Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO BURIED HER HUSBAND
I stared at the photograph until the screen blurred.
My mother was holding a knife.
Not pointed at Sophie, but resting across her lap as if she were guarding something precious.
That didn't make me feel better.
“Victor, get me everything on that property in Westchester.”
He handed me a folder.
“It's an old Moretti estate. Your grandfather purchased it decades ago. Your father used it for private meetings.”
“Why wasn't it on our property records?”
“Because it was transferred into a trust before your father's supposed death.”
I opened the folder.
There was a photograph of my father standing in front of the estate. He looked older, thinner, but unmistakably alive.
The date was from three months ago.
My hands tightened.
“Prepare the car.”
Victor shook his head.
“Boss, this could be a trap.”
“It is a trap.”
“Then don't go alone.”
I looked at him.
“I'm not going to war. I'm going to get my daughter.”
“That's exactly why you need protection.”
I considered his words.
“Fine. Two vehicles. Nobody approaches the house unless I give the order.”
Before leaving, I went to Sophie's bedroom.
Her little pink shoes were beside the bed. Her stuffed rabbit sat on the pillow, and her favorite blanket was folded neatly beneath the window.
I picked up the rabbit.
It smelled like her shampoo.
I had spent years building an empire, believing that money and power could protect the people I loved.
Yet someone had walked into my home and stolen my child.
I slipped the rabbit into my jacket.
Then I noticed something beneath her mattress.
A small notebook.
The cover was decorated with butterflies.
Inside were childish drawings, scribbles, and several pages filled with words written in a careful adult hand.
I recognized the handwriting.
Vanessa's.
But the sentences made my blood boil.
Sophie's room will be available soon.
The child must learn not to interrupt.
She must stop calling Lorenzo Daddy when guests are present.
On the final page was a date.
Tomorrow.
And beneath it:
Transfer complete.
I took the notebook.
Whatever my mother and father had planned, I intended to end it.
The Westchester estate stood behind enormous iron gates surrounded by bare trees.
Two guards opened the entrance before we reached it.
They knew me.
One lowered his head.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Where is my daughter?”
He hesitated.
“Inside, sir.”
I stepped out.
“Anyone who touches her answers to me.”
I entered through the main doors.
The house smelled of cigar smoke, old leather, and expensive furniture.
Then I heard a little voice.
“Grandma, can I have my teddy?”
My heart nearly stopped.
I followed the sound into the drawing room.
Sophie sat on a velvet sofa wearing the same pink dress she'd worn that morning. Her hair was messy, and her cheeks were streaked with tears.
My mother sat beside her.
She looked up.
“Lorenzo.”
I rushed forward.
Sophie saw me and jumped from the sofa.
“DADDY!”
I caught her before her little feet reached the floor.
She buried her face against my neck.
“I knew you would come!”
I held her tightly.
“Always, princess. Always.”
My mother stood.
“You shouldn't have come.”
I turned toward her.
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“I protected her.”
“From whom?”
“From you.”
I stared at her.
Before I could respond, a familiar voice came from the adjoining room.
“It's been a long time, son.”
The doors opened.
My father walked into the room.
Dominic Moretti.
Alive.
His hair was almost completely silver, but his eyes were the same cold gray as mine.
He wore a dark suit and the gold lion ring.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he smiled.
“You've become a powerful man.”
I adjusted Sophie against my chest.
“You've become a ghost.”
My father's smile faded.
“Your mother thought it was best.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I had enemies.”
“You let me believe my father was dead.”
“I was protecting the family.”
I laughed bitterly.
“By stealing my daughter?”
He looked at Sophie.
“She belongs with us.”
“No. She belongs with me.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“There's something you don't understand. Sophie isn't an ordinary child. Her mother left her something.”
I froze.
Sophie's biological mother, Elena, had died shortly after giving birth.
My father had never liked her.
He'd called her a weakness.
“What did Elena leave my daughter?”
Dominic glanced at my mother.
My mother slowly reached into her handbag and removed a sealed envelope.
“Your wife left a letter,” she whispered.
I stared at her.
“My wife?”
“There's something you were never told about Elena's death.”
Before I could ask another question, Sophie tugged my collar.
“Daddy?”
I looked down.
She was staring at my father.
“That's the bad uncle from the shiny ring.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“What did she say?”
I turned toward him.
Sophie pointed at his hand.
“He came to my room before. He told Miss Vanessa that Mommy was sleeping forever because Daddy didn't know how to protect her.”
My blood turned to ice.
May you like
My father looked at my daughter.
Then, for the first time since I'd entered the room, he looked afraid.
