Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT LILY MET HER FATHERSienna did not lie.
She did not tell the entire truth either.
Not at one in the morning.
Not after someone had followed Lily to school.
“Declan is someone I knew a long time ago.”
Lily looked at him.
“How long?”
“Before you were born.”
“That’s very long.”
Declan almost smiled.
“Yes.”
Lily studied his face with unnerving concentration.
“You have my eyes.”
Declan looked toward Sienna.
She nodded slightly.
He answered:
“I think you have mine.”
Lily frowned.
“How?”
There it was.
Children rarely cared about adult pacing.
Sienna sat beside her.
“Sweetheart, there's something important I need to tell you.”
Declan immediately stepped backward.
Giving her space.
Sienna noticed.
“Declan and I loved each other before you were born.”
Lily looked between them.
“Like dating?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kiss?”
Mrs. Alvarez coughed suspiciously.
Sienna closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Gross.”
Declan laughed.
The sound startled Sienna.
The same laugh.
Deeper.
But still him.
Lily continued.
“Then what?”
“He went away.”
“Why?”
Sienna looked at Declan.
He answered:
“Because some people made me believe leaving was the only way to keep your mom safe.”
Lily considered.
“Was it?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“I know that now.”
Lily liked that.
Sienna could tell.
“What does that have to do with me?”
Sienna's throat tightened.
Everything.
She took her daughter’s hand.
“Declan is your biological father.”
Silence.
Lily stared.
No reaction.
Then:
“No.”
Sienna had prepared for crying.
Anger.
Excitement.
Not denial.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Lily—”
“My dad died.”
Sienna froze.
She had never told Lily Declan was dead.
Not exactly.
When Lily asked at four, Sienna had said:
Your father isn’t part of our lives.
Later:
He went away before you were born.
Apparently Lily had created her own explanation.
“Sweetheart, I never said he died.”
“You said you thought he did.”
Sienna stopped.
Children listened through doors.
Of course.
She must have overheard a conversation with Mrs. Alvarez years earlier.
Lily looked at Declan.
“So you're not dead?”
“No.”
“Where were you?”
Declan crouched.
Not too close.
“Somewhere I should not have been.”
“Jail?”
Mrs. Alvarez made another choking sound.
Declan looked at Sienna.
Then answered honestly:
“Not exactly.”
“That means kind of.”
He almost smiled.
“Kind of.”
Lily’s eyes narrowed.
“Are you a bad guy?”
Sienna's heart stopped.
Declan did not rush.
“I have done things I am not proud of.”
“Like what?”
“Lily,” Sienna said.
Declan raised one hand slightly.
“It’s okay.”
He looked at his daughter.
“I worked for people who broke laws.”
“Did you break laws?”
“Yes.”
Sienna stared.
He could have softened it.
He did not.
“Did you hurt people?”
His face changed.
“Sometimes.”
Lily’s expression became uncertain.
Sienna immediately pulled her closer.
Declan stayed still.
“But I am trying to stop that life,” he said.
“Why?”
He looked at Lily.
“Because it took too much from me.”
She was quiet.
Then:
“Did you know about me?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Mom knew.”
“Yes.”
Lily turned toward Sienna.
“You didn't tell him?”
There it was.
The question Sienna knew would eventually come.
“I thought he was dead at first.”
“And then?”
“I believed he left us.”
“Did you ask him?”
“I couldn't find him.”
Lily looked between them.
“So everybody made mistakes.”
Mrs. Alvarez whispered:
“This child needs her own courtroom.”
Sienna nearly laughed.
Declan did.
Lily stared at him.
“Do I have to call you Dad?”
His smile vanished.
“No.”
“Ever?”
“No.”
“Would you want me to?”
Declan swallowed.
“Someday.”
His voice cracked.
“But only if you want to.”
Lily nodded.
“Okay.”
Then she held up her stuffed fox.
“This is Milo.”
Declan looked at it seriously.
“Hello, Milo.”
“He doesn't talk.”
“Smart.”
Lily smiled.
The first connection was that small.
Not blood.
Not money.
A stuffed fox.
For twenty minutes, Lily asked questions.
Favorite color.
Black.
“That’s boring.”
Favorite food.
His mother's lasagna.
Can he ride a bike?
Yes.
Can he braid hair?
No.
“That’s a problem.”
Sienna looked away to hide her smile.
Then Lily yawned.
Mrs. Alvarez took her back to bed.
Declan stood in the small living room.
His eyes moved over everything.
Secondhand sofa.
Stack of medical textbooks.
Children’s drawings on the refrigerator.
A final notice from the electric company tucked behind a cereal box.
Sienna noticed too late.
He saw the eviction notice on the counter.
Her stomach dropped.
Declan picked it up.
“No.”
She took it from him.
“How far behind?”
“Not your business.”
“Sienna.”
“No.”
“You have our daughter living in an apartment you're being evicted from.”
“She has never missed a meal.”
“I didn't say she did.”
“She has clean clothes, school supplies, insurance.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to walk into my life and audit it.”
“I wasn't.”
“You looked at the paper.”
“It was sitting there.”
“Fine.”
Declan exhaled.
“What do you need?”
The question stopped her.
Not:
I'll pay.
Not:
Pack your things.
What do you need?
“Time.”
“How much?”
“Thirty days.”
“For housing?”
“For everything.”
He nodded.
“Then I won't interfere.”
She stared.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Not anonymously either.”
His expression betrayed him.
“Declan.”
“I was considering it.”
“No.”
“Fine.”
Her mouth almost moved.
Then his phone vibrated.
Frankie.
Declan listened.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
Sienna asked.
He ended the call.
“My uncle Carmine left his house.”
“So?”
“He hasn't returned.”
“Maybe he knows we're looking.”
“Maybe.”
Then another message arrived.
Declan read it.
His face changed completely.
“What?”
He handed her the phone.
A security image showed Carmine entering Lakeshore Medical Center.
Her hospital.
Time stamp:
Thirty minutes earlier.
Sienna’s heart pounded.
“Why would he go there?”
Declan looked at her.
“Your records.”
“No.”
“Lily was born there?”
“Yes.”
“If he wants proof of paternity…”
“He could subpoena it.”
“Not quickly.”
Sienna grabbed her coat.
Declan stopped her.
“Where are you going?”
“My hospital.”
“No.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Careful.”
He stopped.
Right.
He was learning.
“What do you want to do?”
“Call security first.”
She did.
Her supervisor answered.
Sienna explained that a man might attempt unauthorized access to her records.
The response came ten minutes later.
Too late.
Someone had already accessed Lily’s archived birth record.
Using Sienna's own employee credentials.
Her password.
Her ID.
Sienna stared at the security log.
“That’s impossible.”
“When were you last at work?”
“This afternoon.”
“Did anyone see your badge?”
“Everyone.”
Declan asked:
“Who knows your password?”
“No one.”
Then Sienna remembered.
Three months earlier, IT forced password resets.
She had written the temporary password on a sticky note inside her locker because she was exhausted and afraid she would forget.
Only one person had ever joked about it.
Dr. Adrian Wells.
An attending physician.
Her friend.
The man who had helped her through Lily’s birth.
The man who had delivered groceries when she came home alone.
The man who had loaned her money twice when rent was late.
The man who had asked her out three times over six years and accepted every no with a smile.
Sienna whispered:
“Adrian.”
Declan’s expression tightened.
“Who?”
Before she could answer, her phone rang.
Adrian Wells.
Sienna answered.
“Hello?”
His voice was shaking.
“Sienna, don't come to the hospital.”
Her blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“I did something stupid.”
Declan moved closer.
“What did you do?”
Adrian whispered:
“A man offered to clear my brother's gambling debt if I gave him access to one file.”
Sienna closed her eyes.
“Lily’s.”
“Yes.”
“Carmine?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Declan's jaw hardened.
Adrian continued:
“I thought he only wanted to confirm something.”
“What?”
“I didn't know.”
“Where are you?”
“Parking structure.”
“Stay there.”
“No.”
Adrian sounded terrified.
“He knows I called you.”
A loud noise exploded through the line.
Metal.
A car door.
Then Adrian gasped.
“Run.”
The call disconnected.
Sienna stared at the phone.
Declan was already dialing Frankie.
Police.
Hospital security.
Everyone.
But twenty minutes later, Adrian's car was found in the garage.
Door open.
Phone shattered beneath it.
Blood on the concrete.
No Adrian.
And security footage showed him being forced into a dark SUV by two men connected to Carmine Voss.
Carmine had proof Lily was Declan’s daughter.
May you like
Now he had the doctor who helped him obtain it.
And Sienna finally understood that the secret she had kept to protect Lily was no longer protecting anyone.
Related Stories
