to lie and say this isn't the happiest moment in my life since she was taken away from me. Nothing in this world can bring me down now. And if there's anyone in this house who tries to stop me from leaving with my sister, I won't hesitate to send them to hell where they belong.

She pulls back from the embrace slightly and hooks her eyes up to me. Her eyes are dark and heavy from the emotional reconciliation. Her eyes are a blood shot red too.

But there's something passing over her face, some kind of emotion that's foreign to me. It's one I can't read.

"I'm so sorry," she cries out as she takes one step back.

"There's nothing to be sorry for—” That's when I look down just in time to see her thrusting a knife into my abdomen.