Chapter 6 - THE GRANDMOTHER WHO TOOK LILY
Claire called Elena immediately.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Her hands began shaking.
“Where is Lily?”
Vincent ripped the IV monitor from his finger.
Marco stepped forward.
“You’re not leaving the hospital.”
“Watch me.”
“Vincent—”
“My daughter is with the woman who financed the man who just shot me.”
Claire grabbed Vincent’s arm.
“Stop.”
He looked at her.
She was terrified.
But calm.
“We don’t know what this means yet.”
He breathed hard.
“She has Lily.”
“She loves Lily.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
Claire’s voice sharpened.
“Whatever Elena did, she loves that child.”
Vincent looked away.
Then Claire’s phone rang.
Elena.
Claire answered instantly.
“Where are you?”
A shaky breath.
“At the lake house.”
“Is Lily safe?”
“Yes.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Put her on.”
A small voice answered.
“Mommy?”
“Hi, baby.”
“Grandma says Daddy got hurt.”
“He did, but he’s okay.”
“Can I see him?”
“Soon.”
“I made him a picture.”
Claire swallowed tears.
“He’ll love it.”
When Lily returned the phone, Claire’s voice changed.
“Elena, why did you pay Dr. Price?”
Silence.
Vincent listened.
Then his mother whispered:
“I didn’t know what he was doing.”
“Then what did you think you were paying for?”
“Protection.”
Vincent took the phone.
“From what?”
Elena began crying.
“From you.”
His face changed.
“Explain.”
“After Salvatore died, Price came to me. He showed me reports saying you were becoming unstable.”
Vincent stared.
“What reports?”
“He said trauma from the business was making you paranoid and aggressive.”
Claire frowned.
“Vincent wasn’t aggressive.”
“I know that now.”
Elena continued.
“Price said treatment would keep him balanced.”
“So you paid him secretly?”
“Yes.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
Another person deciding what was best for him without telling him.
His mother whispered:
“I thought I was helping.”
Claire asked:
“Why the offshore account?”
Elena hesitated.
“Because Price said Vincent could never know.”
Marco exchanged a glance with Vincent.
That was not enough.
“Who introduced you to Price?” Marco asked.
Elena went silent.
Then:
“Anthony Russo.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
Anthony Russo.
His consigliere.
His father’s oldest friend.
A man who had been inside the Moretti organization for thirty years.
Vincent whispered:
“Anthony?”
“Yes.”
Elena sounded terrified now.
“He said Salvatore had used Price too.”
Vincent looked at Marco.
“Find Russo.”
Marco immediately left.
Claire sat beside Vincent.
“You cannot keep treating every revelation like a reason to tear your stitches open.”
He looked at her.
“Was that concern?”
“Medical practicality.”
“Claire.”
“Don’t.”
He smiled weakly.
For the first time, their old rhythm surfaced.
And that frightened her more than anger.
Thirty minutes later, Marco returned.
Russo was gone.
His office had been cleaned out.
But one safe remained.
Inside were twenty years of Moretti family records.
And a surveillance photograph.
Claire recognized the location immediately.
Her townhouse.
Taken yesterday.
Someone had photographed Lily playing near the front window.
Vincent’s face turned deadly.
Then Marco found a handwritten note beneath the picture.
THE GIRL IS THE HEIR.
Claire whispered:
“Heir to what?”
Marco opened another file.
The Bennett trust.
Sixty million dollars had only been the visible portion.
Henry Bennett had hidden something much larger.
Control of a port company worth nearly one billion dollars.
Claire stared.
Her father had left it to Lily.
And whoever controlled that company could control one of Chicago’s most important shipping routes.
Vincent slowly looked up.
“This was never about our divorce.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
“No.”
May you like
He looked toward the photograph of their daughter.
“Someone needed the divorce to activate Lily’s inheritance.”
