Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO CALLED SOPHIE HIS DAUGHTER
Three months after Adrien Moretti married Elena Bellamy in the garden of his Westchester estate, a stranger arrived at the front gate and told security he had come to collect his daughter.
At 4:18 on a Tuesday afternoon, Adrien was sitting on the nursery floor trying to convince Theo that socks were not optional.
“They hurt.”
“They do not hurt.”
“They do.”
Adrien examined the tiny blue sock as if it were evidence in a federal investigation.
“Where?”
Theo pointed toward his entire foot.
“There.”
“That is not medically specific.”
Theo stared.
Adrien stared back.
Miles sat beside them wearing two socks and no pants.
Nora had somehow climbed into the gray rocking chair and was reading a picture book upside down.
Sophie, now six, sat near the window repairing Lucy’s faded yellow dress with Elena’s sewing kit.
Family life had done something no enemy ever managed.
It had made Adrien Moretti negotiable.
Not harmless.
Never harmless.
But negotiable.
Elena appeared in the doorway.
She was holding a phone.
Her face was pale.
Adrien noticed immediately.
“What?”
She looked toward Sophie.
Then toward him.
“Dante needs you downstairs.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I know.”
“Elena.”
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“There’s a man at the gate.”
Adrien stood.
“What man?”
She swallowed.
“Owen Bellamy.”
The name meant nothing for one second.
Then everything.
Sophie’s father.
Adrien’s expression became completely still.
Sophie did not hear.
She was humming while pushing a needle through Lucy’s dress.
Adrien lowered his voice.
“He’s alive?”
Elena almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
“Apparently.”
“You told me he left.”
“He did.”
“When Sophie was?”
“Four months old.”
“And you haven’t heard from him since?”
“Not directly.”
Adrien’s jaw tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Elena looked toward Sophie again.
“Can we talk downstairs?”
Adrien followed her.
Dante waited in the library.
On the security monitor, a man stood outside the iron gates.
Mid-thirties.
Brown hair.
Expensive coat.
No obvious weapon.
No car visible.
Adrien stared at the screen.
“That’s him?”
Elena nodded.
Dante said, “He has a driver’s license confirming identity.”
Adrien looked toward Elena.
“What do you want?”
She closed her eyes briefly.
There it was.
The lesson he had spent years learning.
Not what should I do.
What do you want?
“I want to know why he’s here.”
Adrien nodded.
“Then we ask.”
Dante raised an eyebrow.
“You want him inside?”
“No.”
Adrien looked toward the security feed.
“Gatehouse.”
Ten minutes later, Owen Bellamy sat in a secure reception room separated from the main estate.
Adrien entered with Elena.
Dante remained by the door.
Owen stood.
His eyes moved immediately toward Elena.
“You look good.”
Adrien disliked him within three seconds.
Elena’s face remained cold.
“You don’t get to start there.”
Owen looked at Adrien.
“And you must be the husband.”
Adrien sat.
“You must be the man who disappeared for six years.”
Owen’s mouth tightened.
“I came to see Sophie.”
“No.”
Elena answered before Adrien could.
Owen looked at her.
“You can’t keep my daughter from me.”
Elena laughed quietly.
“You kept yourself from her.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You left.”
“I was twenty-eight.”
“So was I.”
Owen looked away.
“I wasn’t ready.”
“You didn’t become more ready by disappearing.”
“I sent money.”
“No.”
Elena’s voice sharpened.
“You sent one check when she was eleven months old.”
Owen’s face changed.
Adrien watched.
One check.
Elena continued.
“It bounced.”
Dante looked toward the floor.
Probably to hide a reaction.
Owen sat.
“I had problems.”
“I know.”
“What do you know?”
“That you were gambling.”
His face tightened.
“That you borrowed from people you shouldn’t have.”
Silence.
“That you left me in Queens with an infant and twelve hundred dollars.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“You do not get to say my name like we share a sad love story.”
Owen looked at Adrien.
“This is between us.”
Adrien almost smiled.
Elena leaned forward.
“No. It stopped being between us the day you stopped being there.”
Owen breathed slowly.
“I got clean.”
“Good.”
“I’ve been clean three years.”
“Good.”
“I have a job.”
“Good.”
“I want to know my daughter.”
Elena stared at him.
Adrien said nothing.
It was not his answer.
Owen continued.
“I saw the wedding.”
Elena’s expression changed.
“Online?”
“Yes.”
That made sense.
Adrien and Elena’s wedding had been private.
But one photograph eventually reached the press.
MAFIA BILLIONAIRE REMARRIES HOUSEHOLD MANAGER WHO HELPED SAVE HIS CHILDREN.
Adrien had hated the headline.
Elena hated it more.
Owen apparently noticed something else.
“Sophie was in the picture.”
“Yes.”
“I realized how old she was.”
Elena stared.
“You needed a newspaper photograph to remember your daughter was six?”
Owen flinched.
Adrien felt no sympathy.
Owen reached into his coat.
Dante moved instantly.
“Slow.”
Owen froze.
“It’s paperwork.”
He placed an envelope on the table.
Elena opened it.
Her face drained.
“What is this?”
Adrien held out his hand.
She passed it to him.
Petition for visitation.
Temporary custody review.
Family court.
Adrien read every page.
The petition alleged that Sophie was being raised inside the home of an “admitted organized-crime figure.”
That Adrien’s estate had recently experienced kidnapping, surveillance, armed criminal activity and police raids.
That Elena had placed Sophie in “an environment of extraordinary danger.”
Adrien’s jaw tightened.
Legally, the language was effective because enough of it was true.
The estate had been infiltrated.
Julian had been kidnapped.
Marco had threatened the children.
Sophie’s doll had carried a listening device.
Adrien’s reputation was not fictional.
Owen leaned back.
“I don’t want a war.”
Adrien raised his eyes.
“Then you chose a strange document.”
“I want visitation.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“Then why ask for custody review?”
“To protect myself.”
“From what?”
“From him.”
Owen looked directly at Adrien.
Adrien smiled faintly.
Bad decision.
“I’m sitting across from you politely.”
“Because lawyers are involved.”
“No.”
Adrien leaned forward.
“Because Sophie is upstairs.”
Owen swallowed.
“And she will never learn that violence is how I solved a disagreement about her.”
Elena looked at Adrien.
Pride.
Quiet.
Owen tried another direction.
“You expect me to believe the great Adrien Moretti suddenly became a family man?”
Adrien’s voice stayed calm.
“I don’t care what you believe.”
“I’ve read about you.”
“So has everyone.”
“Racketeering investigations. shipping corruption. bookmakers.”
“Allegations.”
Owen laughed.
Elena said:
“Stop.”
Both men looked at her.
“This is not a competition over who can look more dangerous or more righteous.”
She turned toward Owen.
“You want to see Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“You will not surprise her.”
“Fine.”
“You will not tell her I kept you away.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You will not make promises you may disappear from.”
Owen’s face tightened.
“I won’t.”
“And before any meeting, I want a therapist involved.”
“What?”
“A child therapist.”
“I’m her father.”
“You’re a stranger.”
Silence.
Owen looked wounded.
Good.
The truth sometimes did.
Elena continued.
“If you actually care about Sophie, you’ll accept that.”
Owen looked toward Adrien.
“And what does he get to be?”
Adrien answered this one.
“Whatever Sophie chooses.”
Owen laughed bitterly.
“You married her mother.”
“Yes.”
“You live with her.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been playing father.”
Adrien’s eyes hardened.
“No.”
Owen stopped.
“Sophie has a father.”
Adrien’s voice became quieter.
“You.”
Elena looked at him.
“I have never asked her to call me Dad.”
Owen said nothing.
“She calls me Adrien.”
Sometimes Addy when she was trying to manipulate him.
He did not mention that.
“And if one day she chooses something else, it will be because she chooses it.”
Adrien leaned back.
“Not because I erased you.”
Owen looked away.
For the first time, something like shame appeared.
The meeting ended without agreement.
Lawyers would handle the petition.
A therapist would be contacted.
Owen left.
Adrien waited until the gate closed.
Then he turned toward Elena.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Do you regret agreeing to let him try?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s allowed.”
She looked toward the ceiling.
Sophie upstairs.
“I always thought he would come back.”
Adrien said nothing.
“For the first year.”
Elena laughed sadly.
“Every time someone knocked, I thought it might be him.”
Adrien understood waiting for someone who would never walk through a door.
Too well.
“And then?”
“I stopped.”
She wiped her face.
“Then Sophie got older and stopped asking why other kids had dads.”
Adrien’s throat tightened.
“What did you tell her?”
“That families come in different shapes.”
“Good answer.”
“I didn’t tell her he was dead.”
“No.”
“I didn’t tell her he loved her.”
Adrien looked at her.
“Because you didn’t know.”
“Exactly.”
She leaned against the desk.
“What if he does love her?”
Adrien thought.
“Then he proves it slowly.”
Elena nodded.
“And if he hurts her?”
Adrien’s first answer was not suitable for family court.
He replaced it.
“Then we help her.”
Elena smiled weakly.
“You’re improving.”
“I had several alternatives.”
“I know.”
They went upstairs.
Sophie looked up from the rug.
“Why were you gone?”
Elena sat beside her.
“Baby, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Adrien turned toward the door.
Sophie noticed.
“You stay.”
He stopped.
Elena looked at him.
Then nodded.
Adrien sat near the rocking chair.
Not beside Elena.
Not leading.
Present.
Elena took Sophie’s hands.
“You know how we’ve talked about your biological dad?”
Sophie frowned.
“The man who wasn’t ready?”
Adrien looked toward Elena.
That was apparently the child-safe summary.
“Yes.”
“He came here today.”
Sophie went completely still.
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He says he wants to know you.”
Sophie stared at her mother.
Then at Adrien.
Then at Lucy.
Her little face became unreadable.
Finally:
“Does he know my birthday?”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“I don’t know.”
Sophie looked down.
“Does he know Lucy?”
“No.”
“Does he know I hate peas?”
“No.”
“Does he know I sleep with the hallway light?”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Sophie swallowed.
“Then he doesn’t know me.”
Adrien’s chest tightened.
Elena pulled her close.
“No.”
“Not yet.”
That word mattered.
Sophie looked toward Adrien.
“Do I have to like him?”
“No.”
Adrien answered immediately.
“Do I have to call him Daddy?”
Elena’s face broke.
“No.”
“Can I?”
Elena nodded through tears.
“If you want someday.”
Sophie thought.
Then climbed into Elena’s arms.
Adrien looked away, giving them privacy inside the same room.
That night, after the children slept, Dante entered Adrien’s office.
“Problem.”
Adrien looked up.
“What?”
“Owen lied.”
“About?”
“His job.”
Adrien’s face hardened.
“He said he works in commercial insurance.”
“He did.”
“Doesn’t?”
“He was fired six weeks ago.”
Adrien stood.
“Why?”
“Client theft.”
“How much?”
“Seventy-eight thousand.”
Adrien’s stomach tightened.
“Gambling?”
“Possibly.”
“Anything else?”
Dante placed a photograph on the desk.
Owen Bellamy leaving a restaurant in Manhattan three nights earlier.
Beside him stood Dominic Caruso.
Adrien recognized the man instantly.
Former Moretti bookmaker.
One of the people Adrien had pushed out of the organization after Claire’s death because Caruso refused to stop operating through violence.
Adrien stared.
“Why is Sophie’s father meeting Dominic Caruso?”
Dante’s answer came quietly.
“That’s what worries me.”
Adrien looked toward the nursery monitor on his desk.
Four children sleeping.
Theo.
Miles.
Nora.
Sophie in the room across the hall.
Owen had not returned because a wedding photograph awakened fatherly love.
Or not only that.
May you like
Someone had sent him.
And whatever Owen Bellamy wanted from Sophie was connected to a man Adrien had once thrown out of his empire.
