Chapter 7 - Lily Was Never the Real Target
We found Martin’s location through the ledger.
A private estate outside Chicago.
Rain hammered the windshield as we drove.
Dante sat beside me.
James was in the back with two armed men.
I held Lily tightly.
“What happens if Lucas is alive?”
“Then everything changes.”
“For better?”
“I don't know.”
The estate was heavily guarded.
We entered through a hidden tunnel Rebecca showed us.
Inside, we heard music.
A child laughing.
My heart stopped.
“Lily.”
We ran.
We found her in a nursery.
She sat on the floor playing with wooden blocks.
A woman was beside her.
Claire Bennett.
I raised the gun Dante had given me.
“Step away.”
Claire smiled.
“She’s beautiful.”
“You drugged me.”
“Yes.”
“You changed my medical records.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Claire stared at Lily.
“Because Martin needed leverage.”
“And my baby?”
“She was never the real target.”
“Then who?”
Claire looked at me.
“You.”
The door opened.
Martin walked in.
He looked older than in the photographs.
Calm.
Elegant.
Almost fatherly.
“Hello, Sophia.”
Dante stepped in front of me.
“You’re done.”
Martin laughed.
“I have been hearing that for twenty years.”
He looked at Lily.
“She is proof that you survived.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Your birth was hidden because your father knew the Moretti family would destroy you.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Who was he?”
Martin smiled.
“Ethan Cross.”
My mother’s surname.
He continued.
“He was an undercover federal agent.”
I stared.
“You knew?”
“Of course.”
“Then why kill him?”
“I didn't.”
“Who did?”
Martin looked at Dante.
“Your father.”
Dante’s face went rigid.
“That’s a lie.”
“Your father ordered the hit.”
“No.”
“Your sister discovered the truth.”
Dante stepped forward.
Martin held up a remote.
“Come any closer.”
Everyone stopped.
“There are explosives beneath the house.”
My heart dropped.
“Why?”
“Because I don't need to escape.”
He looked at the clock.
“I only need to survive long enough for the police to arrive.”
“The police are yours.”
“Some.”
He smiled.
“Not all.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Claire began crying.
“This wasn't the plan.”
Martin turned.
“You knew the plan.”
She shook her head.
“I didn't know about the bombs.”
Martin raised his weapon.
Claire ducked.
James tackled him.
Dante moved toward Lily.
I grabbed my daughter.
The room exploded into chaos.
Gunfire.
Glass.
Smoke.
I ran for the hallway.
Then I saw a door.
Marked basement.
I opened it.
Inside was a man chained to a chair.
Gray hair.
Amber eyes.
My heart stopped.
Dante appeared behind me.
“Lucas.”
The man looked up.
“Dante.”
My uncle was alive.
We freed him.
He could barely stand.
“I have been waiting twelve years.”
Dante stared at him.
“Why didn't you contact me?”
“Because Martin threatened Sofia.”
He looked at me.
“You.”
I shook my head.
“Everyone kept calling me Sofia.”
Lucas nodded.
“That was your original name.”
“Why did he call me his target?”
“Because you inherited the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Lucas looked at Dante.
“Your sister's recordings.”
I remembered the ledger.
“The names.”
“No.”
He pointed at me.
“The memory card.”
I stared.
“What memory card?”
Lucas smiled sadly.
“The one your mother hid inside your childhood necklace.”
I touched my neck.
My old necklace.
The one I’d worn since I was a child.
I had lost it two months before James disappeared.
Martin had it.
Everything suddenly made sense.
He hadn’t been targeting my money.
He had been searching for proof.
Proof I carried without knowing.
Dante took the necklace from my purse.
“There’s a compartment.”
He opened it.
A tiny memory card fell out.
Everyone went silent.
Rebecca’s voice crackled through Dante’s phone.
“Do not open that file there.”
Too late.
Martin appeared in the doorway.
His face was furious.
“You have no idea what is on that card.”
Dante raised his gun.
“I know enough.”
Martin smiled.
“Then play it.”
Dante inserted the card.
A recording began.
A man’s voice.
Dante’s father.
“The girl must disappear.”
Then another voice.
My mother.
“No.”
Then my sister’s.
“I copied everything.”
A gunshot.
Screaming.
Then one final sentence.
“Dante will never know the truth.”
The recording ended.
Dante looked shattered.
His father had ordered my disappearance.
Not his murder.
Mine.
Because I was the heir who could expose him.
Martin looked at Dante.
“You see?”
Dante said nothing.
“You killed my family.”
Dante's gun lowered.
“I didn't.”
Martin smiled.
“You were the weapon.”
Then Lucas stepped forward.
“No.”
He raised his gun.
“You were.”
A shot rang out.
Martin fell.
Silence filled the room.
Police stormed the house.
Claire surrendered.
The explosives were disarmed.
Lily was safe.
Martin was alive but wounded.
As he was taken away, he looked at me.
“You think this is over?”
I held Lily closer.
“No.”
May you like
Dante stood beside me.
“This is the beginning.”
