Chapter 6 - The Family They Stole
Federal tactical officers flooded the building.
Enzo came through a side entrance with them.
Victor’s men dropped their weapons or ran.
Victor tried the rear exit.
Enzo was waiting.
Within seconds Victor Hale—the man who had spent half his life standing beside the Vescari family—was face-down on the concrete with handcuffs around his wrists.
Damian barely saw it.
He sat against a steel pillar with Lily in his arms.
Blood darkened his shirt near the shoulder, but the wound was not immediately life-threatening.
Isabelle crawled toward them.
She stopped inches away.
Lily stared at her.
Isabelle did not reach for the child.
She seemed afraid even to breathe.
“I’m Isabelle,” she whispered.
Lily pressed her cheek against Damian’s chest.
“I know.”
Isabelle blinked.
“You do?”
Lily nodded.
“My mommy Elena has a picture of you.”
Isabelle covered her mouth.
Lily studied her.
“You’re my other mommy?”
Isabelle broke.
She began crying.
“Yes.”
Lily looked at Damian.
Then back at Isabelle.
The logic apparently required considerable thought.
Finally she asked, “Can I have two?”
Despite the pain shooting through his shoulder, Damian laughed.
Isabelle laughed too.
Then she opened her arms.
Lily hesitated.
One second.
Two.
Then she crawled into them.
Damian watched the wife he had failed hold the daughter he had never known existed.
He lowered his head.
For once, the tears came without shame.
Paramedics separated them only when Damian’s blood pressure began dropping.
At the hospital, surgeons removed the bullet from his shoulder.
He woke shortly before sunrise.
Isabelle sat beside him.
For a moment Damian thought he was dreaming.
Then she squeezed his hand.
“You’re awake.”
His voice was rough.
“I’m sorry.”
Isabelle closed her eyes.
“Damian—”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I spent years blaming Victor because he lied. But he was right about one thing.”
She looked at him.
“I believed him.”
Damian’s eyes filled.
“I had the woman I loved standing in front of me telling me the truth, and I chose a folder of papers over her.”
“You thought—”
“I should have listened.”
Silence stretched between them.
“I cannot give you those years back.”
Isabelle’s lips trembled.
“No.”
“I cannot erase what I said that night.”
“No.”
“I cannot ask you to forgive me because we survived.”
She looked down at their joined hands.
Damian continued.
“But if there is anything left that can be rebuilt, I will spend whatever life I have left rebuilding it.”
Isabelle began to cry.
Not gracefully.
Not quietly.
Three years of captivity seemed to leave her at once.
She leaned over him.
Damian held her with his uninjured arm.
Neither spoke again for a long time.
Later that morning, Elena arrived with Lily.
Elena had stitches beneath her hair and a dark bruise near her temple, but she refused to remain in another hospital room after waking.
Lily walked inside carrying Mr. Bun.
Damian smiled.
“Come here.”
She climbed carefully onto the edge of the bed.
“You got hurt.”
“A little.”
“Because of me?”
“No.”
Damian’s answer was immediate.
“Never because of you.”
She touched his white streak.
Then her own.
“Mister?”
His throat tightened.
“Yes?”
“Why did you say daddy?”
The room fell silent.
Elena looked at Isabelle.
Isabelle nodded.
Damian took Lily’s hand.
“You know how we have matching hair?”
“Yes.”
“And you said maybe that meant we were family?”
Lily nodded.
“Well… you were right.”
Her eyes widened.
“I was?”
“You usually are.”
Elena made a small laughing sound through her tears.
Damian continued.
“I’m your father.”
Lily stared at him.
“Like a real daddy?”
“Exactly like a real daddy.”
She thought about this.
“Forever?”
Damian nearly lost his voice.
“Forever.”
Lily smiled.
“So I don’t call you Mister anymore?”
“You can call me anything you want.”
She leaned forward.
“Daddy.”
One word.
Damian Vescari had survived bullets, funerals, betrayals and a childhood built around men who taught him never to reveal weakness.
One word defeated him.
He pulled Lily against him.
She tucked Mr. Bun under his chin.
“Don’t cry, Daddy.”
“I’m trying.”
“You’re not very good at it.”
Isabelle laughed.
May you like
So did Elena.
And Damian decided it was the best sound he had ever heard.
