THE FORGED TICKET IN THE NIGHT

Anna stared at the cursive ink on the pink transfer ticket.

“Your mother has been dead for sixteen years,” Anna whispered, the fluorescent lights of the clinic buzzing above them. “How could she sign a medical transfer tonight?”

“She didn't,” Dominic said, pulling his phone from his pocket. “Someone kept her personal seal. Only two people in my family had access to her private desk after she died. Vincent was one of them.”

“And the other?”

“My father,” Dominic replied, dialing a number. He pressed the phone to his ear. “Marcus. There is a fake medical transport van leaving the Oakwood clinic on the west side. Intercept it. Do not let them hurt the patient inside.”

He hung up and looked at Anna. “They’re taking him to silence him. But they didn't count on us being twenty minutes behind them.”

Dominic grabbed her arm gently, leading her back to the SUV. He drove like a man possessed, tires screaming as they tore through the quiet Chicago streets. Anna clung to the door handle, praying her father was still alive.

Ten minutes later, Dominic’s radio crackled.

“Boss, we have them,” Marcus’s voice reported. “They pulled into the old shipyard on the river. My men have the van surrounded.”

“Hold them there,” Dominic ordered.

When they arrived at the abandoned shipyard, the scene was chaotic. Three of Dominic’s black vehicles had pinned a white, unmarked transport van against a chain-link fence. Armed men stood with weapons drawn, aimed at the two terrified thugs who had been driving the van.

Anna didn't wait for Dominic to park. She threw the door open and sprinted toward the back of the transport van.

“Dad!” she screamed.

She climbed inside the dim interior. Thomas was strapped to a stretcher, his eyes wide with absolute terror. He was struggling weakly against the restraints.

“Anna,” he gasped, his voice raspy and broken.

“I’m here, Dad, I’m right here,” she sobbed, tearing at the heavy nylon straps. Dominic climbed into the van behind her, pulling a knife from his belt and slicing the straps effortlessly.

Thomas sat up, gasping for air. Then, he looked past Anna and saw Dominic standing in the shadows.

The older man froze. A look of profound sorrow washed over his weathered face.

“You have her eyes,” Thomas whispered.

Dominic stepped closer. “Mr. Ellison. I need to know what happened to my mother.”

Thomas began to tremble. His left hand—the good one—reached into the pocket of his hospital gown. He pulled his fist out and held it tightly against his chest.

“I didn't kill her,” Thomas wept, the tears spilling down his cheeks. “I tried to save her, Dominic. I tried to get her out of the city.”

“Get her away from whom?” Dominic asked, his voice breaking for the first time. “From Vincent?”

“From all of them,” Thomas said.

He slowly opened his trembling fist.

Resting in his palm was a heavy, ornate gold pocket watch. It was badly scratched, the gold fading in places from years of being touched.

Dominic recognized it instantly. “That was my grandfather’s watch. My mother kept it in her jewelry box. Why do you have it?”

“She gave it to me the night she died,” Thomas said, his breath hitching. “She told me... she told me to run. And she made me promise to keep this watch closed until you were old enough to understand.”

Anna looked at Dominic. “Understand what?”

Dominic took the heavy gold watch from Thomas’s palm. His hands were shaking. He pressed the small button on the side.

The front casing popped open.

But there was no clock face inside. The internal gears had been completely hollowed out.

Inside the empty casing, folded neatly into a tiny square, was a photograph.

Dominic unfolded it under the dim dome light of the van.

Anna leaned in to look. It was a picture of Vincent Caruso standing in a dark alley, holding a suppressed pistol. But it wasn't Dominic’s mother lying on the ground at Vincent’s feet.

It was a young man with dark hair, wearing a suit.

Dominic let out a sound that was half-gasp, half-sob. He stumbled backward, hitting the wall of the van.

“Who is that?” Anna asked, terrified by his reaction.