Chapter 6 - LilyA black SUV stopped outside the house.
A little girl stepped out.
She was nine years old.
Long brown hair.
A blue sweater.
A white rabbit tucked under one arm.
My knees nearly gave out.
“Lily?”
She stopped.
Her eyes widened.
“Daddy?”
I couldn't breathe.
Then she ran.
I caught her.
For six years, I had imagined this moment.
Every version had been different.
None prepared me for the weight of my child in my arms.
She cried.
I cried.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally she whispered:
“I knew you'd find me.”
I held her tighter.
“I'm sorry.”
She pulled back.
“Why?”
“Because I should have found you sooner.”
She shook her head.
“Grandma said you were looking.”
I looked toward my mother.
She nodded.
Lily touched my face.
“You look older.”
I laughed through tears.
“You look taller.”
She smiled.
For the first time in six years, my house no longer felt empty.
But the reunion didn't erase the danger.
My mother explained that my father's old organization had split after his death.
One faction wanted me dead.
Another wanted Lily.
Because Lily had witnessed something.
A murder.
The murder of my father's accountant.
A man named Thomas Reed.
Thomas had discovered that my father was secretly laundering money through legitimate businesses.
He threatened to expose him.
My father killed him.
Lily saw it.
She remembered the green marble fireplace.
The gold watch.
And one sentence.
“No one touches my family.”
That sentence belonged to my father.
I understood.
He hadn't ordered Lily kidnapped because she was a threat.
He ordered her hidden because he feared what she knew.
Then Victor called.
“Julian.”
“What?”
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone knows Lily is alive.”
I looked at my daughter.
“Who?”
“Your father's last surviving lieutenant.”
“Name?”
Victor whispered:
“Adrian Vale.”
The name meant nothing.
But my mother went pale.
She knew it.
“He was your father's most loyal man.”
I looked at Lily.
Then at Grace.
May you like
We had found her.
Now someone else was coming to take her.
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