Chapter 6 - The Man Lorenzo Trusted Most
Lorenzo went after Marco.
I had never seen a person move with that kind of purpose.
One second, he was standing beside me.
The next, he was gone.
Three guards followed.
Rosa shouted after him.
“Lorenzo!”
He didn't stop.
Dr. Halpern lay on the nursery floor.
Dr. Patel dropped beside him.
“Pressure!”
One of the guards handed her gauze.
I remained frozen with Ava against my chest.
My daughter.
My living daughter.
She cried harder.
My body answered before my brain did.
Milk soaked through my uniform.
I sat in the corner of the room and brought her close.
For one terrible second, she didn't latch.
Panic ripped through me.
Then she did.
Her mouth found me.
Her crying stopped.
Everything else in the world disappeared.
Gunshots sounded outside.
People shouted.
Dr. Patel fought to keep Halpern alive.
Rosa stood at the window watching her son hunt the man he had trusted for nearly twenty years.
But I saw only Ava.
“You're here.”
Her tiny fingers opened against me.
“I knew you were.”
Tears fell onto her hair.
“I’m sorry I believed them.”
Rosa looked at me.
“You were drugged after surgery.”
“I should have demanded to see her.”
“You had just lost blood and been told your child died.”
“I should have—”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“This is what people like Marco count on. They make victims believe they failed.”
I looked at her.
“Did you know Ava was here?”
She was silent.
My anger returned.
“How did you know her name?”
Rosa sat slowly.
“Nick told me.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
“You said you weren't speaking.”
“Lorenzo wasn't speaking to him.”
“But you were.”
“Secretly.”
I looked toward the door.
“Does Lorenzo know?”
“No.”
Of course.
Another secret.
“What did Nick tell you?”
“That he loved you.”
My throat closed.
Rosa continued.
“He was terrified.”
“Of what?”
“He thought somebody had discovered who you were.”
“Catherine’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“He knew Rebecca wasn't my mother?”
“Yes.”
“He didn't tell me.”
“He wanted proof before destroying your relationship with the only parent you had.”
I looked down at Ava.
“Did he know someone wanted our baby?”
“Not until a week before he died.”
“Why would Marco want her?”
“Control.”
“Over whom?”
Rosa looked toward the window.
“Me.”
I stared.
“You?”
“I was the only person in this family Nicholas still trusted.”
“Why would my baby control you?”
“Because Nicholas knew something.”
She paused.
“Something that could destroy the Rossi organization from inside.”
I almost laughed from exhaustion.
“Does everybody in this family carry an apocalypse in their pocket?”
Rosa gave a tired smile.
“Unfortunately.”
“What did he know?”
“That Marco had been secretly working with federal informants while running his own criminal network through our businesses.”
“Federal informants?”
“He gave authorities just enough information to remove rivals while protecting himself.”
“That sounds suicidal.”
“It was clever.”
“Until Nick found out.”
“Yes.”
A guard approached.
“Mrs. Rossi, we need to move.”
“Why?”
“Marco had more men outside.”
Rosa stood.
“Lorenzo?”
“No contact.”
My stomach tightened.
I looked at Ava.
“I’m not leaving without him.”
Rosa raised an eyebrow.
“Your loyalty developed quickly.”
“He helped me find my daughter.”
“And you saved his son.”
“That doesn't mean anything.”
Rosa almost smiled again.
“I didn't say it did.”
Dr. Patel looked up from Halpern.
“He's alive, but barely. We need transport.”
A secure medical team was called.
We moved downstairs.
The second baby from the nursery was carried out too.
A boy no more than one month old.
Nobody knew who his parents were.
That fact made me sick.
How many other mothers had gone home believing their children were dead?
We reached the lobby.
A security guard ran inside.
“Vehicles compromised.”
“What does that mean?”
“Two tires destroyed. Communications jammed.”
Rosa's expression hardened.
“Marco.”
Then the building’s fire alarm began ringing.
Smoke appeared at the end of the corridor.
“He's burning the records,” Rosa said.
Lorenzo’s men rushed toward the administrative rooms.
I held Ava closer.
“No.”
Rosa looked at me.
“What?”
“That’s what he wants.”
“What?”
“Everyone running toward the records.”
She stared.
I looked toward the rear exit.
“He wants something else.”
Then I saw movement.
A man wearing one of Lorenzo’s security jackets entered from the back corridor.
He smiled.
Wrong smile.
I recognized him.
One of the guards who had worked the kitchen at Rossi House.
He pulled a gun.
I screamed.
Rosa turned.
The man aimed at Ava.
I dropped behind the reception desk.
Shots exploded.
Glass shattered.
Rosa fired back.
I hadn't even seen her draw the pistol.
The attacker fell.
My daughter screamed.
I covered her with my body.
“Hunter!”
“I’m okay!”
Rosa crouched beside me.
“Ava?”
“She’s okay.”
Rosa looked at the dead man.
“He wanted the baby.”
That was obvious.
But why?
A phone rang inside the attacker’s jacket.
Rosa answered.
“Marco.”
A man's voice came through.
Calm.
Almost amused.
“Rosa.”
I had heard Marco speak around the mansion.
Always respectful.
Always loyal.
Now there was no pretense.
“Where is my son?” Rosa demanded.
“Alive.”
“For how long?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“Give me Nicholas’s daughter.”
I held Ava tighter.
Rosa looked directly at me.
“No.”
Marco laughed.
“You don't even know what she is.”
“She is a baby.”
“She is evidence.”
My heart stopped.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
Marco heard.
“Hunter.”
My skin crawled.
“Congratulations on the reunion.”
“Where is Lorenzo?”
“With me.”
Rosa went pale.
I stood.
“Let me hear him.”
“Why?”
“So I know he's alive.”
A pause.
Then Lorenzo’s voice.
“Hunter, don't give him anything.”
My chest tightened.
He sounded strained.
“Are you hurt?”
“I'm fine.”
A blow sounded.
Lorenzo grunted.
I stepped forward as if I could reach him through the phone.
Marco returned.
“He's lying.”
Rosa’s voice became lethal.
“If you kill him—”
“I don't want Lorenzo dead.”
“What do you want?”
“The baby.”
“Why?”
“Because Nicholas wasn't Ava’s only connection to your family.”
I looked at Rosa.
“What does that mean?”
Marco chuckled.
“Rosa didn't tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Rosa closed her eyes.
My heartbeat accelerated.
“Tell me.”
Marco said:
“Ask her who Catherine Vale’s father was.”
I stared at Rosa.
She said nothing.
“Oh, this is beautiful,” Marco continued. “You people hide secrets so long you forget who deserves them.”
“Rosa.”
Her voice barely worked.
“Catherine’s father was Antonio Rossi.”
Lorenzo’s grandfather.
The air left my lungs.
I understood slowly.
My mother had been a Rossi.
Not by marriage.
By blood.
I was related to Lorenzo.
Ava carried Rossi blood from both sides.
Marco continued.
“Catherine was Antonio’s illegitimate daughter. Hidden from the legitimate family.”
I felt dizzy.
Rosa said, “That doesn't matter.”
“It matters to inheritance law.”
Lorenzo’s businesses.
Family trusts.
Properties.
I looked at Ava.
Marco laughed softly.
“Nicholas discovered that Antonio changed his trust shortly before he died. Any living descendants of Catherine Vale retain a claim to twenty percent of the original Rossi holdings.”
My mouth went dry.
“How much?”
Rosa didn't answer.
Marco did.
“Approximately four hundred million dollars.”
I looked down at my three-week-old daughter.
A baby who should have meant nothing to these men except warmth and breathing and tiny fingers.
Four hundred million dollars.
“That’s why you stole her.”
“I didn't steal her.”
“You ordered it.”
“I preserved an asset.”
Rage exploded through me.
“She is not an asset.”
“No. She's a key.”
“To what?”
“Everything Lorenzo’s father built.”
Rosa took the phone.
“You'll never get control through her.”
“I don't need control.”
“Then what?”
“I need her DNA.”
I froze.
Rosa did too.
Marco continued.
“Nicholas hid documents somewhere. Documents that require proof of Catherine’s surviving bloodline before the trust can be opened.”
“What documents?”
“The ledger.”
Lorenzo spoke faintly in the background.
“Don't tell them anything.”
Marco hit him again.
I flinched.
“What ledger?”
Marco said, “The one that can send half the people your boss knows to prison.”
Silence.
Then he gave us an address.
An abandoned ferry terminal east of Oyster Bay.
“Bring Ava.”
“No,” Rosa said.
“Then Lorenzo dies.”
The line disconnected.
I looked at Rosa.
She looked at me.
“No.”
“My daughter isn't going.”
“Good.”
“But I am.”
“You heard him.”
“Yes.”
“He wants Ava.”
“Then we'll make him think he got her.”
Rosa stared at me.
May you like
For the first time, the feared matriarch of the Rossi family looked almost proud.
“Now you sound like Catherine.”
