Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT SOMEONE TOOK LILY
Vittorio lost the board vote Sunday afternoon.
Dominic won by two signatures.
I learned later that one of them belonged to Vanessa Vale.
The woman everyone expected him to marry.
She called him while we were still at the hospital.
I heard only his side.
“Thank you.”
Pause.
“No.”
Pause.
“I never agreed to marry you.”
Another pause.
Then Dominic almost smiled.
“You were always smarter than my uncle.”
He hung up.
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“She helped you?”
“She dislikes being used almost as much as I do.”
That settled one insecurity I had been too embarrassed to admit.
Mom stabilized.
The doctor said she could go home Monday if the antibiotics continued working.
For the first time all weekend, I could breathe.
Then Lily disappeared.
It happened at 6:14 p.m.
I had gone downstairs to get coffee.
Dominic was speaking to Dad.
Emma was with Mom.
Lily sat twenty feet away in a family waiting area watching cartoons with Mabel.
When I returned, the chair was empty.
The rabbit remained.
I knew instantly.
Not wandering.
Lily did not go anywhere without Mabel.
“Lily?”
No answer.
My coffee hit the floor.
“LILY!”
Dominic came running.
He saw the rabbit.
His face changed.
Everything afterward happened fast.
Hospital security.
Locked exits.
Camera footage.
A man in scrubs.
Mask.
Baseball cap.
Lily walking beside him.
Not struggling.
Holding his hand.
“He told her something,” I whispered.
Dominic stared at the footage.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Emma said:
“He probably said you sent him.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Dominic caught me.
“No.”
“I left her.”
“No.”
“I left her for coffee.”
“Sophia.”
“She was right there.”
He took my face in both hands.
Our no-touch rule was long gone.
“Look at me.”
I did.
“This is not your fault.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know who is at fault.”
His voice became cold.
“Vittorio.”
Marco called.
The man in scrubs left through a service exit.
Vehicle camera caught a plate.
Registered to a Moretti subsidiary Vittorio controlled.
Dominic looked murderous.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered on speaker.
His uncle’s voice.
“Now you understand.”
Dominic’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Where is she?”
“You humiliated me.”
“Where is Lily?”
“You threw away decades of planning for a housekeeper.”
I almost stopped breathing.
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“She has a name.”
Silence.
Then Vittorio laughed.
“You sound like your mother.”
Dominic went still.
“Good.”
Another silence.
Vittorio said:
“Sign the transfer. Resign control. Come back to Manhattan alone.”
“And Lily?”
“Safe.”
“Proof.”
A video arrived.
Lily sat on a sofa somewhere unfamiliar.
Crying.
Someone off camera gave her juice.
She pushed it away.
“I want Mommy.”
My heart broke.
Dominic watched once.
Then froze the screen.
Window behind her.
Brick.
Blue industrial light.
He sent it to Marco.
“Find it.”
Vittorio heard.
“You have three hours.”
The call ended.
I grabbed Dominic’s coat.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Don’t.”
“Sophia.”
“If you tell me to stay behind while my daughter is missing, I swear to God—”
He stopped.
Nodded.
“Fine.”
Dad stepped closer.
“I’m coming too.”
“No.”
This time I said it.
Dad stared.
“Mom needs you.”
His face broke.
He knew.
Emma hugged me.
“Bring her home.”
Dominic and I left.
The drive back to New York took less than two hours.
I don’t remember most of it.
I remember Dominic’s hand open on the console.
I remember putting mine into it.
I remember him saying:
“We will find her.”
Not I promise.
He had learned.
He knew some promises were arrogant.
But his voice carried something almost stronger.
Commitment without pretending he controlled the universe.
Marco identified the building.
An old Moretti textile warehouse in Yonkers.
Scheduled for demolition.
Vittorio had once used the top floor as a private meeting site.
Dominic looked at the map.
“Too obvious.”
Marco said, “Maybe he wants obvious.”
“He wants me angry.”
“Yes.”
“Then we don’t give him angry.”
I stared at Dominic.
He looked at me.
“What?”
“You are angry.”
“Very.”
“But you’re thinking.”
“Yes.”
“What changed?”
His eyes lowered.
“Lily is inside.”
That was the difference.
Anger could not be allowed to endanger her.
Police were notified anonymously through an attorney.
Dominic’s legal security team surrounded the property.
No army.
No dramatic assault.
I waited in a vehicle half a block away because that was the compromise.
It nearly killed me.
Twenty-six minutes passed.
Then gunfire.
One shot.
Then another.
I reached for the door.
A security man stopped me.
“Please.”
I hated him.
Then the radio crackled.
“Child located.”
My entire body collapsed.
“Is she hurt?”
No immediate answer.
“IS SHE HURT?”
The radio came again.
“Negative. Child unharmed.”
I started crying.
Then:
“Mr. Moretti is with her.”
I ran.
Nobody stopped me this time.
The warehouse doors stood open.
Police lights reflected across wet pavement.
Inside, Dominic knelt beside a stack of crates.
Lily was wrapped around him.
Both arms around his neck.
Her face buried against his shoulder.
“Mommy!”
She saw me.
Dominic let her go.
She ran.
I dropped to my knees.
She hit me so hard I almost fell backward.
“I thought you left.”
“No.”
I kissed every part of her face.
“No, baby. Never.”
Dominic stood several feet away.
Blood marked his white shirt near the shoulder.
I saw it.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Dominic.”
“Graze.”
“That is blood.”
“Very observant.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I hugged him.
Hard.
He froze.
Then his arms closed around me.
Lily squeezed between us.
For several seconds, all three of us stood there.
Then an older man’s voice came from behind.
“Pathetic.”
Vittorio.
Handcuffed.
Two officers beside him.
He stared at Dominic.
“All this over a woman and someone else’s child.”
Dominic released me slowly.
He walked toward his uncle.
I saw something dangerous settle into his face.
Then Lily grabbed his hand.
“Dominic.”
He stopped.
Looked down.
She whispered:
“Come home.”
Everything changed.
Dominic looked at Vittorio one final time.
Then turned away.
He chose us.
Not symbolically.
Not in a speech.
With his feet.
He left his uncle to the law and walked back toward Lily.
Later, in the ambulance, Lily sat on my lap.
Dominic had his shoulder cleaned.
She watched him.
“Does it hurt?”
“A little.”
“You need Band-Aid.”
“Apparently.”
She looked at me.
Then him.
“Are you still Mommy’s pretend boyfriend?”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Dominic looked directly at me.
“No.”
My heart stopped.
Lily frowned.
“You quit?”
He almost smiled.
“I’m applying for the real position.”
Even the paramedic laughed.
I stared at him.
“This is not the time.”
“Probably not.”
Lily looked at me.
“Say yes.”
I laughed through tears.
“You are not helping.”
Dominic leaned back.
“I can wait.”
May you like
And for the first time since this impossible weekend began, I believed him.
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