Chapter 10 - The Video and The Discovery of Daniel
The address on the note corresponded to a warehouse by the Hudson River.
Dominic refused to remain behind.
At 4:12 a.m., we approached the warehouse without headlights.
Inside, we found no Vincent.
Only a projector.
It switched on automatically.
Vincent appeared on a wall.
“Dominic,” he said. “Maria. Helena.”
He smiled.
“If you’re watching, you followed exactly as expected.”
Dominic scanned the building.
“This is prerecorded.”
Vincent continued.
“You have spent the entire night protecting the wrong child.”
My stomach dropped.
I grabbed Dominic.
“Lily.”
But Helena had left Lily at the mansion under heavy guard.
Dominic called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then his security captain finally answered.
“Sir?”
“Where is Lily?”
“She’s asleep.”
“Show me.”
A video call connected.
The captain entered the room.
The bed was empty.
The window was locked.
No broken glass.
No disturbed guards.
Only Lily’s yellow star bracelet remained beneath the pillow.
Someone inside the house had taken her.
Again.
Vincent’s recording continued.
“Family is such a dangerous weakness.”
I stared at the projection.
“Where is she?”
Vincent obviously could not hear me.
But his prerecorded smile seemed to answer anyway.
“She isn’t the child I’m after.”
Dominic and I looked at each other.
Then Vincent said:
“Ask Helena who Lily’s father really is.”
I turned toward my mother.
Helena looked as though Vincent had struck her without touching her.
“No.”
Dominic stepped between us.
“What does he mean?”
“It’s another manipulation.”
“Then answer.”
Helena’s silence told me there was an answer.
I had never told Dominic much about Lily’s father.
No one at the mansion knew more than the simple version.
His name was Daniel Reed.
We had dated briefly.
He disappeared before Lily was born.
No phone calls.
No child support.
No contact.
I had believed he was simply a coward.
“Daniel,” Helena whispered.
My mouth went dry.
“You knew him?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He wasn’t Daniel Reed.”
Dominic cursed softly.
“What was his name?”
Helena looked at me.
“Adrian Russo.”
The surname hit first.
Russo.
Vincent.
“No.”
“He was Vincent’s younger brother.”
I shook my head.
“No. Daniel was from Boston.”
“That was a cover.”
“He worked in logistics.”
“For Vincent.”
I wanted to deny every word.
But memories began rearranging themselves.
Daniel asking harmless questions about where I worked.
Daniel knowing unusual details about security systems.
Daniel disappearing shortly after I became pregnant.
“Did he know who I was?”
“At first, no.”
“At first?”
Helena nodded miserably.
“When Vincent discovered rumors about Salvatore’s hidden daughter years ago, he sent Adrian to locate possible candidates.”
“So Lily’s father dated me because of Vincent?”
“At first.”
My eyes burned.
“At first.”
“He fell in love with you.”
“Do not tell me that.”
“It’s true.”
“If he loved me, why did he disappear?”
Helena closed her eyes.
“Because Vincent ordered him to.”
I stepped closer.
“And you know this because?”
“Because Adrian came to me.”
The warehouse disappeared around me.
“He knew you were alive?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone knew except me.”
“No.”
But it felt that way.
Helena continued.
“Adrian discovered you were pregnant. He realized Vincent might use the baby as leverage. He wanted to take you away.”
“Then where is he?”
She could not answer immediately.
“Vincent found out.”
My throat tightened.
“Is he dead?”
“No.”
The word came quickly.
“He survived.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Dominic looked toward the projected screen.
“If Lily is Vincent’s niece, why threaten her?”
Helena answered immediately.
“Because Adrian is the one person Vincent never fully controlled.”
Then a sound came from the upper level of the warehouse.
Metal scraped concrete.
Dominic’s guards moved.
“Stay here.”
He climbed the stairs.
Thirty seconds later he called my name.
I ran up.
A man sat tied to a chair.
Thin.
Bearded.
Bruised.
But alive.
I stopped in the doorway.
Even after four years, I knew those eyes.
“Daniel?”
His head lifted.
“Maria?”
My legs nearly failed.
He struggled against the ropes.
“Oh God.”
I could not move.
He looked older.
Exhausted.
But it was him.
The father Lily had never met.
Dominic’s men freed him.
I stood five feet away.
“You abandoned us.”
“No.”
“Four years.”
“I tried.”
“Do not say you tried.”
“Vincent kept me hidden.”
Adrian—Daniel—looked toward Helena.
“She knows.”
Helena nodded.
“He was moved between facilities.”
I felt sick.
“You knew he was alive.”
“I knew until eighteen months ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
“To protect you.”
May you like
I laughed through tears.
“That sentence has destroyed half my life.”
