Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Ivory Dress
Leo moved first.
He pulled Chloe behind him.
The door opened.
An elderly man entered carrying a cane.
Bradley's father.
Richard Hayes.
He looked at the photograph.
Then at Chloe.
“So,” he said. “Antonio finally told you.”
“He's dead,” Chloe replied.
Richard's face changed.
“I know.”
“Was Antonio my father?”
Richard closed the door.
“No.”
Chloe almost laughed from the force of her relief.
Then Richard added, “But he spent twenty-eight years protecting you as if he were.”
Leo's voice hardened.
“From whom?”
Richard looked at Bradley.
“Leave.”
“This is my office.”
“Leave.”
Bradley obeyed.
That frightened Chloe more than anything.
Richard sat.
“Your mother worked for the Moretti family.”
“What did she do?”
“Accounting.”
Leo frowned.
“My father never mentioned her.”
“He wouldn't.”
Richard looked at Chloe.
“Amelia discovered that Victor Salerno was stealing from three families, including yours. Millions. She documented everything.”
“Then why am I involved?”
“Because when Salerno discovered what she'd done, she was pregnant.”
“With me.”
“Yes.”
“Who was my father?”
Richard's eyes lowered.
“Daniel Bennett.”
“My father died when I was twelve.”
“Yes.”
“At least that part is true?”
Richard nodded.
Chloe folded her arms over her belly.
“What happened to my mother?”
“She disappeared.”
“She died.”
“No.”
The word struck like a slap.
Chloe stared.
Richard repeated it.
“Amelia Bennett did not die when you were nine.”
Leo stepped closer to Chloe.
She barely noticed.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. But it is true.”
Richard explained.
Antonio had discovered Amelia's evidence.
He moved Chloe and Danny away.
Created the trust.
Paid Richard Hayes to administer it anonymously.
Then Amelia vanished.
Her supposed death had been fabricated for Chloe's protection.
“Why activate the trust when I became pregnant by Leo?”
Richard looked at him.
“Antonio believed a Moretti heir would force Salerno into the open.”
Leo understood.
“My father used the trust as bait.”
“No. As an alarm.”
Richard looked at Chloe.
“If it activated, Antonio knew the old war had begun again.”
Chloe thought of Danny.
“He knew.”
Richard nodded slowly.
“Danny discovered the truth six months ago.”
“Six months?”
Before the debt.
Before Leo.
Before everything.
Chloe's stomach dropped.
“The eighty thousand.”
Richard looked away.
“Was never gambling money.”
Leo's expression became lethal.
“What did Danny buy?”
“Information.”
“From whom?”
“Salerno.”
Chloe shook her head.
“Danny would never—”
“He was trying to find your mother.”
Everything rearranged itself.
Danny's panic.
His secrecy.
His desperate insistence that Chloe stay away from the men pursuing him.
He had not been protecting himself.
He had been searching for Amelia.
Chloe's phone vibrated.
A message.
From Danny.
One line.
SHE'S ALIVE.
Then another.
DON'T TRUST RICHARD.
Chloe slowly raised her eyes.
Richard was watching her phone.
Leo saw his expression.
“What did she receive?”
Richard stood abruptly.
“I should go.”
Leo blocked him.
“No.”
The office lights went out.
Chloe heard glass break.
Leo pulled her down.
A gunshot cracked through the office.
People screamed outside.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Marco burst through the door.
“Move!”
Leo shielded Chloe with his body as Marco led them toward a private stairwell.
Richard Hayes had vanished.
Bradley stood in the corridor, terrified.
“Where's my father?”
No one answered.
They descended three floors.
Chloe struggled to breathe.
Leo stopped.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“The baby?”
“I don't know.”
Fear erased everything else.
Leo lifted her into his arms.
“I can walk.”
“I know.”
He carried her anyway.
At the emergency clinic twenty minutes later, the heartbeat was strong.
Chloe cried silently.
Leo sat beside her.
His hand hovered near her stomach.
He did not touch without permission.
Chloe took his wrist.
Placed his palm over their child.
His eyes closed.
That single gesture said what neither of them was ready to say.
Hours later, Chloe changed into an ivory maternity dress Leo's assistant had brought because her clothes were wet.
When she stepped into the private waiting room, Leo looked at her.
For several seconds he forgot the men around him.
Then Marco entered.
“We found Richard.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“He was trying to reach JFK.”
“And Danny?”
“Still missing.”
Marco placed a small flash drive on the table.
“Richard had this.”
Leo connected it to a secure laptop.
One video file appeared.
AMELIA_2026.
Chloe stopped.
The date was three days ago.
Leo opened it.
A blonde woman in her late fifties appeared.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakable.
Chloe's knees weakened.
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
“Chloe, if you're watching this, Antonio is dead and Victor knows about your baby.”
Chloe covered her mouth.
Amelia continued.
“There is one person you must find before Victor does.”
The video distorted.
Then returned.
Amelia leaned toward the camera.
“His name is Daniel Bennett.”
Chloe stared.
Danny?
But Amelia's next words made Leo stand.
May you like
“Not your brother.”
The screen went black.
