Chapter 2 - THE UNCLE WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO KNOW
Dominic did not answer Victor’s call.
He stared at the screen until it stopped.
Then it rang again.
I watched his face.
“Is he bad?”
Dominic looked down at me.
“Sometimes people are more dangerous when you’re not sure.”
I thought about that.
“Like dogs that don’t growl?”
One of his men smiled.
Dominic nodded.
“Exactly like that.”
The director wanted me taken inside.
Dominic refused.
Not harshly.
He asked me.
“Lily, would you like to go inside while I talk to the grown-ups?”
I looked at Mr. Bear.
Then at him.
“No.”
“Okay.”
The director blinked.
Apparently terrifying mafia bosses were not expected to accept six-year-old answers.
Dominic sat on the bench beside me instead.
His knees looked ridiculous beneath the tiny orphanage picnic table.
He opened Maria’s letter again.
This time he read parts aloud.
Sofia Moretti had left New York seven years earlier.
She was pregnant.
She wanted nothing to do with the family business.
Maria helped her disappear.
Dominic had never known.
“I thought Sofia died in a car accident.”
I frowned.
“She didn’t?”
“Not then.”
He looked hurt.
“Grandma Maria lied to you?”
He looked surprised at the word Grandma.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
“Maybe she thought she was helping.”
He stared at me for a long second.
“That doesn’t always make lying right.”
I shrugged.
“Grown-ups do that a lot.”
His security man actually laughed.
Dominic gave him a look.
The laughter stopped.
The director continued explaining.
Sofia lived under the name Anna Harper.
She gave birth to me six years ago.
My birth certificate listed no father.
When I was two, Sofia died after a car left the road during a snowstorm.
I was placed with foster families.
Then St. Jude’s.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Four years.”
The director lowered her eyes.
“We had no connection to the Moretti family.”
“Maria knew.”
“She died before Lily entered the system.”
That was why the letter stayed hidden.
A retired attorney found Maria’s sealed instructions only three months ago.
The orphanage had been trying to verify everything quietly.
Then Dominic happened to arrive on Adoption Day.
Coincidence.
Maybe.
Then the director removed another document.
A trust.
My name appeared.
LILY SOFIA HARPER.
Dominic frowned.
“How much?”
The director hesitated.
“I don’t think that should be discussed in front of—”
“In front of me?” I asked.
She looked embarrassed.
Dominic said:
“She can hear her own future.”
The director exhaled.
“The trust currently holds approximately sixty-two million dollars.”
I dropped Mr. Bear.
Dominic did not react to the amount.
That made me realize he really was rich.
“What’s sixty-two million?”
He picked up Mr. Bear.
“Too much money for a six-year-old.”
“Can I buy purple wheels?”
He looked at my wheelchair.
“Yes.”
“Then maybe not too much.”
His mouth twitched.
Then the director said:
“The trust activates when Lily is legally claimed by Sofia’s next surviving blood relative.”
Dominic went still.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
Then she added:
“Or Victor.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Victor’s phone call suddenly mattered more.
If Victor found me first, he could try to control the trust through guardianship.
Dominic looked at me.
Not at the money.
At me.
Then his own phone buzzed.
A text.
From Victor.
I HEARD YOU FOUND SOFIA’S GIRL.
Dominic’s eyes became cold.
May you like
Then a second message arrived.
BRING HER HOME. FAMILY SHOULD STAY WITH FAMILY.
