Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO ABANDONED ME
I had imagined Daniel's return hundreds of times.
Sometimes he walked into my apartment apologizing.
Sometimes I slapped him.
Sometimes I screamed.
Sometimes I collapsed against him because anger had finally lost to relief.
I never imagined hearing his voice through a mafia boss's phone while my supposedly dead child appeared on a live video feed.
“Daniel.”
The name came out like broken glass.
Silence on the other end.
Then:
“Hunter.”
I wanted to hate the sound of my name in his voice.
Instead, my body remembered him.
That made me furious.
“Where are you?”
“You're with Lorenzo?”
“Answer me.”
“Hunter, listen to me.”
“No. You listen to me. Our son is alive.”
“I know.”
Those two words destroyed something inside me.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
My knees weakened.
“You knew I buried him?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“I couldn't contact you.”
“You could have!”
“If I had—”
“I stood over a tiny coffin!”
My voice shook.
“You knew he was alive and you let me believe I had lost him.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“Everyone keeps saying that!”
Leo started crying upstairs through the baby monitor.
The sound cut through the room.
Daniel heard it.
“Is that Leo?”
Lorenzo took the phone.
“You don't say my son's name.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Your son? Interesting.”
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means everything Father gave you became yours by default. The name. The companies. The houses. The respect.”
“You sound jealous.”
“I sound robbed.”
“Then come say it to my face.”
“I will.”
Salvatore stepped forward.
“Daniel, stop this.”
“You stopped being my uncle the night you stole my son.”
My head snapped toward Salvatore.
“You told me Daniel put Eli on the list.”
“He did.”
Daniel's voice sharpened.
“He's lying.”
“Then tell me the truth!” I shouted.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Finally Daniel said, “There are people inside the Rossi organization who wanted a second heir.”
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
“For what?”
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
“You.”
The room turned cold.
Daniel continued.
“Father never trusted that you would stay in the life.”
Lorenzo's face tightened.
“What life?”
“The one he built.”
I watched Lorenzo.
For all his power, this was clearly new.
Daniel said, “He had people searching for me for years. When I met Hunter, I thought I could disappear.”
“You didn't meet me by accident?” I whispered.
Silence.
My stomach turned.
“Daniel.”
“No.”
“Was I part of some plan?”
“No.”
“Tell me.”
“You were never supposed to matter.”
That hurt worse than I expected.
Then he corrected himself quickly.
“I mean I didn't approach you because of the family.”
“But you knew who you were.”
“Yes.”
“You lied every day.”
“I wanted one part of my life that wasn't Rossi.”
“So you used mine.”
“Hunter—”
“We made baby names together.”
My voice broke.
“You rubbed my back when I got sick. You built Eli's crib. You told me you were scared but excited. Was any of it real?”
“All of it.”
“Except your name.”
“Yes.”
“Your family.”
“Yes.”
“Your job.”
“Partly.”
“Your disappearance.”
Silence.
There.
The biggest lie.
“You chose to leave me.”
“I chose to draw them away.”
“Who?”
“The people who wanted Eli.”
Salvatore spoke.
“Daniel, tell her why.”
“Shut up.”
“Tell her what you stole.”
Daniel's breathing changed.
I looked at Salvatore.
“What?”
He held my gaze.
“Daniel took twelve million dollars from an account linked to your son's identity.”
I almost laughed.
“My son was unborn.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel cursed.
“That's not what happened.”
“Then explain.”
Daniel finally did.
A secret trust had been created years earlier by Lorenzo's father.
Money for any legally proven Rossi grandchild.
Lorenzo hadn't known.
Daniel discovered it when he began investigating family finances.
His unborn child—Eli—would be eligible.
But access required proof.
Someone inside the organization created fraudulent paperwork before Eli was even born.
They were planning for him.
Using him.
Daniel stole the money first.
“To stop them,” he insisted.
“And kept it?” Lorenzo asked.
“I moved it.”
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“Convenient.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“You have no idea what's happening around you, big brother.”
“Then enlighten me.”
“There is someone closer to you than Salvatore.”
Everyone went silent.
“Who?”
Daniel answered.
“Mara Ellis.”
My heart stopped.
“No.”
Lorenzo stared toward the door.
Dr. Mara Ellis.
The woman who had treated Leo since birth.
The woman who knew I could feed him.
The woman currently upstairs with him.
I ran.
Lorenzo shouted.
I didn't stop.
Up the stairs.
Down the hallway.
Nursery door.
Open.
Empty.
The baby monitor lay on the floor.
“Mara?”
Nothing.
Rebecca rushed from the adjoining room.
“What happened?”
“Where is Leo?”
“I thought he was with Dr. Ellis.”
Lorenzo arrived.
His face changed when he saw the empty crib.
“Lock down everything!”
I grabbed the monitor.
Then I noticed a tiny red light beneath the changing table.
A second device.
A transmitter.
Mara had been listening.
Nico picked it up.
“Tracker too.”
Lorenzo looked ready to destroy the house.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Mara.
“Hunter.”
“Where is Leo?”
“Safe.”
I almost screamed.
“You have five seconds.”
“Listen to me. Daniel lied.”
“Where is Leo?”
“I moved him because someone was coming.”
“Who?”
“Salvatore's men.”
I looked toward Salvatore.
His face darkened.
“I sent nobody.”
Mara continued.
“Bring Hunter to Saint Agnes Chapel.”
“Why?”
“Because Eli is here too.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Put him on video.”
A FaceTime request appeared.
I accepted.
Mara's face.
Then she turned the camera.
Two bassinets.
Leo.
And beside him—
Eli.
I made a sound I didn't recognize.
My baby opened his eyes.
For the first time in three weeks, I saw my son alive.
Not a photograph.
Not a video from an unknown place.
Alive.
Moving.
Real.
“Eli.”
My hand shook against the screen.
Mara looked back at me.
“Come alone.”
“No.”
Lorenzo said it beside me.
Mara heard.
“Lorenzo, if you bring armed men, you'll force the people watching us to move.”
“Who is watching?”
“The same person who ordered Sophia's car bomb.”
Salvatore's face changed.
“Who?”
Mara hesitated.
Then:
“Daniel.”
My world stopped.
“No.”
Daniel was still connected on Salvatore's phone.
He shouted, “She's lying!”
Mara heard him.
“Of course he would say that.”
“Hunter!” Daniel shouted. “Don't go!”
I looked between two phones.
The father of my child.
The doctor holding both babies.
A mafia boss whose family connected all of us.
And a godfather who had lied repeatedly while claiming he was protecting everyone.
I suddenly realized something.
Every person in the room wanted me to choose who to trust.
Nobody had earned it.
So I made a different choice.
“I'll come.”
Lorenzo turned.
“No.”
I ended Mara's call.
Then I looked at him.
“You are coming too.”
“She said alone.”
“She lied to me before. So did Daniel. So did Salvatore. I don't care what she wants.”
Nico nodded slowly.
“We go quiet.”
Salvatore looked toward Lorenzo.
“I know the chapel.”
“Why?”
“Sophia used it.”
Of course she did.
Thirty minutes later we reached a tiny stone chapel hidden behind an abandoned convent property outside Huntington.
No convoy.
One vehicle.
Lorenzo.
Nico.
Me.
Salvatore stayed behind under guard.
I carried no weapon.
I didn't know how to use one anyway.
Inside, candles burned.
Mara stood near the altar.
Leo and Eli were both beside her.
I ran.
“Eli!”
I reached the bassinet.
My hands hovered over him.
Suddenly I was afraid to touch him.
What if he disappeared again?
Then he opened his eyes.
Brown.
Daniel's eyes.
I lifted him.
The moment his weight settled against me, I collapsed into a pew.
“My baby.”
I cried into his blanket.
“You're alive.”
Eli made a tiny sound.
I kissed his forehead over and over.
Behind me, Lorenzo lifted Leo.
His eyes closed as he pressed his son against his chest.
For several seconds, nobody remembered the danger.
Then a voice came from the dark back of the chapel.
“I wondered which child you'd grab first.”
I froze.
Daniel stepped into the candlelight.
Alive.
Thinner.
Bearded.
A pistol in his hand.
My heart shattered twice.
Once because he had returned.
And once because the weapon was pointed at Lorenzo.
“Daniel.”
He looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
“Put the gun down.”
“I can't.”
“That's your son's uncle.”
“He took everything.”
“No.”
I stood holding Eli.
“You left.”
“Hunter—”
“You left me pregnant and alone. Your brother didn't do that. You did.”
Pain crossed his face.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain without a gun.”
Daniel's hand trembled.
Lorenzo held Leo close.
“You want me?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
He handed Leo carefully to Nico.
Then stepped forward.
“Take your shot.”
“No!” I yelled.
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“You always were arrogant.”
“I've been called worse.”
“You got Father's name.”
“I didn't ask for it.”
“The empire.”
“I didn't ask for that either.”
“Sophia.”
Lorenzo froze.
Daniel's voice broke.
And everything changed.
Because that wasn't jealousy.
That was grief.
“You loved her,” I whispered.
Daniel looked at me.
My stomach dropped.
Lorenzo stared at his brother.
“No.”
Daniel's face collapsed.
“Sophia was helping me leave.”
“Leave what?”
“The family.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because she discovered the truth.”
“What truth?”
Daniel lowered the weapon.
“The bomb wasn't meant for Lorenzo.”
Silence.
May you like
“It was meant for Sophia.”
And suddenly the entire story changed again.
