Chapter 6 - The Daughter Who Was Still WaitingHunter ran.
Lorenzo followed.
The basement door was locked.
Briggs had already vanished.
Security forced it open.
Inside was a small room.
A bed.
A heater.
Drawings.
And a little girl.
Four years old.
Curly brown hair.
Gray-blue eyes.
Hunter stopped breathing.
The child looked up.
“Mommy?”
Hunter collapsed.
“Lily.”
The girl smiled.
Hunter ran to her.
She picked her up.
Cried.
Laughed.
Cried again.
“My baby.”
Lily clung to her.
“I knew you would come.”
“How?”
“You said you'd find me.”
Hunter froze.
“I did?”
Lily nodded.
“Before I slept.”
Hunter's heart shattered.
Three years earlier, she had spent a day beside her hospital bed whispering promises.
Maybe Lily remembered.
Maybe someone had told her.
It didn't matter.
She had found her daughter.
Alive.
Lorenzo stood nearby.
He looked away.
Giving them privacy.
Hunter turned after several minutes.
“Lorenzo.”
He stepped closer.
“She's safe.”
Lily looked at him.
“Are you Leo's daddy?”
“Yes.”
“Leo is hungry.”
Lorenzo looked stunned.
Then laughed.
Hunter smiled through tears.
“Kids know more than adults.”
Dr. Briggs was arrested.
The facility was shut down.
Sofia was found alive two days later.
Victoria was arrested afterward.
But one question remained.
Who had started the scheme?
The answer was found in old financial records.
Lorenzo's father.
Dead fifteen years.
He had planned to eliminate Sofia's legal claim to the company.
Victoria continued the plan after his death.
Dr. Briggs had helped.
The goal was control.
Nothing more.
The criminal network collapsed.
Lorenzo surrendered the illegal operations.
He kept only legitimate businesses.
The mansion changed.
Security remained.
But now there were children everywhere.
Lily.
Leo.
Mia.
And eventually more.
Hunter remained.
Not as a maid.
As the woman Lorenzo loved.
It happened slowly.
One night, after Lily had fallen asleep beside Leo, Hunter found Lorenzo in the nursery.
He was holding his son.
“You're good at this.”
He looked at her.
“I had a good teacher.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
Then he said,
“I never thanked you.”
“For what?”
“For breaking the rule.”
Hunter laughed softly.
“You would've thanked me if I hadn't?”
“No.”
“What a terrible boss.”
“I wasn't thinking clearly.”
“You don't seem to do that often.”
He looked at her.
“I was terrified.”
She stepped closer.
“So was I.”
He touched her face.
“I think I've been terrified since the day Sofia disappeared.”
Hunter whispered,
“Then stop being afraid.”
He kissed her.
Softly.
Carefully.
She kissed him back.
May you like
And for the first time, neither of them was grieving.
They were choosing.
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