Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WAITING AT THE GATE
The moment our wheels touched down at JFK, I sent one message.
LOCK DOWN TERMINAL FOUR. QUIETLY.
My security chief replied ten seconds later.
DONE.
Julie saw the message.
Her face tightened.
“Naomi was right about you.”
“About what?”
“You solve everything with power.”
“Right now, power may keep Lily safe.”
“She isn’t yours until a test says she is.”
I looked at the silver-gray eyes beside me.
“Yes.”
It hurt to say.
“But she’s Naomi’s. That’s enough.”
Julie had no answer.
Lily pressed her face against the window.
“New York looks tiny.”
“It gets worse when you’re inside it.”
She giggled.
I hadn’t meant to make her laugh.
The sound did something unpleasantly tender to my chest.
When we reached the gate, two of my men were waiting.
Julie immediately moved Lily behind her.
“No guns near her.”
“They’re security.”
“They have guns.”
“Welcome to America.”
She glared.
I sighed.
“Fine.”
I ordered the men to keep distance.
Then I saw the woman standing beyond the jet bridge.
Dark curls.
Camel coat.
Hands clenched at her sides.
Naomi.
Five years collapsed.
She looked older.
Not in a way that diminished her.
In the way people look after surviving something alone.
Her eyes found Lily first.
Relief flooded her face.
Then she saw me.
Every trace of color disappeared.
“No.”
Julie whispered:
“Naomi…”
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. The airline changed seats.”
Naomi stared at me.
“You sat beside her?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
I stepped toward her.
She backed away.
That hurt more than it should have.
“Naomi.”
“Don’t.”
“I deserve an explanation.”
“No.”
“My possible daughter has my face.”
“She is not your property.”
“I didn’t say she was.”
“You won’t take her.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“Men like you always say that before lawyers show up.”
Lily ran toward her.
“Mommy!”
Naomi immediately dropped to her knees and hugged her.
I watched my daughter—possible daughter—wrap tiny arms around the woman I had once planned a future with.
Then Lily pointed at me.
“Mommy, I found Storm Eyes.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
I almost smiled despite everything.
“You really called me that?”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“I assumed.”
Then my security chief, Marco, approached.
His face told me something was wrong.
“Boss.”
“Not now.”
“Now.”
He handed me his phone.
Airport security footage.
A man had entered Terminal Four twenty minutes earlier.
Baseball cap.
Gray jacket.
He carried a photograph.
Naomi.
Lily.
Julie.
He wasn’t alone.
Another man waited outside arrivals.
I looked at Naomi.
“Someone followed you.”
Her expression changed.
“No.”
“You knew?”
“I thought we lost them.”
“Who?”
She tightened her hold on Lily.
Then she whispered a name I had not heard in years.
“Your uncle Salvatore.”
I stared.
Salvatore Moretti had been missing for six years.
Presumed dead after a yacht fire off Sicily.
“That’s impossible.”
Naomi shook her head.
“No, Matteo.”
That was the first time Lily heard my name.
But Naomi’s next sentence mattered more.
“Salvatore is alive.”
May you like
She looked toward my security team.
“And he’s the reason I disappeared from you.”
