Chapter 3 - THE MAN EVELYN MARRIED TO STAY SAFE
Nathan Carter finally let me inside because Sofia asked why “the angry man” was still standing outside.
I deserved that title.
The twins sat on the rug building a train track.
I remained near the doorway.
Not because anyone ordered me to.
Because I suddenly had no idea how close a father who had missed two and a half years was allowed to stand.
Leo held up a wooden bridge.
“This part keeps falling.”
I crouched.
“May I?”
He considered me carefully.
Then handed it over.
My hands shook more fixing that stupid bridge than they ever had holding a gun.
Sofia watched.
“You know trains?”
“A little.”
“Mama says Chicago has trains.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“She’s right.”
Nathan entered carrying coffee.
He handed one to Evelyn.
Not me.
Fair.
“You called her my wife,” I said.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Adrian.”
Nathan remained calm.
“I did.”
“And she is?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
Then Nathan added:
“Legally.”
I looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn stood.
“It means you don’t get a romantic explanation simply because you arrived.”
Nathan surprised her.
“He should know this part.”
She stared at him.
He continued.
“Evelyn and I married after someone tried to take Sofia from daycare.”
Every muscle in my body locked.
“When?”
“Fourteen months ago.”
“Who?”
“We never identified him.”
“Describe him.”
Nathan’s expression sharpened.
“No. This is exactly why Evelyn kept Chicago away.”
I stood.
“Someone tried to take my daughter.”
“And your first instinct is already sounding like a threat.”
He wasn’t wrong.
That infuriated me because he wasn’t wrong.
Evelyn spoke quietly.
“The man knew their names. He knew my old married name. He told the teacher their grandmother had sent him.”
“My mother?”
“I didn’t know.”
Nathan explained that afterward he helped Evelyn obtain new security arrangements and legal protections. Their relationship had been close for years. They married partly because they cared for each other and partly because it created a stable household during an ugly custody scare involving no formally acknowledged father.
“You loved her,” I said.
Nathan looked at Evelyn.
“Yes.”
Past tense?
I noticed.
Evelyn did too.
He continued.
“We separated three months ago.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“That,” Evelyn said, “really is none of your business.”
Nathan almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
His face changed.
“What?”
He walked toward the window.
When he returned, he showed Evelyn a security-camera image.
A man stood across the street.
Long coat.
Gray hair.
Scar near his jaw.
I knew him.
“Paolo Rizzi.”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Who?”
“One of my mother’s former captains.”
“Former?”
“He disappeared from Chicago eighteen months ago.”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“The daycare incident was fourteen months ago.”
Exactly.
Then Marcus called again.
“We found Rizzi’s financials.”
“Who paid him?”
A pause.
“I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
“When have I liked anything you’ve told me today?”
“The payments came through a holding company controlled by your cousin.”
My blood turned cold.
“Which cousin?”
“Lorenzo Moretti.”
Lorenzo.
May you like
The man currently sitting on the Moretti succession council in Chicago.
And the man who would lose almost everything if I had children.
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