Chapter 6 - The Price of a Daughter
Ava did not cry.
That surprised everyone.
She stood in the empty nursery with the ransom photograph in her hand and became terrifyingly calm.
“Call the police.”
Adrien nodded.
“They’re already coming.”
“Call Elena.”
“Yes.”
“Find out how they got into the building.”
His security chief was already moving.
Adrien approached Ava.
“We will get her back.”
“Don’t promise me things you can’t control.”
His face tightened.
“You’re right.”
Ava looked at the photograph again.
Richard held Lily awkwardly.
The baby appeared unharmed.
The picture had been taken recently.
Her pink blanket was the same one from the nursery.
Ava pressed the photograph against her chest.
“Find her.”
“I will.”
This time she let him promise.
The address led to a warehouse in Red Hook.
Police refused to let Ava go.
Adrien agreed with them.
Ava did not.
“She is my daughter.”
“And if the ransom note is bait?”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
She turned on him.
“This is not your decision.”
Adrien flinched slightly.
Ava immediately regretted the words.
But he nodded.
“No. It isn’t.”
Elena arrived.
So did federal agents, because the kidnapping connected to the financial investigation.
They planned surveillance.
Ava listened.
Then she asked one question.
“If Richard sees police, what happens to Lily?”
No one answered.
Eventually, authorities agreed Ava could participate under strict control.
She would not enter the warehouse.
She would remain in an armored vehicle.
Adrien insisted on going too.
An agent objected.
“You are not law enforcement.”
Adrien replied, “Then arrest me later.”
Ava almost laughed.
At the warehouse, no one found Richard.
Only a phone.
It rang when Ava entered the parking lot.
She answered.
Richard’s voice came through.
“You brought Moretti.”
“You took my daughter.”
“You were instructed to come alone.”
“You didn’t say that.”
A pause.
“You always were clever.”
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
“I want to hear her.”
A few seconds later, Ava heard crying.
Her entire body reacted.
“Lily!”
The crying continued.
Then Richard returned.
“Forty-three million.”
“It isn’t liquid.”
“Make it liquid.”
“I can’t.”
“Moretti can.”
Ava looked at Adrien.
He shook his head slightly.
Not refusing.
Warning her to keep Richard talking.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because your father destroyed everything.”
Ava’s anger sharpened.
“My father died because your son drugged him.”
“Michael was going to ruin us.”
“You ruined yourselves.”
“You know nothing about building something that lasts generations.”
“I know enough not to sell my granddaughter.”
Richard’s breathing changed.
“She is not my granddaughter.”
Ava closed her eyes.
Even now.
Lily was worthless to him except as money.
“You know what?” Ava said. “I’m glad she isn’t.”
Richard went silent.
“My daughter will never belong to a family that thinks being female makes her less valuable.”
“Ava.”
“My father understood something you never did.”
“What?”
“Legacy isn’t a name on a building.”
She looked at Adrien.
“It’s what people remember when the building is gone.”
Richard hung up.
Agents traced the signal.
Queens.
They moved immediately.
The location was a private clinic closed for renovation.
Richard had connections to its former owner.
Police surrounded it.
Ava remained in the vehicle.
Adrien sat beside her.
Minutes passed.
Then twenty.
Then thirty.
Every second felt like punishment.
Finally, gunfire cracked from inside.
Ava stopped breathing.
Adrien grabbed her hand.
“No.”
“My baby.”
“Wait.”
More gunfire.
Then silence.
An agent’s radio erupted.
Ava could not understand every word.
Suspect down.
Second floor secure.
Infant located.
Ava opened the door before anyone could stop her.
She ran.
Pain tore through her postpartum body.
She ignored it.
An officer emerged carrying a pink blanket.
Ava screamed.
Lily cried.
Alive.
Ava took her daughter and collapsed onto her knees.
“I’ve got you.”
She kissed Lily’s forehead over and over.
“I’ve got you.”
Adrien stopped several feet away.
He did not intrude.
Ava looked up.
“Come here.”
He did.
She reached for his hand.
The three of them remained like that until paramedics insisted Lily needed examination.
She was unharmed.
Richard Sullivan had been arrested after attempting to escape through a service stairwell.
The gunfire came from one of Vale’s men, who had apparently been guarding the building.
No officers were seriously injured.
Richard survived.
Marcus Vale disappeared.
The kidnapping changed everything.
Federal prosecutors now had leverage.
Richard’s financial records were seized.
Daniel’s cooperation became more valuable.
The doctor who altered Michael Bennett’s medical report agreed to return to the United States.
Within three weeks, prosecutors announced charges against Richard Sullivan involving fraud, conspiracy, kidnapping, obstruction, and Michael’s death.
Daniel faced charges too.
He negotiated a plea.
Ava did not forgive him.
But she agreed to one request.
Daniel wanted to see Lily.
Under supervision.
Ava almost said no.
Then she decided the meeting was not for Daniel.
It was for herself.
To close a door.
Daniel sat behind a table in a secure interview room.
He looked smaller without the suit.
Ava held Lily.
He stared at the baby.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Ava did not answer.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
His eyes filled.
“I was cruel.”
“Yes.”
“I thought if I did everything Dad wanted, eventually I’d become the man he respected.”
“And instead?”
“I became him.”
Ava studied him.
“You became yourself.”
Daniel looked down.
That hurt more.
He deserved it.
“Can I hold her?”
“No.”
His face tightened.
Then he nodded.
“Okay.”
Ava stood.
Daniel whispered, “Tell her I’m sorry someday.”
Ava turned back.
“No.”
He looked shocked.
“She does not need to grow up carrying your guilt.”
Daniel lowered his head.
Ava left.
Outside, Adrien waited beside the car.
He did not ask what happened.
He simply opened the door for her.
Three months passed.
Ava moved out of Adrien’s penthouse.
He did not argue.
She rented an apartment using funds Elena recovered from her father’s estate.
It was not Park Avenue.
She loved it.
Two bedrooms.
Sunlight.
A small balcony.
A kitchen she chose herself.
She returned to part-time teaching at a private tutoring center while building a foundation in her father’s name to help women facing financial abuse.
Adrien visited.
Often.
Never unannounced.
He brought Lily ridiculous gifts.
A stuffed elephant larger than the child.
A custom crib Ava returned.
A set of tiny Italian leather shoes Lily would outgrow before she could walk.
“You have no idea how babies work,” Ava told him.
“I’m learning.”
Their relationship grew slowly.
Not because Adrien lacked certainty.
Because Ava demanded time.
He gave it.
At Lily’s six-month checkup, Ava received an unexpected call.
Elena.
“We have a problem.”
Ava’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Marcus Vale resurfaced.”
“Where?”
“New York.”
Adrien was sitting across from Ava holding Lily.
He saw her face.
“What happened?”
Ava put the phone on speaker.
Elena continued.
“Vale contacted federal prosecutors.”
Adrien became still.
“He wants immunity.”
“For what?” Ava asked.
Elena paused.
“For evidence against Adrien.”
Ava looked at him.
Adrien did not move.
“What evidence?”
Elena’s voice lowered.
“Vale claims Adrien ordered Michael Bennett’s death.”
The room went silent.
Ava slowly looked at the man holding her daughter.
Adrien’s face revealed nothing.
Then Ava noticed something.
His hand had tightened around the arm of the chair.
“Adrien?”
He looked at her.
“Did you know my father?”
He did not answer.
Ava stood.
“Did you know him?”
“Yes.”
Her heart dropped.
“How?”
Adrien carefully placed Lily in her bassinet.
Then he reached inside his jacket.
He removed an old photograph.
Michael Bennett stood beside a much younger Adrien Moretti.
They were shaking hands.
Ava stared.
On the back was a date.
Two weeks before her father died.
May you like
And beneath it, in Michael’s handwriting:
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, PROTECT AVA.
