Chapter 10 - The Lie Between Us.
Dominic left the house only after Detective Torres ordered him out.
Vincent did not try to stop him.
That frightened me more than if he had.
He stood in the foyer and watched his cousin disappear through the front doors with a face I could not read.
Then he turned toward me.
"You deserve the whole story."
"I deserved it yesterday."
"Yes."
The answer took some of the fight out of me.
Vincent led us back to the library.
This time Ethan stayed.
Rosa tried to send him upstairs.
He refused.
"It's about Mom."
Vincent looked at him for a long moment.
"Some of it is difficult."
"Everything is difficult now."
Ethan's voice was small but steady.
"I still want the truth."
Vincent nodded.
"Then you stay."
Sofia sat beside Ethan.
I sat across from Vincent.
The fire in the fireplace had burned low.
"Three weeks before Isabella died," Vincent began, "someone entered the lake house while she and Elena were there."
"Why were they there?"
"Isabella said she wanted a quiet weekend."
His mouth tightened.
"I believed her."
"They were working on the records," Sofia said.
Vincent nodded.
"I know that now."
He looked at me.
"The intruder never reached Isabella."
My stomach tightened.
"Because of my mom."
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Elena heard glass break downstairs."
His voice slowed.
"She got Isabella out through the rear door and tried to call security."
"The intruder caught up with her."
I pressed my fingernails into my palms.
"Was she badly hurt?"
"She had a concussion and a broken wrist."
I stared at him.
"And I never knew."
"You were staying with your grandmother that weekend."
"How do you know that?"
Sofia answered.
"I drove Elena home after the hospital."
I turned toward her.
"You met me."
Her eyes filled.
"You were asleep on the couch."
"I carried you to bed."
That memory did not exist for me.
But apparently I existed in hers.
"Why didn't anyone report the break-in?"
Vincent looked ashamed.
"I did."
"But I also kept parts of it quiet because I believed public attention would make the family vulnerable."
"Meaning it would make you look weak."
He did not deny it.
"Yes."
I laughed bitterly.
"So Dominic was right about one thing."
"Which thing?"
"My mother got hurt because she helped your family."
Vincent's face hardened with pain.
"Yes."
The room fell silent.
I expected him to defend Isabella.
He did not.
"And I failed to understand how much danger they were in."
Ethan looked down at his hands.
"Was Mom scared?"
Vincent moved beside him.
"Yes."
"Why didn't she tell you?"
"Because she thought I would respond with anger instead of judgment."
Ethan looked up.
"Would you have?"
Vincent answered after a long pause.
"Back then?"
"Probably."
It was the first time I had heard him admit something ugly without softening it.
Ethan nodded slowly.
"Okay."
Vincent touched the back of his head.
"I'm sorry."
A phone buzzed.
Torres checked hers.
"The memory card from Elena's coat has been imaged."
Everyone straightened.
"What's on it?" I asked.
"Video."
My pulse jumped.
"Of my mother?"
"One file appears to be."
We watched it on the television in the library.
The image was grainy.
My mother sat at a kitchen table I recognized from our old apartment.
She looked tired.
A bruise colored one side of her forehead.
Her wrist was wrapped.
I forgot how to breathe.
"My name is Elena Hart."
Her voice came through the speakers.
I had not heard it in six years.
My chest cracked open.
"If Lily ever sees this, baby, I'm sorry."
I covered my mouth.
Nobody looked at me.
That kindness nearly destroyed me.
Mom continued.
"Isabella and I found records showing Dominic Moretti authorized payments he was not supposed to authorize."
Vincent's expression hardened.
"Peter helped approve them."
Sofia whispered something under her breath.
"Marcus Hale moved documents whenever we got close."
Julian looked toward Torres.
"There it is."
My mother continued.
"I don't know whether Vincent knows."
"I don't think Isabella knows either."
"That is why we have not gone to him yet."
Vincent closed his eyes.
"If anything happens to me, do not let Dominic tell Lily I abandoned her."
My vision blurred completely.
"I would never leave my daughter."
A sob escaped me before I could stop it.
Rosa came to my side.
She did not hug me without asking.
She simply sat close enough that I could reach for her.
I did.
Mom's voice continued.
"Lily, I love you more than anything in this world."
"If I have to send you away, it is because I am trying to get back to you safely."
The video ended.
I stared at the black screen.
For years, I had believed my mother's death was the first time she left me.
Now I understood she had been trying not to.
Torres gave me several minutes before speaking.
"The rest of the card contains copies of financial records and photographs from the lake house."
"Enough to arrest Dominic?"
"Not by itself."
Anger snapped through me.
"He is named in the video."
"A statement is evidence, but an old allegation still needs corroboration."
"Peter came after the coat."
"Which helps."
"Marcus drugged Ethan."
"Which is a separate case unless we can connect his actions to Dominic."
I wanted the world to work like Vincent's world.
One sentence.
One decision.
One door closing forever.
Instead, the law moved through forms and proof and patient questions.
Maybe that was why powerful men hated it.
A knock came at the library door.
Julian opened it.
A woman in a gray suit stood with two other adults.
She showed identification.
"New York City Administration for Children's Services."
I felt my stomach drop.
Vincent's face became cold.
"Why are you here?"
The woman looked at me.
"We're here for Lily Hart."
I stood.
"What happened?"
"A report was filed that an unaccompanied fourteen-year-old has been residing in this home without legal placement or guardianship approval."
Vincent stepped between us.
"She is a witness in an active criminal investigation."
"Which is why her placement needs to be documented and reviewed."
"She's safe here."
"That is not your decision."
Vincent's entire body went still.
I almost felt sorry for the woman.
Then she looked directly at him.
"Mr. Moretti, your name does not exempt you from child welfare law."
I definitely liked her.
Vincent did not.
Ethan stood on his crutches.
"She's staying with us."
The woman softened.
"I'm glad she has people who care about her."
"Then let her stay."
"We have to make sure any home is appropriate first."
I looked at Vincent.
He looked furious.
But he also looked trapped.
For once, there was no command he could give that would make a problem disappear.
The caseworker introduced herself as Dana Brooks.
She explained that I would go to a licensed youth residence temporarily while the court reviewed emergency placement options.
"No," Ethan said.
"Ethan," Vincent began.
"You said nobody who saved me sleeps on the street."
His voice broke.
"You promised."
Vincent knelt in front of him.
"She won't be on the street."
"But she won't be here."
"Not tonight."
Ethan looked at me.
I hated the fear in his face.
"It's okay."
"No, it's not."
"It's one night."
"You said that before."
I almost laughed.
"I did."
Vincent stood and looked at Dana.
"My attorneys will file for emergency guardianship before the court opens."
Dana nodded.
"That's your right."
"And until then?"
"Lily comes with us."
He looked at me.
I expected him to fight.
Part of me wanted him to.
Instead he asked one question.
"Do you want to go?"
Nobody had asked me that.
Not the caseworker.
Not Torres.
Not Sofia.
Him.
I swallowed.
"I don't want anybody breaking the law because of me."
Vincent nodded once.
"Then we do this correctly."
His voice became quieter.
"But Lily?"
"What?"
"This is not me letting you disappear."
I looked at Ethan.
Then at the coat Vincent had once wrapped around me.
"I know."
Twenty minutes later, I left the Moretti house in a city car.
I watched the gates close behind me.
For some reason, it hurt more than leaving any foster home ever had.
At the youth residence, Dana showed me a small room with two beds.
The other bed was empty.
"You'll be safe here tonight."
I had heard that sentence before.
I nodded anyway.
After she left, I found a folded piece of paper beneath my pillow.
My name was written on it.
I opened it.
One sentence.
YOUR MOTHER TRIED TO TRUST VINCENT TOO.
Underneath was an address.
May you like
And a time.
MIDNIGHT.
