Chapter 8 - THE DAUGHTER ELENA HID|
Dominic returned to the mansion before dawn.
He had spent the entire flight staring at the photograph of the newborn girl, trying to fit the revelation into the life he thought he understood.
Lily Bennett was Elena's daughter.
She had worked in his house for four months, comforted his son, and risked her job to expose Vanessa's abuse.
And she had done all of it without knowing why she had been drawn to the boy who reminded her of a mother she had never met.
Dominic found Lily in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for Noah.
She looked up when he entered.
“Is everything all right?”
He struggled to answer.
“No. But it will be.”
Lily set down the knife.
“What happened?”
“I need to tell you something about Elena.”
At the mention of the name, Lily went still.
Dominic placed the photograph on the table.
“Do you recognize this woman?”
Lily studied it.
“No.”
“Look carefully.”
She touched the edge of the photograph.
“Why does she look familiar?”
“Because she was your mother.”
The knife slipped from Lily's hand and struck the counter.
For several seconds, she didn't move.
Then she shook her head.
“No. My mother died when I was a baby.”
“That is what you were told.”
“My father never said her name.”
“Your mother was Elena Moretti.”
Lily stepped backward.
“No.”
Dominic explained what Isabella had told him, showing her the photograph of the newborn and the hospital bracelet. He didn't hide the uncertainty. He told her the truth as he understood it, including the possibility that someone had deliberately separated her from Elena.
Lily sat down.
Her hands trembled.
“Why would she give me away?”
“I don't know.”
“Did she not want me?”
Dominic crouched beside her.
“I don't believe that. I think she was trying to keep you alive.”
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
“Everyone keeps saying they were trying to protect someone. Why does protection always look like abandonment?”
Dominic had no answer.
Noah appeared in the doorway, holding his dinosaur.
“Lily?”
She quickly wiped her face.
“I'm okay, sweetheart.”
He studied her.
“Are you crying because of the bad people?”
She managed a small smile.
“Something like that.”
Noah climbed onto the chair beside her.
“You can hold my dinosaur if you want.”
Lily hugged him, and for a moment the three of them sat in silence.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
Samuel had identified the man in the hospital photograph.
His name was Dr. Thomas Bennett.
He had worked at the private clinic where Elena was treated and later became Lily's legal guardian.
He had died five years earlier.
But before his death, he had left a sealed statement with an attorney.
Samuel had obtained a copy.
The statement revealed that Elena had given birth to Lily at a private medical facility after discovering that Vincent Moretti had arranged a secret financial agreement with a powerful political intermediary. The child had been placed with Thomas Bennett, a physician Elena trusted, because Elena feared the baby would be used to control her.
The statement did not identify Lily's biological father.
But it contained a name.
Daniel Cross.
Dominic recognized it.
Daniel Cross had been a federal investigator who disappeared while examining corruption within several shipping companies. His disappearance had become an unsolved case.
If Daniel was Lily's father, then Elena's secret daughter was connected to an investigation that had threatened the Moretti empire from the beginning.
Dominic read the statement again.
There was a handwritten addition at the bottom.
If Elena is ever found, tell her the original evidence was never destroyed. It was placed with the child.
Dominic looked at Lily.
“Did Thomas Bennett ever give you anything from your mother?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don't remember much about him. He raised me until I was six. Then I went to live with my aunt after he died.”
“Did he leave you a box, a letter, anything?”
Lily thought for a moment.
“There was a music box. My aunt kept it for years. I still have it.”
“Where is it?”
“In my apartment.”
Dominic immediately arranged for Marcus to retrieve it with Lily's permission.
The music box arrived that afternoon, wrapped in brown paper. It was small and wooden, with a cracked mirror inside the lid.
Lily opened it.
A delicate melody played.
She stared at the little ballerina turning in a circle.
“I used to listen to this when I couldn't sleep.”
Dominic examined the underside.
A small panel had been fitted into the base. It opened with a hidden latch.
Inside lay a folded strip of paper and a tiny key.
The paper contained a sequence of numbers and a single sentence.
The original file is not where they expect it to be.
The key bore the insignia of an old storage company.
Samuel traced the insignia to a facility in Albany that had been closed for nearly a decade. The unit associated with the key had been rented under Daniel Cross's name.
Dominic prepared to leave.
Lily stopped him.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“You've spent three years making decisions based on what other people told you. I'm not going to become another person you leave behind because you think you know what's best.”
Dominic recognized the truth in her words.
“You could be in danger.”
“So could you.”
He studied her for a moment.
Then nodded.
They traveled to Albany with Marcus and a small security team. The storage unit contained old boxes, medical records, and a locked metal cabinet.
Inside the cabinet was a flash drive and a sealed envelope addressed to Elena.
The envelope had never been opened.
Dominic handed it to Lily.
She hesitated before breaking the seal.
Inside was a letter from Daniel Cross.
Elena, if you're reading this, it means I failed to return. I know you will want to tell Lily the truth, but the people watching us have already learned about her. If they discover what she carries, they will use her to destroy the evidence and erase everything we found.
Lily pressed the letter to her chest.
There was another paragraph.
The original ledger is not a document. It is a list of names, payments, and orders hidden in a recording. The person who commissioned the operation has never been identified because he used a false name.
Dominic opened the flash drive.
It contained a single audio file.
The recording began with Vincent Moretti's voice.
Then Richard Sterling spoke.
Finally, a third voice entered the conversation.
Dominic recognized it instantly.
His own voice.
The recording appeared to show him authorizing a payment to silence a witness.
He stared at the screen.
“I never said that.”
Marcus examined the file.
“It could be edited.”
But the audio contained details only Dominic and his father should have known.
Lily looked at him.
“Did you do it?”
“No.”
She held his gaze.
“I believe you.”
Her answer was immediate.
And somehow that made the revelation hurt more.
Someone had forged Dominic's voice and placed the recording among evidence connected to Elena, Daniel, and Lily.
Someone had been constructing a case against him for years.
Samuel called with an urgent update.
The original ledger had been located.
But before he could explain where, a second call came through.
A police officer had found a body inside an abandoned property near Lake Champlain.
The remains were believed to belong to a woman missing for three years.
The identification was incomplete.
But a silver locket had been recovered nearby.
A locket matching the one Elena wore in every family photograph.
Dominic looked at Lily.
She was already crying.
Then Samuel delivered the final piece of information.
The property had been purchased through a shell company belonging to Dominic Moretti.
May you like
And the purchase had been completed six months after Elena's supposed death.
Someone had used Dominic's money to buy the place where his wife may have been buried—and the signature authorizing the purchase was dated three days from now.
