Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO REMEMBERED HE WAS A FATHER THREE YEARS TOO LATE
Ryan was Lily’s biological father.
That was the only thing he could claim honestly.
He had never held her.
Never paid support.
Never visited.
Never even signed her birth certificate.
Yet there he stood in my sister’s wedding barn saying:
“My daughter.”
I nearly laughed.
“Leave.”
His jaw tightened.
“I have a right to talk to you.”
“No.”
“You didn’t tell me you were bringing her here.”
“I haven’t told you anything in three years.”
“Exactly.”
Dominic took one step closer.
Ryan looked at him.
“You should stay out of this.”
Dominic’s expression almost became amused.
“That seems unlikely.”
I touched his arm.
“Let me.”
He stopped.
That mattered.
Ryan noticed.
I faced him.
“Why now?”
He looked toward Lily.
She was holding Emma’s hand near the far table.
Confused.
Watching.
“Because I heard you were bringing her home.”
“How?”
Silence.
“Ryan.”
“Someone called.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“Who?”
“This isn’t about you.”
Dominic smiled without warmth.
“You arrived twelve hours after I entered Pennsylvania with a woman who hasn’t spoken to you in three years.”
He stepped closer.
“I promise you, it is at least partly about me.”
Ryan swallowed.
“A man called yesterday.”
“What man?”
“Didn’t give a name.”
“What did he say?”
“That Sophia was bringing Lily home with Dominic Moretti.”
My blood went cold.
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
“What number?”
“Blocked.”
“Did he offer you anything?”
Ryan hesitated.
That was answer enough.
I stared.
“What did he offer?”
“Nothing.”
“Ryan.”
“Legal help.”
I laughed.
Of course.
“For custody?”
His face tightened.
“He said I could establish rights.”
“Why would a stranger care?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic did.
I saw it.
Someone wanted a public fight involving me and Lily.
Someone wanted Dominic emotionally exposed.
He pulled out his phone.
“Marco.”
A voice answered.
“I need everything on Ryan Keller. Incoming calls in the last forty-eight hours if legally obtainable. Find the black SUV from the farm road.”
Ryan turned angry.
“You can’t investigate me.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Watch me.”
“Dominic.”
I said his name quietly.
He stopped.
Again.
I was beginning to understand how unusual that was.
I looked at Ryan.
“You will not speak to Lily tonight.”
“I’m her father.”
“No. You contributed DNA.”
Dad coughed to hide something that sounded suspiciously like approval.
Ryan’s face reddened.
“You can’t keep her from me forever.”
“I can until a court says otherwise.”
“Then maybe I’ll go to court.”
My stomach twisted.
Dominic stepped beside me.
Not in front.
Beside.
“Then you go through the proper process.”
Ryan stared.
“You think money makes you her father?”
Dominic’s face changed.
The question landed harder than Ryan could have known.
Dominic said quietly:
“No.”
Then looked toward Lily.
“Showing up might have helped, though.”
Ryan left.
But the damage stayed.
That night Lily asked the question I dreaded.
“Was that my daddy?”
I sat beside her in my childhood bedroom.
Dominic remained near the door.
I had offered him the guest room across the hall.
He had not left because Lily asked him to stay while I explained.
“Yes.”
She frowned.
“Why didn’t I know him?”
My throat tightened.
“Because he wasn’t ready to be a father.”
“Is he ready now?”
“I don’t know.”
She hugged her rabbit.
“Do I have to like him?”
“No.”
“Do I have to hug him?”
“Never.”
Dominic’s eyes moved to me.
Lily thought.
“Can I still like Dominic?”
Dominic froze.
I almost cried.
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“Good.”
Then she climbed into bed.
Five minutes later, she was asleep.
Dominic and I stepped into the hallway.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at him.
“For what?”
“This.”
“You didn’t create Ryan.”
“No.”
“But someone used me to bring him here.”
“Yes.”
His voice was cold again.
“I’m finding out who.”
“Do you know?”
“Possibly.”
“Tell me.”
Dominic hesitated.
That was enough.
“Tell me.”
“My uncle Vittorio.”
I stared.
“Why would your uncle know who Ryan is?”
“He wouldn’t naturally.”
“What does that mean?”
Dominic looked toward the dark staircase.
“The Moretti family owns businesses.”
“I know.”
“Some are clean.”
I stared.
“And the others?”
He did not answer.
I already knew.
Everyone in New York knew.
Nobody said it aloud.
Dominic continued.
“For two years, Vittorio has pushed a consolidation between our companies and Vale Holdings.”
“Vanessa Vale.”
I knew the name.
Society pages.
Old-money blonde.
Photographed beside Dominic at charity galas.
“You’re supposed to marry her.”
“No.”
“But he wants you to.”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened for reasons I refused to examine.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Public perception.”
I almost laughed.
“I’m a housekeeper.”
“You’re also the first woman I’ve brought anywhere personally in years.”
“This is fake.”
“I know.”
“Does he?”
“Not anymore.”
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic looked at me.
“I don’t think I’m pretending as much as I should be.”
The hallway became very still.
I forgot how to breathe.
“Dominic.”
“I know.”
“This weekend has been twenty-four hours.”
“I have known you four years.”
“As an employee.”
“Yes.”
“You barely spoke to me.”
“I noticed you.”
That sentence frightened me more than any threat.
“How?”
“The way Lily ran to you every afternoon.”
My eyes widened.
“You watched us?”
“Sometimes.”
“The way you saved the broken cookies from the kitchen because Lily didn’t care how they looked.”
I said nothing.
“The way you took extra shifts after your mother got sick but never asked for an advance.”
“How did you know?”
“I sign payroll.”
“You own forty companies.”
“I read things.”
“Apparently.”
His expression softened.
“Four years is a long time to notice someone quietly.”
My heart was beating too fast.
“This is dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“I meant emotionally.”
“So did I.”
I looked away.
Then his phone vibrated.
He checked the message.
Whatever he saw changed his face instantly.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward me.
A photograph.
The Carter farmhouse.
Taken from the road less than an hour earlier.
Lily visible through the living-room window.
Underneath, one sentence:
COME BACK TO NEW YORK ALONE OR THE NEXT PHOTOGRAPH WILL BE CLOSER.
My blood turned cold.
Dominic’s face became terrifying.
Not loud.
Not wild.
Focused.
“Who sent that?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Then another message arrived.
A name.
VITTORIO.
Dominic closed his eyes.
I whispered:
“Your own family.”
“Yes.”
“What does he want?”
“Control.”
“Over what?”
Dominic looked toward Lily’s sleeping room.
“Me.”
He reached for his coat.
I grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going?”
“New York.”
“No.”
His face hardened.
“Sophia.”
“You leave now, they learn threatening us works.”
“I will not gamble with Lily.”
“Neither will I.”
I stepped closer.
“But you do not get to make decisions for us because you’re frightened.”
His eyes flashed.
“I am frightened.”
The honesty stopped me.
Dominic Moretti.
Feared by everyone.
Standing in my parents’ hallway admitting fear.
“I have spent my life making sure nobody could use another person to control me.”
His voice broke slightly.
“Now they can.”
I looked at him.
“Then maybe the problem isn’t loving someone.”
His eyes met mine.
“Maybe the problem is the people who taught you love should be punished.”
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then Mom’s voice came from behind us.
“She’s right.”
We turned.
She stood at the end of the hallway holding the railing.
Pale.
Fragile.
Furious.
“Mom, you should be in bed.”
“So should half this family.”
She looked at Dominic.
“Come here.”
He actually obeyed.
Mom took his hand.
“If you leave because you think disappearing keeps Sophia safe, you’re an idiot.”
Dominic blinked.
I nearly laughed.
Mom continued.
“I married a farmer. I’ve been worrying about losing him to tractors for thirty-seven years.”
Dad’s voice came from downstairs.
“I heard that!”
“Good!”
She looked back at Dominic.
“Love makes you afraid.”
Her fingers tightened around his.
“That doesn’t mean fear gets to choose.”
Dominic stared at her.
Then slowly removed his coat.
He called Marco.
“Change of plan.”
May you like
And for the first time, instead of running back to his empire, Dominic Moretti decided to bring the fight into the light.
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