Chapter 5 - THE FIANCÉE WHO WOULD NOT LEAVE QUIETLY
Vanessa Hale did not accept humiliation gracefully.
By morning, three gossip sites knew Dominic’s engagement had ended.
By lunch, one claimed he had abandoned Vanessa after discovering a “secret child with a former employee.”
By dinner, photographs of Lily existed online.
Dominic nearly broke the phone in his hand.
“Take them down.”
Marco stood across from his desk.
“We’re trying.”
“Trying?”
“They were posted from multiple anonymous accounts.”
“Find the first.”
“We have people on it.”
Dominic looked toward the windows.
Outside, snow covered the Moretti estate.
Upstairs, Lily was building a fort with Elena.
He had spent six hours learning exactly how fast a three-year-old could destroy a room.
He had also learned she hated eggs unless they were shaped like stars.
She called orange juice “sun juice.”
And she refused to wear socks that did not match.
None of that belonged online.
“Who had access to the security cameras last night?”
Marco’s expression changed.
“Why?”
“The photograph of Lily under the staircase was taken inside.”
Marco stared.
Dominic handed him the phone.
The image showed Lily sitting beneath the marble staircase before Dominic approached her.
Taken from above.
From the second-floor balcony.
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“Guests were there.”
“Which guests knew who she was before Elena came running?”
“Almost nobody.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Vanessa.”
Marco nodded slowly.
“She was standing beside you.”
“And she saw the photograph.”
“Could have connected it later.”
Dominic stood.
“Bring her.”
“She left the estate.”
“Then find her.”
Two hours later, Vanessa called him herself.
He answered.
“You leaked photographs of my daughter.”
No greeting.
Vanessa laughed softly.
“You don’t even have a DNA test.”
“She’s mine.”
“You sound irrational.”
“I’m not.”
“I spent two years beside you.”
“Yes.”
“Your mother planned our wedding.”
“I know.”
“Your board was told I would be part of the foundation.”
“That was never formal.”
“My entire life was rearranged around you.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“That sounds familiar.”
She went silent.
He continued.
“Where did you get the photo?”
“I didn’t.”
“Vanessa.”
“You always assume people are frightened enough to tell you the truth.”
His expression hardened.
“Most are.”
“Well, I’m not.”
She hung up.
Marco traced the call.
A hotel in Manhattan.
By the time security arrived, Vanessa was gone.
In her room, they found nothing criminal.
Just luggage.
A laptop wiped clean.
And one envelope addressed to Dominic.
Inside was a copy of Sophia’s fourth letter.
Dominic stared.
Impossible.
The original was locked in his safe.
Then he noticed the crease.
Photocopied years ago.
Someone else had possessed it.
At the bottom, Vanessa had written:
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHO ELSE SHE SHOWED THESE TO.
Dominic went downstairs.
Lucia had not yet left.
She was packing slowly.
Perhaps hoping he would change his mind.
He entered without knocking.
“Who saw Sophia’s letters?”
Lucia turned.
“What?”
He threw the copy onto her bed.
Her face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Vanessa.”
Lucia sat.
Dominic’s stomach tightened.
“You showed her.”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Her father.”
Dominic stared.
“Richard Hale?”
Lucia nodded.
Richard Hale owned a private security conglomerate and controlled several political relationships the Morettis had depended on for years.
The engagement had never been purely romantic.
Dominic had known that.
He had simply never understood how early the arrangement began.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Why?”
“To make sure nothing from Sophia’s past could become a problem.”
Dominic laughed once.
“A problem.”
“Vanessa’s father wanted assurance.”
“Assurance of what?”
“That there were no heirs.”
The room went still.
Dominic’s face changed.
Lucia saw it.
“No.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That Sophia was dead.”
“And the child?”
“I told him I did not know whether the baby survived.”
“Did he investigate?”
Lucia looked away.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Mother.”
“Yes.”
His hands closed.
“And?”
“He found Lily.”
Everything inside Dominic went cold.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Elena had moved frequently.
Albany.
Queens.
Brooklyn.
Then finally to a small apartment in Yonkers.
Someone had known.
Someone had watched.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because Lily complicated the Hale agreement.”
“What agreement?”
Lucia stared at him.
“The merger.”
Dominic stopped.
Hale Security and Moretti Logistics had been negotiating a massive consolidation.
Billions in legitimate assets.
Vanessa and Dominic’s marriage would cement control.
Lily, as a potential Moretti heir, threatened that structure.
“Who else knew?”
“Richard.”
“Vanessa?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic turned toward the door.
Lucia caught his arm.
“Dominic.”
He looked down at her hand.
She released him.
“Richard is dangerous.”
“So am I.”
“That is what I’m trying to tell you.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“That is what everyone has been telling themselves while making decisions for me.”
He left.
Marco was waiting.
“Call Richard Hale.”
“No answer.”
“Track him.”
“Already doing it.”
“Vanessa too.”
Marco nodded.
Then Elena ran into the hallway.
“Dominic.”
He turned.
Her face was white.
“What?”
“Lily’s room.”
He ran.
The window was open.
Snow blew across the carpet.
The bed was empty.
Dominic stopped breathing.
Elena made a sound that barely sounded human.
“She was coloring.”
“How long?”
“Five minutes.”
“Guards?”
“Gone.”
Dominic crossed to the window.
A rope had been secured to the balcony rail.
Someone had come from outside.
He looked down.
Tracks in the snow.
Two adults.
One smaller set.
Lily.
Walking.
Not carried.
A pink mitten lay near the edge of the garden.
Dominic picked it up.
His hand shook.
Marco arrived.
“Lock the gates.”
Dominic turned.
“They took her through the grounds.”
“Who?”
Dominic already knew.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Vanessa’s voice.
“You should have married me.”
Dominic’s entire face changed.
“Where is Lily?”
“She’s safe.”
“If you touched her—”
“Stop threatening me.”
Her voice cracked.
“For once, stop acting like power solves everything.”
“Where is my daughter?”
Vanessa went quiet.
Then said, “Richard wants the merger signed.”
Dominic stared into the snow.
“No.”
“He expected that.”
“What do you want?”
“I want my life back.”
“You never had the life you thought you did.”
“Then neither do you.”
Dominic’s hand tightened around Lily’s mitten.
Vanessa continued.
“Sign the merger. Transfer controlling interest in the foundation trust. Publicly deny paternity until the wedding.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“And Lily?”
“You get her back.”
“When?”
“After the wedding.”
“No.”
“Then you don’t get her.”
Dominic’s voice became terrifyingly calm.
“Vanessa.”
“What?”
“You made one mistake.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Only one?”
“You took the only person in this family I am willing to lose everything for.”
Silence.
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Start dismantling the Hale deal.”
Marco understood instantly.
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
Vanessa whispered through the phone.
“You’re bluffing.”
Dominic looked at Lily’s pink mitten.
“No.”
He hung up.
Then he turned to Marco.
“Bring me every contract tying this family to Richard Hale.”
Elena stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
May you like
“Burning the reason they think Lily has value.”
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