Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO STOLE SIX YEARS
Dominic ordered everyone out of the hospital room except me, my mother, and Anthony.
Anthony refused to sit.
“You always did enjoy playing king,” he told his brother.
“And you always confused being cruel with being clever.”
Anthony smiled.
“Is that what she told you?”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Tell me why you faked your death.”
“Because someone wanted me dead.”
“Who?”
Anthony looked at me.
“Her father.”
My mother made a strangled sound.
“That's a lie.”
“Is it?” Anthony pulled a chair toward the bed. “Your husband discovered a financial scheme involving our father's companies. He copied documents, threatened to expose the people involved, and suddenly died in a car accident.”
“My husband died because a truck crossed the center line,” my mother said.
“That's what the police report said.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Are you accusing our father of murder?”
“I'm saying that the official story has holes in it.”
“Then why didn't you go to the police?”
“Because the evidence implicated people who still have influence in this city.”
Anthony turned to me.
“Your father was investigating a network of payments that passed through several companies. He believed someone was using the Moretti name to conceal illegal transactions. He was right.”
“And Lily?” I asked.
His expression softened in a way I did not trust.
“Your daughter is the key to understanding what happened.”
Dominic moved between us.
“She is a seven-year-old child. She is not a key to anything.”
“Her father left something for her.”
“My father?”
Anthony nodded.
“Before he died, he arranged for a trust to be established in the name of the first child born to the next generation of the Moretti family.”
Dominic stared at him.
“I have never heard of that trust.”
“Of course you haven't. Our father didn't trust you with everything.”
Anthony explained that the trust had been funded with assets connected to the family's legitimate businesses. Its records were incomplete, and the original beneficiary documents had disappeared after our father's death.
If Lily was the beneficiary, the missing documents might establish who controlled the assets and expose the people who had diverted money from them.
I felt sick.
“You want to use my daughter to get your hands on a fortune.”
Anthony's expression hardened.
“I want to stop the people who killed your father.”
“Then why threaten us?”
“I never threatened you.”
“You sent someone to photograph Lily.”
“I didn't.”
Dominic took out his phone and showed him the message.
Anthony studied the photograph.
For the first time, his confidence faltered.
“That's not my security team.”
“Then whose is it?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic stared at his brother.
“You expect me to believe you disappeared for five years, came back on the day we discovered Lily, and know nothing about the people watching her?”
Anthony sighed.
“I expected you to ask questions before deciding I'm the villain.”
“I already know you're a liar.”
A nurse knocked and reminded us that the hospital had a strict visitor policy. Anthony used the interruption to leave.
Before he reached the door, I stopped him.
“Did you ever tell Dominic I was pregnant?”
Anthony looked at me.
“No.”
“Did you ever tell him I was asking for him?”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Dominic went completely still.
Anthony continued.
“I told him. I also told him you had accepted money from another family and wanted to disappear. I believed you were a threat to him.”
“You believed what you wanted to believe,” I said.
“Perhaps.”
He looked at Dominic.
“But I never told you to stop loving her. That part was your decision.”
Then he walked out.
Dominic remained silent until the door closed.
The accusation hurt because it was true.
He had been deceived, but he had also chosen not to question the deception.
I looked at him.
“I need you to understand something. Even if Anthony had never lied, even if I had never disappeared, you cannot repair six years by buying a dress or promising security.”
“I know.”
“Lily needs consistency. She needs someone who shows up when he says he will. She needs a father who doesn't disappear when life becomes difficult.”
Dominic nodded.
“Then I'll show up.”
“Don't make promises you can't keep.”
“I won't.”
He turned to my mother.
“Mrs. Ruiz, I'm sorry. I should have protected your daughter.”
My mother studied him.
“You can start by protecting her from your family.”
Dominic lowered his head.
“I will.”
That evening, he arranged for a private security team to monitor the hospital and our apartment building. He also made sure my mother had access to the medication she needed, without attaching conditions or asking for gratitude.
I accepted the medical assistance after the hospital social worker explained the options.
I did not accept a mansion, a car, or a monthly allowance.
I wanted my independence.
Dominic seemed to understand.
At seven o'clock, he arrived at Lily's school for her winter concert.
He sat in the last row, wearing a dark suit and looking more nervous than I had ever seen him.
When Lily stepped onto the stage in her red dress, she scanned the audience.
Then she spotted him.
Her face lit up.
She sang with her whole heart, her small voice carrying through the auditorium.
Dominic did not move.
But when she finished, I saw him wipe his eyes.
For the first time, I allowed myself to believe that he might become the father Lily deserved.
Then I noticed the man standing outside the auditorium doors.
May you like
He was holding a photograph of Lily.
And when our eyes met, he smiled.
