Chapter 6 - The Price of Our Daughter
I don't remember leaving the terminal.
I remember pieces.
Alexander's hand on my back.
Rafael shouting coordinates.
Dominic being carried toward a vehicle by two men.
The velvet box crushed against my chest so tightly the edge cut my palm.
And Lily's voice.
Daddy.
Over and over.
By the time we reached the SUV, I was shaking so badly I couldn't fasten the seat belt.
Alexander did it for me.
His hands were steady.
His face was not.
"Where would Enzo take her?" I asked.
"Somewhere I know."
"Why?"
"Because this isn't only leverage. He wants me to understand he can enter places I call safe."
"The farmhouse was safe."
"It was supposed to be."
"Maria?"
Rafael turned from the front seat.
"Alive. Sedated. We reached one of the cameras remotely. Jonah is down too."
"Down?"
"Alive. Head injury."
I closed my eyes.
"How did Enzo get inside?"
Alexander answered.
"The doctor."
I saw again the woman in scrubs checking Lily's elbow.
A stranger.
Someone I had accepted because she was inside Alexander's fortress.
"She was his?"
"Apparently."
I turned on him.
"You said you trusted everyone there."
His jaw tightened.
"I was wrong."
I wanted to scream at him.
Instead, I looked down at the velvet box.
"Can we open the vault from here?"
"No. The physical terminal is in Chicago. Your parents hid it in a private deposit room beneath First Mercantile Bank."
"Then why does Enzo want the pendant?"
"Because he knows the same thing."
"And he thinks if he has Lily, he can make me open it."
"Yes."
I opened the box.
The jade pendant looked exactly as I remembered.
Smooth oval stone.
Gold clasp.
Tiny scratches near the edge from years of wear.
I lifted it out.
"Where is the key?"
Alexander pointed to the clasp.
"Inside."
I twisted it.
Nothing happened.
"Biometric release," he said. "Press your thumb against the flat side."
I did.
A nearly invisible seam opened.
Inside the clasp was a wafer-thin black strip no longer than a fingernail.
I stared at it.
My entire childhood had been hanging around my neck with enough evidence hidden inside it to start a war.
Alexander's phone rang again.
Enzo.
This time I answered.
"Let me hear her."
"Claire Bennett," Enzo said. "Or should I call you Rinaldi?"
"Let me hear my daughter."
"Such authority. No wonder Alexander fell for you."
"Lily. Now."
There was a pause.
Then her small voice.
"Mommy?"
I nearly collapsed.
"I'm here, baby. Are you hurt?"
"No. I don't like this man."
A laugh escaped me through tears.
"I don't like him either."
"He said Daddy is bad."
Alexander closed his eyes.
"Tell him I said he's rude."
Enzo returned to the line.
"Charming child."
"If you touch her-"
"You will what? Inherit my enemy's empire? Cry to your husband?"
"I'll open the vault."
Alexander's eyes snapped to mine.
Enzo went quiet.
"Good," I said. "Now we're listening to each other."
"You will come to St. Michael's Chapel. Alone. Midnight. Bring the pendant."
Alexander shook his head.
I ignored him.
"I want proof Lily is there when I arrive."
"You will have it."
"And I want a vehicle waiting with keys in it. Once I hand you the pendant, I leave with her."
Enzo chuckled.
"You think this is a negotiation."
"It is if you want the vault open."
Silence.
Then, "Midnight."
The call ended.
Alexander said, "Absolutely not."
I stared at him.
He grimaced.
"I know. I know what I just did."
"Good. Saves time."
"Claire, St. Michael's is an old Moretti chapel on private land. Enzo knows every approach. He designed the security tunnels himself."
"Then you know them too."
"Some."
"Enough?"
He was silent.
Rafael spoke from the front.
"Boss, there is one thing."
"What?"
"The north crypt tunnel. It was sealed after the flood eight years ago, but if we can clear the gate-"
"No," Alexander said. "Too narrow."
"For you," I said.
He looked at me.
"Not for me."
"Claire."
"You want Lily back?"
His expression became almost offended.
"More than I want to breathe."
"Then stop thinking like the man who has to personally stand between every danger and everyone he loves."
He stared at me.
"That's not protection. That's ego with a gun."
Rafael became extremely interested in the road ahead.
Alexander leaned back and closed his eyes.
"I preferred you when you thought I was always right."
"No, you didn't."
He opened one eye.
"No. I really didn't."
At 11:47 p.m., I crawled through the north crypt tunnel beneath St. Michael's Chapel.
It smelled like mud, stone, and old water.
A small transmitter rested beneath my collar.
The pendant hung around my neck.
Alexander was somewhere in the woods outside with Rafael and six men.
This time, the plan was mine.
I would enter through the main chapel at midnight after using the crypt to confirm Lily's location. If possible, I would get her out through the same tunnel before Enzo realized Alexander had breached the perimeter.
It sounded clean on paper.
Nothing involving my family had been clean for eight years.
The tunnel opened behind a stone panel beneath the chapel stairs.
I slipped through.
Voices came from above.
I climbed halfway up and looked through the railing.
Enzo Moretti stood near the altar.
He was seventy, silver-haired, broad, and carried age like another form of authority.
Beside him were four armed men.
Lily sat in a wooden chair near the front pew, her hands free, a blanket around her shoulders.
She was not crying.
She looked furious.
My brave girl.
I touched the transmitter twice.
Lily confirmed.
Alexander's voice whispered in my earpiece.
"I see her through the south window."
"Stay out until I signal."
A pause.
"Yes."
The fact that he obeyed almost made me emotional.
I backed into the tunnel, moved to the main entrance route, and entered the chapel exactly at midnight.
Enzo smiled.
"There she is."
Lily jumped up.
"Mommy!"
One of the men pushed her gently back into the chair.
I kept walking.
"I'm here, baby."
Enzo's eyes dropped to the pendant.
"Elena's key."
"Lily first."
"No."
"Then we stand here all night."
He smiled.
"Alexander taught you nerve."
"My mother did."
That wiped away the smile.
I stopped ten feet from him.
"Why did you kill my father?"
Lily's eyes widened.
Enzo glanced at her.
"Perhaps not the conversation for a child."
"You lost the right to worry about her innocence when you kidnapped her."
His expression hardened.
"Thomas Bennett was going to destroy a structure that had kept peace in Chicago for decades."
"He was going to expose murderers."
"Same sentence, depending on where you stand."
"And Alexander? You wanted him dead too."
Enzo's smile returned.
"Alexander was supposed to be temporary. A grieving city wanted youth after his father died. The captains made an emotional decision."
"For ten years?"
"He proved irritatingly competent."
"So you partnered with Vittorio."
"I used Vittorio."
"He thinks he's using you."
Enzo's face twitched.
Good.
"You know what both of you have in common?" I asked.
"Enlighten me."
"You keep assuming everyone else is too stupid to notice you're lying."
I lifted the pendant.
His men shifted.
"This key doesn't matter without me."
"We have your daughter."
"Exactly. And you think that makes me weak."
I looked at Lily.
"Sweetheart, remember the game we played at the cottage?"
Lily blinked.
There had been no game.
But she was my daughter.
She understood something was happening.
"The rabbit game?" she asked.
"Yes. When I say go, you run to the stairs."
Enzo laughed.
"Do you think-"
I threw the pendant.
Not at him.
Past him.
It struck the stone floor behind the altar and skidded into darkness.
Every eye followed it.
"Go!"
Lily ran.
I ran toward her.
Gunfire shattered the stained-glass windows.
Alexander's men entered from both sides.
Enzo shouted.
One of his men grabbed me.
I drove my elbow backward and heard him grunt.
Lily reached the stairs.
Then Enzo seized her.
He put a gun against the side of her head.
The entire chapel froze.
Alexander appeared in the broken doorway.
His weapon was raised.
Then he saw Lily.
His gun lowered instantly.
"No," I whispered.
Enzo smiled.
"There he is. The great Alexander Moretti."
Lily was trembling now.
"Daddy."
Alexander's face became empty.
"Let her go, Uncle."
"Kick the gun away."
Alexander did.
"On your knees."
He went down.
I stared at him.
This was the man Chicago feared.
The man who supposedly loved power more than anything.
Kneeling on a chapel floor because our daughter was crying.
Enzo looked delighted.
"Do you know what your weakness is, Alexander?"
Alexander's eyes never left Lily.
"I do now."
"Love."
"No."
He looked at me.
"Thinking love gave me the right to control the people I loved."
Even Enzo looked confused.
Alexander continued.
"You should have picked a different speech. I've had a difficult month."
For one insane second, I almost laughed.
Then I saw the movement behind the altar.
The pendant had stopped near the edge of a heating grate.
Beside it lay a small metal candle snuffer.
I moved one inch.
Enzo noticed.
"Don't."
I stopped.
Alexander's gaze flicked to my hand.
He saw what I saw.
His eyes returned to mine.
No words.
No command.
Just trust.
I dropped.
Alexander lunged.
At the same instant, I grabbed the candle snuffer and swung it into Enzo's wrist.
The gun fired.
Lily screamed.
Alexander hit Enzo hard enough to send both men into the pews.
I dragged Lily beneath the nearest bench and covered her with my body.
More shots.
Shouting.
Then silence.
I looked up.
Alexander stood over Enzo with a gun in his hand.
Enzo was on the floor, bleeding from the mouth, laughing.
"Do it," he said. "Prove me right."
Alexander raised the weapon.
For one terrible second, I knew he would kill him.
Then Lily cried, "Daddy, don't."
Alexander froze.
His arm lowered.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
I stared at him.
"Police?"
Rafael came through the side door.
"Not exactly. Federal task force. Dominic gave them everything before surgery."
Enzo's laughter stopped.
Alexander looked down at his uncle.
"You wanted my empire."
He stepped back.
"You can have the ruins."
Then he turned toward us.
Lily broke from my arms and ran to him.
Alexander dropped to his knees and caught her.
He buried his face in her hair.
I saw his shoulders shake.
Lily wrapped both arms around his neck.
"Daddy, you're crying."
"I know."
"It's okay."
"I know."
I stood slowly.
Then I noticed the dark stain spreading across Alexander's shirt.
"Alexander?"
He looked down as though surprised.
The bullet fired during the struggle had hit him beneath the ribs.
His face lost color.
He handed Lily to me.
"Take her."
"No."
"Claire-"
"No. You do not get to give orders now."
His knees buckled.
I caught him as best I could.
We went to the floor together.
"Stay with me," I said.
His eyes were already losing focus.
"Lily safe?"
"Yes."
"You?"
"I'm here."
He tried to smile.
"Good."
I pressed both hands against the wound.
"Don't you dare die after finally learning how to listen to me."
A faint laugh escaped him.
"That would be... inefficient."
"Alexander."
His eyes found mine.
"I lied that night," he whispered. "About loving you."
Tears blurred my vision.
"I know."
"No. You don't."
His hand found mine.
"I never knew how to love you without trying to keep you."
His grip weakened.
"If I live... I want to learn."
May you like
Then his eyes closed.
And for the second time in my life, I knelt beside a man I loved while an ambulance came too slowly.
