Chapter 2 - SOPHIA OPENED THE DOOR AND REALIZED THE MAN SHE HAD RUN FROM HAD FOUND HER
“Because you’re my daddy… right?”
For several seconds, Dominic Moretti forgot the city existed.
Traffic moved behind them.
A horn sounded somewhere down the Brooklyn block.
Cold rain tapped softly against the roof of the black SUV.
Dominic heard none of it.
He stared at Lily Carter.
Five years old.
Almost six.
Blue eyes that looked painfully familiar.
That tiny crease between her eyebrows.
The shape of her mouth when she became serious.
Details he had noticed inside his mansion without allowing himself to name them.
Now there was nowhere left to hide.
Dominic crouched beside her on the sidewalk.
He could have lied.
Could have said adults needed to discuss complicated things.
Could have redirected her.
Instead, he chose the only answer that did not steal something from either Lily or Sophia.
“I think I might be.”
Lily frowned.
“Might?”
“I need to talk to your mom.”
“But you know her.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kiss her?”
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
One of his security men suddenly became fascinated by the opposite side of the street.
Dominic looked at Lily again.
“That is a question for when you are much older.”
“So yes.”
“Lily.”
She hugged the stuffed rabbit tighter.
Then stared toward the front entrance of the old brick walk-up.
“Mama’s going to yell.”
“She should.”
“You said that already.”
“Because you traveled across New York by yourself.”
“I had directions.”
Dominic stared.
“You are five.”
“Almost six.”
“Not helping.”
That was when the front door flew open.
Sophia Carter stepped outside wearing gray sweatpants, an old navy coat, and terror.
Not surprise.
Terror.
“LILY!”
The little girl flinched.
“Mama—”
Sophia crossed the sidewalk so quickly she nearly slipped.
She dropped to her knees and grabbed Lily with both arms.
“Oh my God.”
Her voice broke.
“Where were you?”
“I told Mrs. Alvarez I was going downstairs.”
“You disappeared!”
“I left a note.”
“You cannot leave a note and take a train!”
Sophia pulled back, examining her daughter’s face, hands, coat.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did anyone touch you?”
“No.”
“Are you freezing?”
“A little.”
Then Sophia finally looked up.
At Dominic.
Everything changed.
Six years collapsed into one second.
Dominic remembered Sophia at twenty-six, standing inside his office with a pencil behind one ear and an audit report in her hand, telling him his department managers were “financially allergic to basic organization.”
He remembered her laughing on his terrace.
Remembered the night he almost told her he loved her.
Remembered the morning he decided love made her a target.
Then the cruel words he used to push her away.
You were entertainment, Sophia. Don’t confuse access with importance.
She had gone white.
He had hated himself before she even left the room.
But he let her leave.
Now Sophia stood six feet away with their possible daughter in her arms.
Her face hardened.
“You.”
Dominic swallowed.
“Sophia.”
“How did you find us?”
Lily raised her hand.
“I found him.”
Sophia slowly looked down.
“What?”
“I went to his house.”
Sophia’s face lost every trace of color.
“You did what?”
“Mama—”
“You went to Dominic Moretti’s house by yourself?”
“He has guards.”
“That is not better!”
Lily seemed to reconsider.
Dominic said quietly:
“She came through the delivery entrance.”
Sophia looked ready to kill him for providing details.
Then her eyes dropped toward the black SUV.
The security vehicle behind it.
The men keeping distance.
Old fear returned.
Not fear of Dominic exactly.
Fear of the world around him.
Dominic recognized it.
“I’m not here to take her.”
Sophia’s eyes snapped toward him.
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You thought it.”
“You don’t know what I think anymore.”
Fair.
Lily tugged Sophia’s sleeve.
“Mama.”
“What?”
“I asked him.”
Sophia went still.
“Asked him what?”
Lily suddenly became much less confident.
“If he’s my daddy.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
Dominic watched her.
That reaction answered more than words could.
Lily whispered:
“He said maybe.”
Sophia opened her eyes.
She looked at Dominic with something dangerously close to grief.
Then:
“Inside.”
Not invitation.
Command.
Dominic turned toward his men.
“Stay here.”
Sophia immediately said:
“They all stay outside.”
“Yes.”
He followed her upstairs.
The apartment was on the third floor.
No elevator.
Narrow stairs.
Peeling paint.
A radiator that clicked like it was trying to communicate.
Inside, everything was clean but worn.
Secondhand couch.
Small dining table.
Children’s drawings taped beside the refrigerator.
A stack of past-due envelopes partially hidden beneath a grocery flyer.
Dominic saw too much automatically.
Years of reading rooms for threats had taught him to read scarcity too.
He hated that Sophia noticed him noticing.
“Don’t.”
His eyes returned to her.
“Don’t what?”
“Start calculating.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
She removed Lily’s coat.
“Rich men always calculate when they see people without enough money.”
“How much to fix it.”
“How much to make the discomfort disappear.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I came because your daughter crossed New York alone.”
“Yes.”
Sophia looked at Lily.
“We are absolutely discussing that.”
Lily whispered:
“After the daddy thing?”
Sophia exhaled.
“Go wash your hands.”
“But—”
“Lily.”
The child looked toward Dominic for rescue.
He shook his head.
“You’re on your own.”
Betrayal filled her face.
She disappeared down the hall.
Sophia waited until the bathroom door closed.
Then turned.
“How much does she know?”
“Nothing from me.”
“She recognized you.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I assumed you told her.”
Sophia laughed without humor.
“I told her your name.”
Dominic’s breathing changed.
“When?”
“Last year.”
“Why?”
“Because she started asking why everyone at school had dads in family pictures and she didn’t.”
Sophia folded both arms across her chest.
“I wasn’t going to invent a dead man.”
Dominic absorbed that.
“You told her I was her father.”
“I told her there was a man named Dominic Moretti who might be her biological father.”
“Might?”
“I never had a DNA test.”
“Did you doubt?”
Sophia’s face tightened.
“No.”
The answer was quiet.
Absolute.
Dominic looked toward the hallway.
His daughter.
Almost six years.
First words.
First steps.
Fevers.
Birthdays.
Christmas mornings.
Every moment happened without him.
His chest hurt.
Then anger tried to enter.
Not at Sophia.
At himself.
At the six lost years.
At the possibility she could have told him.
He killed that thought before it became accusation.
He had been the one who told her she meant nothing.
He had made leaving seem necessary.
Still, a question existed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sophia laughed.
Then stopped.
Her eyes filled.
“I did.”
Dominic went completely still.
“What?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three weeks after I left.”
“I found out I was pregnant.”
She walked toward a cabinet.
Opened the highest shelf.
Removed a metal box.
Inside were papers tied with an old elastic band.
She placed them on the table.
A copy of a letter.
Dominic recognized the address immediately.
His former Manhattan residence.
Dominic,
I don’t know whether you want to hear from me after what you said. I almost didn’t tell you. But I’m pregnant, and if there is any chance this baby is yours, you deserve to know…
Dominic stopped reading.
“I never saw this.”
Sophia’s laugh broke.
“Of course.”
“I didn’t.”
She removed another paper.
Certified-mail receipt.
Delivered.
Signed for.
Not Dominic’s signature.
C. DESANTIS.
Dominic’s body became rigid.
Carlo DeSantis.
His longtime financial adviser.
His father’s former lieutenant.
A man Dominic still trusted with Moretti Holdings accounts.
Sophia placed another envelope down.
“This came eight days later.”
Moretti letterhead.
Dominic’s old private-office crest.
The message was short.
Ms. Carter, Mr. Moretti has no interest in revisiting your relationship or assuming personal obligations arising from it. Continued attempts to contact him may create security concerns for you and your child. Enclosed is a financial settlement offered without acknowledgment of paternity. You are strongly advised to build your life elsewhere.
Dominic read it twice.
Then a third time.
His hands began shaking.
“How much?”
Sophia’s expression hardened.
“Fifty thousand.”
“Did you take it?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
She reached into the box.
An uncashed cashier’s check.
Expired years ago.
Dominic stared.
“Carlo sent this?”
“He met me.”
Dominic’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“In person.”
“When?”
“I was eleven weeks pregnant.”
“Where?”
“A café near Penn Station.”
Sophia’s voice became flatter as if she had repeated this memory privately too many times.
“He said you knew.”
“He said the Vescari war was getting worse.”
“He said you had no intention of recognizing the baby, and if I cared about keeping her alive, I would stay outside your world.”
Dominic felt sick.
“I never authorized that.”
Sophia stared at him.
“Do you know what I believed for six years?”
He could not answer.
“I believed you knew I was carrying your child.”
“I believed you sent another man to tell me that admitting she existed could get her killed.”
“I believed you chose your empire before she was born.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
He had chosen the empire.
Just not in the way Sophia thought.
He had broken her heart specifically because he believed pushing her away kept her safe.
Carlo had turned that cruelty into something worse.
Sophia continued.
“I called your office twice after Lily was born.”
“You were unavailable.”
“Then someone from security called me back and said further contact would violate the agreement.”
“What agreement?”
“The settlement I never signed.”
Dominic looked at the uncashed check.
“How did you survive?”
Sophia’s expression changed.
“Don’t ask me that like I’m a tragic accounting problem.”
“I’m not.”
“Then don’t look at my apartment like you can fix six years with a wire transfer.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
“You’re right.”
That answer surprised her.
Then footsteps came from the hallway.
Lily returned.
Her hands were still wet.
She looked between them.
“Are you fighting?”
Sophia wiped her eyes quickly.
“No.”
Lily looked at Dominic.
“Are you my daddy?”
No adult answer could delay this forever.
Dominic crouched.
“I think your mom and I should get a test so we know for certain.”
Lily frowned.
“Does it hurt?”
“Just a cheek swab.”
“I’ve had worse.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
Dominic nearly smiled.
Then Lily asked:
“If it says yes, do you stay?”
The room went silent.
Dominic looked at Sophia.
He could promise fatherhood.
He could not promise a marriage.
A home.
A relationship he had not earned.
So he answered carefully.
“If it says I’m your father, I will not disappear.”
Lily stared.
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“I promise.”
Sophia looked away.
May you like
Because unlike Lily, she already knew Dominic Moretti had once believed disappearing from someone’s life could be an act of love.
This time, he would have to prove he had learned better.
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