Chapter 4 - The Man Who Had Been Waiting
By sunset, the Moretti mansion had become a fortress.
The gates were locked.
Additional guards patrolled the grounds.
Mia thought it was exciting.
Elena thought she might throw up.
Lorenzo refused to let either of them out of his sight.
When Mia asked why so many “serious men” were standing around, Lorenzo told her they were helping with the house.
Mia accepted this immediately.
“Mommy helps with the house too.”
“She does,” Lorenzo said.
“Are you Mommy’s boss?”
Lorenzo glanced at Elena.
“Technically.”
Mia frowned.
“Then you gotta say please.”
For the first time all day, Marco laughed.
Lorenzo looked at him.
Marco stopped.
Mia put both hands on her hips.
“You do.”
Lorenzo’s mouth twitched.
“I’ll remember that.”
Elena almost smiled.
Almost.
Then a guard entered with a sealed envelope.
“The lab technician is here.”
Elena stiffened.
Lorenzo had arranged a private DNA test through a physician he trusted.
He had also given Elena a choice.
Nothing would happen without her permission.
She appreciated that more than she wanted to admit.
Now she looked at Mia coloring at the breakfast table.
“Will it hurt?”
“Cheek swab,” Lorenzo said. “Nothing else.”
Elena nodded.
“Do it.”
The samples were collected in less than five minutes.
Mia complained only because the swab tickled.
Then came the waiting.
Six hours.
Six unbearable hours during which Lorenzo discovered that his possible daughter hated peas, loved strawberries, could not pronounce “spaghetti,” and believed his mansion desperately needed more crayons.
At one point, Elena found him sitting on the floor beside Mia.
The sight stopped her in the doorway.
Lorenzo Moretti, whose suits probably cost more than Elena’s monthly rent, was cross-legged on a rug holding a purple crayon.
Mia had ordered him to draw a horse.
His horse looked like a dog with unusually long legs.
“That’s bad,” Mia informed him.
“I’m aware.”
“You need practice.”
“I’ve been told.”
Elena laughed before she could stop herself.
Lorenzo looked up.
Their eyes met.
Something old and unfinished passed between them.
Then Mia announced, “Mommy draws better.”
“I’m beginning to suspect your mother does many things better than I do.”
Elena leaned against the doorframe.
“Don’t let your employees hear you admit that.”
“Most of them already know.”
The lightness disappeared when Marco entered.
“The results.”
Lorenzo stood.
Elena’s heart began pounding.
They went into the study.
Mia remained with Mrs. Caruso.
The envelope sat on Lorenzo’s desk.
Neither of them touched it.
“You open it,” Elena whispered.
He looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
That almost made him smile.
Elena folded her arms.
“But do it anyway.”
Lorenzo opened the envelope.
He read one line.
Then stopped breathing.
Elena did not need to ask.
She knew.
Still, she did.
“Well?”
Lorenzo lifted his eyes.
“99.99 percent.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Mia was his daughter.
Not possibly.
Not probably.
His.
Elena sat down.
Lorenzo remained standing.
For several seconds, he simply stared at the paper.
Then he turned away.
Elena realized his eyes were wet.
He did not want her to see.
She let him have the dignity of pretending she hadn’t.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He turned.
“For what?”
“For not trying harder to find you.”
“You sent a letter.”
“One letter.”
“You had a newborn and a husband who loved you.”
“Daniel wasn’t my husband yet.”
That surprised him.
“When did you marry?”
“When Mia was eight months old.”
Lorenzo absorbed that.
“Did you love him?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt him.
She could see it.
But he nodded.
“Good.”
Elena frowned.
“Good?”
“Mia deserved to grow up around love.”
Whatever defense Elena had prepared disappeared.
Lorenzo sat across from her.
“Tell me about her.”
So Elena did.
She told him Mia had walked at eleven months.
That her first word had been “light.”
That she had once covered their apartment wall in peanut butter because she thought it was paint.
That she slept holding a stuffed rabbit named Mr. Pickles.
That Daniel used to dance with her in the kitchen.
Lorenzo listened to every word.
He did not interrupt.
When Elena finished, he looked at the photograph on his desk of his own father.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Be her father.”
“You don’t have to know yet.”
He looked at her.
“You’re not going to keep her from me?”
Elena hesitated.
“I’m going to protect her.”
“So am I.”
“That means protecting her from your world too.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Elena, I cannot become a different man overnight.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“What are you asking?”
“To decide what matters more.”
He understood.
His empire.
Or his daughter.
Before he could answer, Marco entered.
“We found the bank.”
The safety-deposit key belonged to a branch in Queens.
Lorenzo wanted Elena to remain at the mansion.
She refused.
“Daniel left it. I’m going.”
Two armored SUVs carried them into the city.
At the bank, the manager led them to a private room.
Inside Daniel’s box were three things.
A flash drive.
A sealed letter addressed to Elena.
And a photograph.
Elena picked up the picture.
Adrian Moretti stood beside Daniel outside a coffee shop.
On the back, Daniel had written a date.
Two weeks before Adrian died.
Elena opened the letter.
Elena,
If you are reading this, something happened to me.
Her hands shook.
Lorenzo stood beside her without touching her.
She continued.
I need you to know I never regretted choosing you or Mia. Not once.
Tears blurred the page.
I knew from the beginning that she might be Lorenzo Moretti’s biological daughter. I also knew you tried to tell him.
Elena covered her mouth.
Adrian found your letter before he died. Victor intercepted it.
Lorenzo’s face hardened.
Adrian believed Victor was manipulating Lorenzo because he wanted control of the family holdings. A biological child would destroy that plan.
Elena forced herself onward.
I kept quiet because Adrian asked me to. We were gathering proof.
Then came the line that shattered her.
My car has been followed twice this week.
Elena stopped reading.
“No.”
Lorenzo gently took the letter when her hands failed.
He continued silently.
His face became colder with every line.
Finally, he handed it to Marco.
“What’s on the drive?”
They connected it to an isolated laptop.
Financial records appeared.
Payments.
Shell companies.
Names.
Dates.
One payment stood out.
$75,000.
Sent three days before Daniel’s fatal crash.
Recipient: a transportation subcontractor.
Marco whispered, “Jesus.”
Elena stared.
“No.”
Lorenzo closed the laptop.
“We don’t know yet.”
“Yes, we do.”
“Elena—”
“He killed Daniel.”
“We know there was a payment. We don’t know what it purchased.”
She stood abruptly.
“He killed my husband because Daniel was protecting your daughter.”
The words hit them both.
Lorenzo did not defend himself.
Elena’s grief turned to rage.
“This is your world.”
“I know.”
“This is what I was afraid of.”
“I know.”
“And now Mia is in it.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that!”
Her voice cracked.
Lorenzo stood motionless.
Elena shoved the letter against his chest.
“Daniel died because of your family.”
Lorenzo accepted the blow.
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
No excuses.
No denial.
That somehow made it worse.
They returned to the mansion after dark.
Elena went directly to Mia’s room.
She found her daughter asleep beneath a pink blanket, Mr. Pickles tucked under her chin.
Lorenzo stood in the doorway.
He did not enter.
Elena sat beside Mia and brushed curls from her forehead.
“She loved Daniel,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“She still asks when Daddy is coming back from heaven.”
Lorenzo’s voice was quiet.
“I will never take that from her.”
Elena looked at him.
“What?”
“Daniel was her father.”
“You’re her father too.”
“Biologically.”
“No.”
Elena surprised herself.
She stood.
“You don’t get to hide behind that either.”
Lorenzo stared.
“If you want to be in her life, then be in it. Don’t compete with a dead man. Don’t erase him. But don’t stand in a doorway pretending blood is the only thing connecting you to her.”
Something broke open in Lorenzo’s expression.
He looked at Mia.
“I’m terrified.”
Elena had never expected to hear those words from him.
“Good,” she whispered.
He frowned.
“Parents are terrified all the time.”
A tiny voice came from the bed.
“Daddy?”
Both adults froze.
Mia opened sleepy eyes.
She looked past Elena toward Lorenzo.
“Come here.”
Lorenzo slowly approached.
Mia lifted the blanket.
“Monster under bed.”
Lorenzo looked at Elena.
She shrugged.
“You’re the feared one. Handle it.”
He actually smiled.
Then Lorenzo Moretti got on his knees and looked under the bed.
“No monster.”
“You sure?”
“Very.”
“How?”
“Monsters are afraid of me.”
Mia considered this.
“Okay.”
She reached for his hand.
Within minutes, she fell asleep holding his finger.
Lorenzo remained beside the bed.
Elena watched him.
For one fragile moment, the world felt almost safe.
Then Lorenzo’s phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Taken through the mansion gates.
Mia at the garden window.
Underneath were five words.
Pretty little heir you have.
Lorenzo’s face changed.
The father disappeared.
The crime lord returned.
May you like
And beneath the photograph was a message from Victor Moretti.
Bring me Daniel’s evidence by midnight. Or the next picture won’t be taken from outside.
