Chapter 3 - Daniel Moretti
For three seconds, neither of us moved.
Then I shut the door in Daniel’s face.
He caught it before it closed.
“Clara, listen.”
“You have ten seconds before I call police.”
“You think police can protect you?”
“Better than you did.”
He flinched.
Good.
“You vanished.”
“I had to.”
“You left me pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you disappeared anyway.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I thought leaving was the only way to keep you alive.”
“That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.”
“Probably.”
I hated that he agreed.
“What happened?”
He glanced down the hallway.
“Not here.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Then call Lorenzo’s security.”
I almost laughed.
“Your brother’s?”
“Yes.”
“You trust him?”
“With you? More than anyone.”
I did not trust Daniel.
But I believed his fear.
I called Isabella.
Thirty minutes later, three black SUVs arrived.
Mia remained asleep while Marco Reyes, Lorenzo’s security chief, searched my apartment.
Daniel sat at my kitchen table.
Isabella entered last.
The second she saw him, she slapped him.
Hard.
Daniel accepted it.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
She slapped him again.
“Enough,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I pointed toward Mia’s room.
“She’s sleeping.”
Isabella lowered her voice.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Four years ago, Sofia found financial records proving someone inside Moretti Global was routing pharmaceutical shipments through our ports.”
Isabella frowned.
“We knew about smuggling.”
“Not this.”
“What?”
“Counterfeit cancer medication.”
The room went silent.
Lorenzo’s father, Vittorio Moretti, had built part of the family fortune through crime.
But even Isabella looked horrified.
Daniel continued.
“Sofia found it because the Moretti Foundation was buying medication for pediatric hospitals.”
My stomach tightened.
“She was investigating?”
“Yes.”
“Who was behind it?”
Daniel looked at his mother.
“Uncle Carlo.”
Isabella whispered:
“No.”
Carlo Moretti was Vittorio’s younger brother.
The family accountant.
Quiet.
Respected.
The man who supposedly retired to Florida after Sofia’s death.
“He wasn’t alone,” Daniel said.
“Who else?” Isabella asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Then why disappear?”
“Because Sofia asked me to help.”
Daniel had copied shipping records.
He planned to bring them to federal investigators.
Then Sofia’s car crashed.
Daniel knew immediately it was not accidental.
He believed Carlo discovered his involvement.
“So you ran?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“And met me?”
His face changed.
“I met you before Sofia died.”
I remembered.
A coffee shop.
Daniel smiling.
Buying me another tea after I spilled mine.
“You were using me?”
“No.”
“How convenient.”
“I was trying to live like a normal person.”
“You were a mafia prince pretending to be Daniel Reed.”
“I never called myself a prince.”
“Wrong part of that sentence.”
Daniel looked down.
“When you got pregnant, I wanted out.”
“Then why vanish?”
“Because two men followed you home.”
My anger paused.
“What?”
“I recognized one. Carlo’s.”
“You never told me.”
“If you knew, you would have refused to leave.”
“You didn’t give me a choice.”
“I know.”
Daniel arranged my new apartment through an anonymous rental subsidy.
The mysterious deposit assistance I thought came from a city program?
Daniel.
The diner manager who hired me despite my lack of references?
Daniel’s contact.
Even some of the money I believed came from overtime had been quietly supplemented.
I felt violated.
“You watched us.”
“From far away.”
“That is not romantic.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know!”
Mia cried from the bedroom.
I stopped.
Daniel’s face broke.
That was the first time he heard his daughter’s voice.
I went to her.
She sat upright clutching Mr. Buttons.
“Mommy?”
“I’m here.”
“People?”
“Yes.”
“Bad people?”
I almost laughed.
Complicated question.
“No one is going to hurt you.”
Daniel stood at the doorway but did not enter.
Mia looked at him.
“Who’s that?”
My throat tightened.
I was not ready.
“He’s… someone I used to know.”
Mia studied him.
Daniel was crying silently.
She noticed.
“Why is he sad?”
“Grown-up problems.”
She held Mr. Buttons toward him.
“You can hug Bunny.”
Daniel nearly collapsed.
He did not take the rabbit.
“Thank you.”
Mia smiled.
Then yawned.
I tucked her back in.
When I returned to the kitchen, Daniel wiped his face.
I pretended not to notice.
“What does Lorenzo’s crash have to do with me?”
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“Two weeks ago, somebody accessed sealed records linking you to me.”
“What records?”
“Mia’s birth certificate application.”
“Your name isn’t on it.”
“No. But hospital surveillance showed me visiting you after delivery.”
My stomach turned.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“You saw her?”
“Through a nursery window.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead I sat down.
“Someone discovered Mia exists.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“If Carlo learns she’s my daughter, she becomes leverage.”
“Why?”
“Because I have evidence.”
“Where?”
Daniel smiled bitterly.
“If I tell you, you become more dangerous to them.”
“You already made me dangerous by having a child with me.”
He accepted that.
Then Marco entered from the hallway.
“Mrs. Moretti.”
He meant Isabella.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Lorenzo is awake again.”
Isabella stood.
“Talking?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Marco looked at me.
“He’s asking for the little girl.”
My skin prickled.
“Why?”
Marco hesitated.
“He says he remembers her voice.”
Daniel frowned.
“Impossible.”
Elena called Isabella.
She put the phone on speaker.
Lorenzo’s weak voice filled the kitchen.
“Mom.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“Lorenzo.”
“Where’s Mia?”
I looked at Daniel.
Then at Isabella.
Isabella answered carefully.
“She’s safe.”
Silence.
Then Lorenzo said:
“Bring her.”
I stepped forward.
“No.”
Everyone looked at me.
Lorenzo apparently heard.
“Clara?”
How did he know my name?
I had never introduced myself while he was conscious.
My blood went cold.
“Who told you?”
Lorenzo breathed slowly.
“No one.”
“Then how do you know me?”
Long pause.
Then:
“Because I heard your voice before the crash.”
Daniel went pale.
“What?”
Lorenzo continued.
“Someone played a recording.”
My heart hammered.
“Recording of what?”
Lorenzo whispered:
“Clara singing to Mia.”
Silence.
I had never recorded that song publicly.
Daniel stared at me.
I stared at him.
Then Lorenzo said:
“The man who played it told me your daughter was the key to finding Daniel.”
Daniel’s chair scraped backward.
Isabella whispered:
“Who?”
May you like
Lorenzo answered.
“Carlo.”
