Part 4 — The Stranger Who Called Himself Daddy
Part 4 — The Stranger Who Called Himself Daddy
For several seconds, Dominic couldn’t speak.
Lily’s small fingers were still wrapped around the violet pendant.
“The man said he was Daddy?”
She nodded.
“What did he look like?”
Lily thought carefully.
“Tall.”
Dominic’s heart tightened.
“Like Papa?”
She shook her head.
“No. Different.”
“How?”
She touched her own hair.
“Dark hair.”
Enzo stepped closer.
“Boss, she’s only three. She might be remembering something incorrectly.”
Dominic knew that.
But he also knew children remembered things adults wished they would forget.
He turned to Elena.
“Tell me everything Sophia ever said about a man named Adrian Vale.”
Elena wiped her face.
“Sophia never trusted him. She said he appeared after she found out she was pregnant.”
“Did he threaten her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she ever tell you why he was interested in the baby?”
Elena hesitated.
Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small folded piece of paper.
“I kept this.”
Dominic took it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Sophia.
His hands began to shake.
The note was short.
If Dominic ever finds Lily, tell him the truth. The child is his. But someone else believes she belongs to him.
Dominic read it twice.
Then a third time.
“Who?” he whispered.
Elena shook her head.
“Sophia never wrote the name.”
Enzo looked toward the window.
“We need to increase security.”
“Already done.”
Dominic walked to the glass.
Outside, snow covered the lawns.
Everything looked peaceful.
But for the first time since Lily had arrived, the mansion no longer felt like a sanctuary.
It felt like a target.
That afternoon, Dominic ordered every entrance monitored.
No unfamiliar staff.
No visitors without his approval.
No one was permitted near Lily without Elena, Enzo, or Dominic present.
Then he went to the basement archives.
The Moretti family had kept records there for generations.
Dominic searched through old business files until he found the name connected to Adrian Vale’s shell company.
Victor Hale.
A former Moretti attorney.
Dominic remembered him.
Victor had disappeared from the family network shortly after Dominic’s father died.
He had been trusted by Lucia.
Too trusted.
Enzo found him that evening.
Or rather, they found the place where he had been living.
An abandoned house in Connecticut.
The front door was unlocked.
The rooms were empty.
But on a table in the kitchen sat a single envelope.
It was addressed to Dominic.
Inside was one photograph.
Dominic stared at it.
Sophia was standing outside a hospital.
She was pregnant.
Beside her stood a man Dominic had never seen before.
Victor Hale.
On the back of the photograph were six words:
She knew the child was being watched.
Dominic’s phone rang.
It was Elena.
“Dominic?”
Her voice was trembling.
“Lily is gone.”
Everything inside him stopped.
“What?”
“I was in the bathroom for less than a minute. When I came back, she wasn’t in the room.”
Dominic ran.
He reached the east wing in seconds.
The bedroom door was open.
The window was locked.
The balcony was empty.
Enzo arrived behind him.
“Search the house.”
Every guard moved immediately.
Dominic found Lily’s little red shoe beneath the bed.
He picked it up.
His hand clenched around it.
Then he noticed something on the floor.
A small piece of violet-colored ribbon.
The same shade as Lily’s pendant.
His phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
Dominic answered.
“Where is my daughter?”
A man’s voice came through the receiver.
“Your daughter?”
Dominic’s blood ran cold.
“Yes.”
The man laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Who are you?”
“You spent four years believing Sophia abandoned you.”
Dominic said nothing.
“She didn’t.”
“Where is Lily?”
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“What?”
“The girl.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“She belongs to me.”
“No,” the stranger replied. “She belongs to her father.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“I am her father.”
The man laughed again.
“That is what Sophia wanted you to believe.”
The call ended.
Dominic stood motionless.
Enzo looked at him.
“What did he say?”
Dominic slowly lowered the phone.
“He says Lily isn’t mine.”
Elena appeared in the doorway.
Her face was white.
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Tell me the truth.”
“I am.”
“Is Lily my daughter?”
Elena began to cry.
“Yes.”
“Then who is that man?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic’s phone vibrated again.
A message appeared.
One photograph.
Lily was sitting in a dark room.
She wasn’t crying.
She was holding her violet pendant.
And behind her stood a man whose face was hidden in shadow.
Under the photograph was a single sentence:
Ask your mother why Sophia was really killed.
Dominic stared at the screen.
Lucia had left the estate.
But now he understood.
She had not been protecting the family from Sophia.
She had been protecting the family from someone else.
And whatever secret she had buried four years ago…
That secret had just come back for Lily.
