Chapter 3 - The Midnight Escape
The Caruso mansion in Greenwich was quiet when Nora slipped through the back entrance at midnight. Teresa, Dominic’s mother, was asleep in the guest wing. Nora moved like a shadow, making her way straight to Eli’s bedroom.
"Mom?" Eli rubbed his eyes, sitting up in the dim light of his star lamp. "Why are you back so early?"
"Pack your favorite dinosaur, sweetheart," Nora whispered, her voice steady and warm despite the trembling in her hands. "We’re going on an adventure."
"Tonight?"
"Right now."
While Eli gathered his small backpack, Nora walked into Dominic’s private home office. She didn't look at the family portraits or the expensive art. She walked straight to the mahogany bookcase, pulled the third leather volume from the top shelf, and opened the hidden wall safe behind it.
Inside lay the single most important item in Dominic Caruso’s possession: the master encrypted hard drive containing the primary design patents, international supplier contracts, and hidden financial ledgers for Caruso Design Group. It was the absolute backbone of his empire—the one thing his money could never replace if lost.
Nora took the drive. She also took Eli’s passport, her own documents, and the original physical sketchbook containing four hundred of her original dress designs, every page dated and signed in her distinct cursive handwriting.
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By 2:00 AM, Eli was fast asleep in the back seat of a rented SUV. Nora looked back at the grand stone gates of the Caruso estate one last time.
Dominic believed power was built on control and fear. He was about to learn that true power was the ability to walk away with the foundation of his world in the palm of your hand.
