Chapter 6 - The Secret Brody Had Been Hiding
Nora laughed.
It was the wrong reaction.
She knew that.
But the statement was so absurd that laughter came before fear.
"What?"
Marco remained serious.
"Brody says Lily isn't his biological child."
"Of course she is."
Nora looked around.
"He's the only man I've been with in two years."
Lorenzo's face remained unreadable.
"Marco."
"We don't know what he means."
Nora stood.
"He is her father."
Giovanni's tablet spoke.
BRODY LIES.
"Exactly."
Nora looked at Lorenzo.
"He's manipulating you."
"Maybe."
"Not maybe."
She crossed her arms.
"I know how babies work."
Despite the situation, Elena made a choking sound.
Lorenzo gave her a look.
Nora continued.
"If Brody says he isn't Lily's father, he's lying."
Marco's phone buzzed.
"Brody is at a state police station in Poughkeepsie."
"Why there?"
"He walked in."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
Lorenzo looked at Nora.
"You don't have to talk to him."
"I do."
"Nora."
"If someone threatens my daughter using a lie about her father, I want to know why."
Three hours later, Brody sat behind reinforced glass inside an interview room.
Nora sat opposite him.
Lorenzo and a state investigator remained nearby.
Brody looked thinner.
Terrified.
For once, none of his charm remained.
Nora picked up the phone.
"Start talking."
"Nora."
"No apologies."
He lowered his eyes.
"Lily is mine."
Rage surged through her.
"Then why tell them she isn't?"
"Because Carlo thinks she isn't."
"Why?"
Brody looked toward Lorenzo.
"Because I told him."
Nora stared.
"You told a Mafia boss that my baby belonged to someone else?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To keep you alive."
She nearly threw the phone.
"That explanation better improve."
Brody swallowed.
"When Carlo first learned I had a pregnant girlfriend, he wanted leverage."
"Against you."
"Yes."
"He threatened Lily?"
"Before she was even born."
Nora became still.
"I owed him almost eighty thousand dollars."
She closed her eyes.
"Brody."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
"I was gambling to pay back gambling debts."
"That may be the stupidest sentence I've ever heard."
"I know."
"Stop saying that."
He nodded.
"Carlo wanted me to put someone inside the Moretti estate."
"Me."
"Yes."
"Why me?"
"You were clean."
The word disgusted her.
"No record. No connections. Pregnant. Desperate."
Nora stared at him.
"You described me like a tool."
"I was trying to keep them from hurting you."
"You placed me inside the home of people they planned to attack."
His face broke.
"I thought it would be observation."
"You thought wrong."
"Yes."
She looked away.
"Why tell Carlo Lily wasn't yours?"
"Because if she was mine, she was leverage."
Nora slowly looked back.
"So you said she belonged to who?"
Brody hesitated.
"Someone important."
Cold moved through her.
"Who?"
"I didn't give a name."
"Brody."
"I said you had been involved with a Moretti."
The room seemed to stop.
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
Nora stared through the glass.
"You told Carlo Vescari that my unborn daughter might be a Moretti?"
"I needed him afraid to touch you."
"You made him more interested in me."
"I didn't know that."
"What did you think would happen?"
"He'd stay away."
Brody rubbed both hands over his face.
"Then he started wondering if Giovanni knew."
Nora understood.
"That's why Carlo cared about me."
"Partly."
"He thought Giovanni was protecting me because Lily was family."
"Yes."
Nora laughed bitterly.
"Your lie created the exact danger you were supposedly protecting us from."
"I know."
She slammed the phone down.
Then picked it up again.
"No."
Brody flinched.
"You don't get to say that anymore."
"I'm sorry."
"Good."
Her eyes filled.
"Be sorry in prison."
Brody nodded.
"I probably will."
The investigator entered.
Brody began providing names.
Locations.
Accounts.
Information about Carlo's gambling network and the attack on the Moretti estate.
In exchange, prosecutors would consider protective custody and cooperation terms.
Nora felt nothing resembling sympathy.
When the interview ended, Brody called her name.
She stopped.
"I did love you."
Nora turned.
"Then learn something while you're sitting in a cell."
"What?"
"Love is not deciding what lies somebody else has to live inside."
She walked away.
Outside, Lorenzo waited.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Good."
She looked at him.
"What?"
"You usually say you're fine."
Nora almost smiled.
"I'm learning."
They walked toward the car.
"Carlo thinks Lily is a Moretti."
"Yes."
"That means he'll keep targeting me."
"Probably."
"What do we do?"
Lorenzo opened the door.
"We tell the truth."
"Which is?"
"Brody is Lily's father."
"And Carlo believes us?"
"Not necessarily."
Nora stared.
"Then that was not a plan."
"It's step one."
At the estate, Giovanni heard the entire story.
His response appeared immediately.
IDIOT.
Nora laughed.
"Brody?"
YES.
Lorenzo sat opposite his father.
"We need to draw Carlo out."
Nora frowned.
"No."
Both men looked at her.
"You two had the exact same face just now."
Giovanni typed:
BOSSY.
"You like me bossy."
YES.
Lorenzo almost smiled.
Nora continued.
"No using Lily."
"No one suggested—"
"You were about to."
Lorenzo said nothing.
"See?"
She pointed.
"I know that face now."
Giovanni typed:
SHE DOES.
Lorenzo sighed.
"Fine."
Instead, they used the black ledger.
Federal prosecutors announced that evidence recovered from historical Moretti records was being reviewed.
No names.
No details.
Carlo would assume the worst.
Forty-eight hours later, he made contact.
Not with Lorenzo.
With Giovanni.
A package arrived.
Inside was an old photograph.
Giovanni and Salvatore Vescari shaking hands beside a casino in Atlantic City.
On the back:
WE BUILT IT TOGETHER. YOUR SON DOESN'T DESERVE TO BURY IT.
Giovanni stared at the image for several minutes.
Then typed:
CARLO AFRAID.
"Of prison?" Nora asked.
NO.
"What then?"
FATHER.
Lorenzo frowned.
"Salvatore is dead."
Giovanni typed:
LEGACY.
Carlo was terrified not only of criminal exposure.
He feared learning his father had been subordinate to Giovanni.
In the world Carlo inherited, status mattered almost as much as money.
The ledger contained evidence that Salvatore Vescari had once betrayed his own brothers to protect a gambling operation.
If released, the Vescari family myth would collapse.
Lorenzo understood.
"He wants the ledger destroyed."
YES.
"We can trade."
Nora looked at him.
"For what?"
"Carlo himself."
Giovanni typed:
NO TRADE.
Lorenzo frowned.
"Why?"
COPY.
Of course.
The government had copies.
Carlo did not know.
Giovanni proposed something different.
He would send Carlo a message.
Not Lorenzo.
Giovanni.
Using the communication device, they recorded his synthesized voice while his face appeared on camera.
CARLO.
YOU SPENT FIVE YEARS TRYING TO MAKE A DEAD MAN OUT OF SOMEONE STILL ALIVE.
YOU FAILED.
COME SPEAK TO ME AS A MAN OR SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WONDERING WHEN YOUR FATHER'S SECRETS BECOME PUBLIC.
Lorenzo looked at him.
"Provocative."
Giovanni typed:
WORKED ON YOUR MOTHER.
Nora laughed.
Lorenzo shook his head.
"Please never explain my parents' courtship."
The message went out.
Carlo responded within an hour.
Meeting.
Neutral location.
No police.
Nora crossed her arms.
"So obviously there will be police."
Lorenzo looked at her.
"Obviously."
Giovanni typed:
NORA STAYS.
"Absolutely," Lorenzo said.
Nora narrowed her eyes.
"I wasn't asking to go."
Both men relaxed.
She pointed.
"Stop doing that."
The meeting was scheduled for an abandoned Moretti-owned restaurant near the Hudson.
Federal tactical teams positioned themselves nearby.
Lorenzo would attend with Giovanni.
Carlo would bring two men.
Nothing happened as planned.
Because thirty minutes before the meeting, Nora received a phone call from the obstetric clinic.
"Miss Bennett?"
"Yes."
"This is Dr. Martinez's office."
Nora smiled.
"Hi."
"We received the genetic screening results you requested."
She frowned.
"What genetic screening?"
Silence.
"Miss Bennett, a paternity-related sample was submitted under your file."
Her blood went cold.
"I didn't submit anything."
The nurse became cautious.
"We should discuss this in person."
"Who submitted it?"
"I can't disclose—"
"I'm the patient."
Another pause.
"Brody Hale signed the paperwork."
Nora sat down.
"Brody?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Three weeks before he disappeared."
Her heart began pounding.
Why would Brody test paternity if he knew Lily was his?
Unless he had a reason to doubt it.
"But I never gave a sample."
"The maternal sample came from blood drawn during your prenatal screening."
Nora felt sick.
Brody had arranged testing without her consent.
"What did the result say?"
The nurse refused over the phone.
Nora drove to the clinic under Moretti security.
The report was waiting.
Probability of paternity for Brody Hale:
0.00%.
Nora stared.
Impossible.
"No."
Dr. Martinez looked uncomfortable.
"Is the date correct?"
"Yes."
"Any chance another man—"
"No."
Then Nora remembered.
The fertility clinic.
Not for fertility treatment.
For prenatal genetic testing?
Months before she became pregnant, Nora had participated in a paid medical study through a women's health center.
She had been told it involved hormone monitoring and reproductive research.
The payment helped cover rent.
"What study did you enroll in?"
The doctor looked through records.
Nora told her.
His face changed.
"That clinic closed."
"Why?"
"Regulatory violations."
Her stomach dropped.
"What kind?"
He hesitated.
"Patient samples were mishandled."
Nora felt as though the room had tilted.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know yet."
Lorenzo arrived twenty minutes later.
He found her sitting alone.
"What happened?"
She handed him the report.
His face hardened.
"Nora."
"I didn't cheat on Brody."
"I didn't say you did."
"I was never with anyone else."
"I believe you."
"Then how?"
He read the clinic name.
His expression changed.
"Evergreen Women's Research Center."
"You know it?"
"No."
"But?"
Lorenzo pulled out his phone.
Within an hour, Marco found the answer.
Evergreen had been secretly owned through a chain of medical companies.
The final holding company belonged to Vescari Health Investments.
Carlo Vescari.
Nora went cold.
"What did he do to me?"
Nobody answered.
Then Giovanni's meeting was canceled.
Not by Carlo.
By Lorenzo.
Because suddenly the ledger was no longer the most dangerous secret in the room.
May you like
Somehow, Carlo Vescari's medical company had interfered with Nora's pregnancy.
And none of them knew why.
