Chapter 4 - The Child Behind the Locked Gate
Claire stopped breathing.
“What did she say?”
Dante did not answer quickly enough.
Claire grabbed his jacket.
“Where is Lily?”
“My mother found the back door open.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“She’s searching the property.”
“You said that house was secure.”
“It is.”
“My daughter is missing.”
Salvatore stepped into the room.
“What happened?”
Claire turned on him.
“You.”
Dante grabbed her before she reached Salvatore.
“Claire.”
“He knew where we were.”
Salvatore’s face hardened.
“I would never touch Marco’s child.”
“You didn’t even know she existed this morning.”
“She is still my granddaughter.”
Claire fought Dante’s grip.
“Let me go.”
He did.
Immediately.
That somehow made her angrier.
Dante called his security team.
Every entrance locked.
Every vehicle checked.
Cameras pulled.
The property was searched room by room.
Claire demanded they drive back.
The thirty-eight-minute trip took twenty-four.
Dante’s driver ignored every speed limit Claire had ever obeyed.
When the gate opened, Rosa was waiting outside.
Her face was wet.
Claire jumped from the SUV.
“Where is she?”
“I’m sorry.”
Claire’s world tilted.
“Where?”
“We found her cardigan near the garden.”
Claire ran.
Dante followed.
At the back of the property, near the lake, Lily’s cream cardigan lay beside a stone path.
Claire picked it up.
One sleeve was muddy.
The necklace was gone.
“No.”
Dante crouched.
There were small footprints leading toward the old boathouse.
A larger set followed.
Claire ran.
The boathouse door was locked from the outside.
Dante broke the padlock with a tool from one of his guards.
“Lily!”
Claire rushed inside.
Empty.
A chair.
Rope.
A dropped marshmallow mug.
Claire screamed her daughter’s name.
Then a faint sound came from beneath the dock.
“Mommy?”
Claire froze.
“Lily?”
“Mommy!”
Claire ran outside.
Beneath the wooden dock was a narrow maintenance platform.
Lily crouched there, wet and shivering.
Claire dropped to her knees.
“Oh, baby.”
Dante climbed down first.
He lifted Lily carefully.
Claire pulled her into her arms.
Lily sobbed.
“He took my necklace.”
“Who?”
“The man.”
“What man?”
“The guard.”
Dante’s face darkened.
“Which guard?”
“The one with the scar.”
Dante looked toward his security chief.
“Evan.”
The man paled.
Evan Mercer had worked for the Moretti family for nine years.
He had vanished.
Lily clung to Claire.
“He said Grandma told him to take me to see ducks.”
Rosa gasped.
“I never—”
“I know,” Claire said.
Lily continued.
“He grabbed my necklace. I kicked him.”
Despite everything, Dante almost smiled.
“That’s my niece.”
Claire shot him a look.
He stopped.
Lily said, “Then he got mad. I ran under the dock.”
“You hid?”
She nodded.
“He couldn’t fit.”
Claire kissed her forehead.
“You were so brave.”
Dante looked at the mud.
“He didn’t take her because he only wanted the necklace.”
Claire stiffened.
“What?”
“If he intended to abduct her, he wouldn’t have left after taking it.”
“Unless she escaped.”
Dante nodded.
“Either way, whoever sent him has the pendant.”
“The chip isn’t in it.”
Dante’s eyes sharpened.
“We have that.”
Claire looked toward the house.
“Then why risk coming here?”
Salvatore answered.
“Because they didn’t know Dante had already opened it.”
Claire looked at him.
“Meaning?”
“They still believe the evidence is inside.”
Dante’s phone rang.
He answered.
One of his men had found Evan’s vehicle abandoned two miles away.
Inside was blood.
No Evan.
No necklace.
Claire carried Lily inside.
She would not put her down.
Rosa made tea.
Claire wrapped Lily in blankets and sat beside the fireplace.
Dante remained across the room.
He had become quieter.
Claire finally said, “You promised she’d be safe.”
“I know.”
“You failed.”
“Yes.”
Again.
No excuse.
Claire hated that too.
Dante looked at Lily.
“I’ll fix it.”
Claire’s voice sharpened.
“Don’t promise things you can’t control.”
He nodded.
“You’re right.”
Lily, exhausted, fell asleep against Claire.
Rosa carried her upstairs only after Claire agreed to follow.
Dante returned to Marco’s files.
At midnight, Claire found him alone in the study.
“You should sleep,” he said.
“So should you.”
“I don’t.”
“That sounds healthy.”
Dante almost smiled.
Claire sat opposite him.
“Tell me about Marco.”
Dante looked surprised.
“You knew him.”
“I knew who he was with me.”
She looked at the photographs.
“I don’t know who he was before.”
Dante leaned back.
“He hated suits.”
Claire smiled.
“He owned three.”
“Mother bought two.”
That made Claire laugh softly.
It hurt.
Dante continued.
“When we were kids, Marco used to rescue pigeons.”
Claire stared.
“Pigeons?”
“Broken wings. Injured legs. He kept them in boxes in our garage.”
“That sounds like him.”
“He named every one.”
Claire smiled.
Dante’s voice lowered.
“Our father hated it.”
“Why?”
“Said kindness made boys weak.”
Claire looked toward the doorway where Salvatore had stood earlier.
“Did Marco believe that?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
Dante’s silence answered.
Claire studied him.
“And now?”
“I think my father confused fear with respect for most of his life.”
“That didn’t answer me.”
Dante met her eyes.
“No. I don’t believe kindness is weakness.”
Claire nodded.
A long silence followed.
Then Dante said, “Marco talked about you constantly.”
Claire looked away.
“He said you wanted a normal life.”
“I did.”
“He wanted it too.”
“He didn’t get it.”
“No.”
“Neither did Lily.”
Dante lowered his gaze.
“I can’t give her Marco.”
“No.”
“But I can give her family.”
Claire looked at him.
“I haven’t decided whether your family is a gift.”
He accepted that.
Fair.
Claire pointed toward the computer.
“What have you found?”
“A transfer.”
“From who?”
“Victor Baldi.”
Dante opened a ledger.
Two days before Marco died, Victor transferred three million dollars into an offshore company.
The beneficiary name was hidden.
But the approval code came from Salvatore’s office.
Claire stared.
“So your father paid for Marco’s murder.”
“That’s what it looks like.”
“Do you believe it?”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“I don’t know.”
A knock came.
Salvatore entered.
Dante turned the screen toward him.
“Explain.”
Salvatore looked at the ledger.
His face changed.
“I didn’t authorize that.”
“Your code.”
“Copied.”
“By who?”
“Victor.”
Dante laughed without humor.
“Convenient.”
Salvatore walked toward the desk.
“Your brother discovered Victor was stealing from us.”
Dante frowned.
“You said Marco was collecting evidence against you.”
“He was.”
Claire stared.
Salvatore continued.
“He believed I had ordered things Victor was doing in my name.”
Dante leaned forward.
“What things?”
“Extortion. Violence. Payments to officials.”
“And you didn’t?”
“Some.”
Claire recoiled.
Salvatore did not soften it.
“I am not asking you to believe I was a good man.”
He looked at Dante.
“But I did not kill my son.”
Dante’s eyes filled with something close to rage.
“Then who did?”
“Victor.”
“Victor is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Convenient again.”
Salvatore pointed at the ledger.
“Victor used my approval code to transfer the money that paid the crew.”
“What crew?”
“The men who killed Marco.”
Claire’s stomach twisted.
“Names.”
Salvatore closed his eyes.
“One is dead.”
“And the other?”
Salvatore looked toward the window.
“Still alive.”
“Name.”
Salvatore hesitated.
Dante slammed his hand against the desk.
“NAME.”
Lily cried upstairs.
Claire stood.
“That’s enough.”
Dante immediately lowered his voice.
Salvatore whispered, “Evan Mercer.”
The room went silent.
Claire looked toward the staircase.
“The guard.”
Salvatore nodded.
“He helped kill Marco.”
Dante went pale.
“And I hired him.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I brought him into my house.”
Claire understood his horror.
Evan had been near Lily.
For years, Dante had unknowingly employed the man responsible for his brother’s death.
Dante stood.
“I’m going to find him.”
Claire stepped in front of him.
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Dante stared.
Claire did not.
“You go out angry, you become exactly what Marco was trying to escape.”
Dante’s breathing slowed.
Claire continued.
“We need evidence.”
“I have enough.”
“No. You have grief.”
Dante looked away.
Salvatore watched Claire with something like respect.
Dante sat again.
Claire did too.
“What else is in the files?”
Dante searched.
There was one encrypted audio file.
A timestamp matched the night Marco died.
The password hint read:
The place she said yes.
Claire’s heart stopped.
Dante looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Claire whispered, “Navy Pier.”
Marco had once asked her if she would leave Chicago with him.
She had said yes beneath the Ferris wheel.
Dante typed NAVYPIER.
The audio opened.
Marco’s voice.
Then Victor Baldi’s.
Then Evan Mercer’s.
Claire’s hands shook.
The recording captured an argument.
Marco accused Victor of stealing millions and ordering violence under Salvatore’s name.
Victor laughed.
Then another voice entered.
Female.
Young.
Claire leaned closer.
Dante’s expression changed.
Vanessa.
Her voice was unmistakable.
She had been there.
Seven years ago.
Marco said, “Vanessa, tell him this stops tonight.”
Vanessa answered, “You should have stayed out of my father’s business.”
Claire stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
Footsteps.
A struggle.
Marco shouting.
Then a gunshot.
Claire covered her mouth.
Dante stared at the speaker.
Vanessa had witnessed his brother’s murder.
Maybe more.
The audio ended with Victor saying one sentence.
“Find the girl. Marco gave her something.”
Claire went cold.
Dante looked at her.
“They meant you.”
Before Claire could answer, her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
Vanessa Baldi stood beside Lily’s elementary school.
The image had been taken that afternoon.
Beneath it was a message.
Bring Marco’s files to the hotel tomorrow at noon.
Come alone.
Or next time we won’t miss the child.
Claire stared.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph of the Baldi Grand penthouse door.
May you like
It was already open.
Someone was waiting for her.
