Chapter 5 - The Truth Buried Before Lily Was Born
“Elena is not your daughter’s mother…”
The words came through the phone.
Quiet.
Cold.
Impossible.
I stared at Dominic.
He was holding the phone against his ear, but he wasn’t listening anymore.
He was looking at me.
Like he was seeing a completely different person.
“What did you say?” Dominic finally spoke.
The voice on the other end laughed softly.
A sound that made my skin crawl.
“You heard me.”
Dominic’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Who are you?”
“You know exactly who I am.”
The call ended.
Just like that.
No explanation.
No warning.
Only silence.
I stood frozen in Lily’s bedroom.
The paper was still in my hand.
ASK ADRIAN MORETTI.
Those words burned into my mind.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted answers.
But most of all…
I wanted my daughter.
“Dominic.”
My voice sounded different.
Broken.
“What did that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
That was the worst part.
Because Dominic Moretti always had an answer.
Always.
He could intimidate people without raising his voice.
He could control a room with one look.
But now…
He looked lost.
“Tell me the truth.”
His eyes moved toward Lily’s empty bed.
“I don’t know the truth.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You know something.”
He stayed silent.
“You knew about my daughter before you met me.”
Silence.
“You knew my mother.”
Silence.
“You were there when Lily was born.”
His jaw tightened.
“And now someone is telling me I’m not her mother?”
I felt my voice breaking.
“Do you understand what that sounds like?”
Dominic looked at me.
And for a moment, the powerful man disappeared.
There was only someone who looked like he had been carrying a secret for years.
“I know.”
“Then tell me.”
He looked away.
“I can’t.”
The answer hurt more than anything else.
“You can’t?”
His eyes returned to mine.
“Not yet.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Not yet?”
I wiped away the tears that had started forming.
“My daughter is missing.”
His expression changed.
“She is not missing.”
“What?”
He pointed toward the open window.
“The person who took her wanted us to know they took her.”
My blood went cold.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Lily is alive.”
I hated that those words comforted me.
Because they shouldn’t have.
A stranger had taken my child.
A person had entered a guarded mansion.
A person who knew secrets about my past.
And Dominic was telling me to trust that Lily was safe.
I wanted to believe him.
But I didn’t know if I could anymore.
The search started immediately.
Every road leaving the property was blocked.
Every camera was checked.
Every employee was questioned.
But there was nothing.
No forced entry.
No vehicle.
No footprints.
Nothing.
It was like Lily had disappeared into the air.
I sat in Dominic’s office while his team searched.
I couldn’t sit still.
I couldn’t breathe normally.
My hands kept shaking.
The only thing keeping me together was the small stuffed rabbit Lily had left behind.
I held it against my chest.
A memory suddenly came back.
The first time Lily saw Dominic.
She was two years old.
I had brought her to the mansion because my neighbor canceled at the last minute.
I was terrified I would lose my job.
But Dominic had walked into the kitchen.
He looked at Lily.
And Lily had looked at him.
Then she had reached up.
Not scared.
Not hesitant.
Just trusting.
She had touched his hand and said:
“Your eyes look sad.”
I remembered laughing.
Dominic didn’t.
He had just stared at her.
Like nobody had ever spoken to him that way before.
Maybe Lily had seen something in him that everyone else missed.
Maybe she knew he wasn’t just the monster people described.
A knock interrupted my thoughts.
A security officer entered.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Dominic looked up.
“Report.”
The officer hesitated.
“We found Adrian’s vehicle.”
My body went cold.
“Where?”
The officer looked at me.
Then at Dominic.
“Three miles from here.”
Dominic stood.
“Is Lily inside?”
“No.”
The answer crushed me.
“But there was something else.”
The officer placed a small evidence bag on the desk.
Inside was a bracelet.
A tiny pink bracelet.
Lily’s bracelet.
I grabbed the edge of the desk.
“No.”
My voice barely came out.
“She never takes that off.”
Dominic picked up the bag.
His face became darker.
“Where was it found?”
“In the back seat.”
“Anything else?”
The officer nodded.
“Yes.”
He reached into his folder.
And pulled out an old photograph.
Dominic took it.
Then froze.
I saw his reaction.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
I walked closer.
“Dominic.”
Slowly, he turned the photograph around.
And I forgot how to breathe.
It was my mother.
Young.
Smiling.
Holding a baby.
A baby wrapped in the same blanket Lily had when she was born.
I looked at Dominic.
“What is this?”
His voice was barely audible.
“That blanket…”
“What?”
“It belonged to my family.”
The room spun.
“No.”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“That’s impossible.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
Then at me.
“My father gave that blanket to Adrian.”
I stared at him.
“Why would Adrian have a blanket for my baby?”
He didn’t answer.
Because we both knew.
There was only one reason.
An hour later, Dominic took me to a private archive beneath the mansion.
I didn’t know such a place existed.
A room filled with old documents.
Photographs.
Records.
Secrets.
The kind of secrets powerful families buried.
Dominic unlocked a cabinet.
Inside were files with names.
Dates.
Events.
He pulled out one folder.
My name was written on it.
Elena Marlow.
I stopped.
“How long have you had this?”
He looked down.
“Since before you worked here.”
My chest tightened.
“You investigated me.”
“No.”
“Then what was it?”
He didn’t answer.
I opened the folder.
The first page was a hospital record.
My hands started shaking.
Because the date was familiar.
The day Lily was born.
I read the first line.
Then the second.
Then the third.
And everything inside me broke.
Because there was another name on the document.
A name I had never seen.
Adrian Moretti.
“What is this?”
Dominic stayed quiet.
“What is this?”
My voice became louder.
“Why is his name on my daughter’s birth records?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Because Adrian was there that night.”
“Why?”
A long pause.
Then:
“Because he was the reason Lily survived.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Before he could answer, the lights in the archive suddenly turned off.
Darkness swallowed the room.
I heard Dominic move.
Then a sound.
A phone notification.
Not mine.
Not his.
A new message appeared on the emergency screen.
One line.
A location.
Dominic grabbed the device.
His face changed.
“What?”
He didn’t respond.
“Dominic, what is it?”
He looked at me.
And for the first time, I saw panic.
Real panic.
Because the message was not from Adrian.
It was from Lily.
Three words.
“Mommy, come alone.”
May you like
And beneath the message was an address I recognized.
The old hospital where Lily was born.
