Chapter 9 - The Eight Percent Girl.
I did not feel like a millionaire.
I felt like a fourteen-year-old wearing borrowed jeans in the back seat of a police car while an old red coat sat inside an evidence bag beside me.
The number eight million meant nothing.
Eight dollars meant food.
Eighty meant a motel room if I got lucky.
Eight hundred sounded impossible.
Eight million sounded fictional.
The eight percent bothered me more.
Julian explained it slowly on the drive back to the Moretti house.
"Isabella placed a portion of her personal shares into the trust."
"Why?"
"According to the document, it was compensation and protection for Elena's work."
"Compensation?"
"She believed your mother took risks that could cost her career and safety."
I looked out the window.
Snow covered the city roofs.
"My mom never told me."
"She may not have planned to."
"Why would she hide millions from her own kid?"
"Because money can make children visible to the wrong adults."
Detective Torres glanced at me through the mirror.
"Especially when ownership comes with it."
"Ownership of what?"
Julian answered.
"Voting rights in Moretti Group after you turn eighteen."
"I don't want voting rights."
"That may be exactly why Isabella chose you."
I stared at him.
"That makes no sense."
"People who desperately want power are rarely the people you should give it to."
I thought about Dominic.
Peter.
Marcus.
The rings.
"Can I give it away?"
"Eventually, perhaps."
"Can I give it back to Vincent?"
Julian looked uncomfortable.
"Not without legal review."
"Why?"
"Because the trust contains restrictions."
"Of course it does."
"Isabella was thorough."
"Isabella was apparently planning my life before I knew her name."
Julian did not argue.
When we reached the house, Ethan was waiting in the foyer despite Rosa ordering him to stay seated.
He hugged me around the waist.
"You came back."
"I said I would."
"Did you find the coat?"
"Yes."
"Was the secret inside?"
"A lot of secrets were inside."
Vincent stood several feet away.
He looked at me carefully.
"Torres called."
"Then you know."
"Some of it."
"I'm rich."
Ethan looked up.
"Cool."
"No, it's not."
"You can buy a dinosaur."
"I don't think eight million buys a dinosaur."
"It should."
Vincent almost smiled.
Then his gaze shifted to Julian.
"The shares?"
Julian nodded.
"Eight percent at eighteen, unless a court changes the trust."
Vincent's expression darkened.
"Isabella never told me."
"She didn't want you to know," I said.
The words came out sharper than I intended.
Vincent took them without reacting.
"Apparently not."
Sofia came down the stairs.
She looked exhausted.
"Peter's attorney is already claiming he entered the church because he received an anonymous warning that evidence was being destroyed."
Torres snorted.
"His attorney can claim he was looking for Santa Claus."
"Is he arrested?" I asked.
"He's being questioned."
"So he can just leave?"
"Not necessarily."
"That's a fancy way of saying maybe."
Torres gave me a look.
"You'd make an exhausting lawyer."
"I learned from Vincent."
"I heard that," Vincent said.
For ten minutes, everyone talked over everyone else.
Then Rosa appeared and announced that food was ready.
Nobody moved.
She crossed her arms.
"The police can investigate while chewing."
Torres looked at her.
"I like you."
"Good."
Rosa pointed toward the dining room.
"Sit."
Even Vincent obeyed.
The dining room fell into a suffocating silence once the doors closed.
The crystal chandelier above us seemed to flicker, casting sharp shadows across a meal nobody was hungry enough to finish.
I sat between Ethan and Rosa.
Vincent sat at the head of the table.
Sofia sat across from me.
Dominic had been allowed to leave after Torres confirmed he had not taken Ethan and found no immediate grounds to hold him.
That fact made every bite taste wrong.
Halfway through dinner, the front door opened.
A few seconds later, Dominic walked into the dining room without being invited.
Vincent put down his fork.
"You have ten seconds to explain why you're here."
Dominic looked at me.
"Because Lily deserves to hear the part nobody has told her."
Torres was still at the table.
She stood.
"This is becoming a habit."
Dominic ignored her.
"Lily, your mother's trust does not make you rich at eighteen."
"Julian said it does."
"Julian read the first schedule."
He placed a document on the table.
"There is a second."
Julian took it.
His eyes moved rapidly across the page.
Vincent watched him.
"Well?"
Julian looked at me.
"The trust also gives Lily the right to appoint one independent board member when she turns eighteen."
"I don't care."
"You should," Dominic said.
"Because if those shares vote against the family block, Vincent loses automatic control of Moretti Group."
I stared at him.
"So that's what you want?"
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
Dominic looked at Vincent.
"To stop him from pretending Isabella was a saint."
Vincent stood.
"Careful."
"She created a child shareholder in secret."
"She knew you would never permit it."
"Because children should not be used as weapons in adult wars."
Dominic pointed toward me.
"Exactly."
I slammed my hand on the table.
"Stop pointing at me like I'm a document."
Everyone went quiet.
I stood.
"I don't want your company."
"I don't want your money."
"I wanted one night where my shoes weren't wet."
My voice started shaking.
"I wanted Ethan not to freeze to death."
"I wanted to know why my mother died."
I looked at all of them.
"Every one of you keeps turning me into something else."
"A witness."
"An heir."
"A threat."
"A promise somebody made seven years ago."
I looked at Vincent.
"I'm a kid."
His face changed.
"I know."
"Do you?"
"Because none of you act like it."
I walked out.
Nobody followed at first.
I made it to the front hall before Ethan's crutches clicked behind me.
"Lily."
I stopped.
He stood crookedly near the staircase.
"You're leaving again."
"I need air."
"It's snowing."
"I noticed."
"Dad says you don't have to go."
I looked at him.
"Your dad can't solve everything by deciding it."
"I know."
Ethan lowered his voice.
"He tries."
That almost made me smile.
Then Dominic appeared in the doorway behind him.
"Ethan, give us a minute."
Ethan frowned.
"No."
Dominic looked surprised.
"Excuse me?"
"Mom said never leave someone alone with a person they don't trust."
Dominic stared at him.
Ethan moved closer to me.
"Lily doesn't trust you."
For the first time, Dominic looked genuinely irritated.
Vincent appeared behind him.
"Smart boy."
Dominic turned.
"You think this is funny?"
"No."
Vincent's voice was calm.
"I think my son inherited his mother's judgment."
Dominic's face hardened.
"Then perhaps he also inherited her talent for getting innocent people killed."
Vincent went still.
Sofia gasped behind him.
I stared at Dominic.
"What did you say?"
Dominic looked directly at me.
"Your mother did not die because she discovered my crimes."
He stepped closer.
"She died because Isabella used her."
Vincent's hand tightened around the doorframe.
"Get out."
Dominic ignored him.
"Isabella told Elena to copy the records."
"Isabella convinced her she could expose everything safely."
"And when the danger came, Isabella still had security, money, and a Moretti name."
His eyes locked onto mine.
"Your mother had none of those things."
My throat tightened.
"You're lying."
"Ask Vincent who survived the first attack."
I looked at Vincent.
His face had gone pale.
"What attack?"
Nobody answered.
I turned toward him fully.
"Vincent."
He finally spoke.
"There was an incident at the lake house three weeks before Isabella died."
"What kind of incident?"
"Someone broke in."
"Was my mother there?"
His silence answered me.
"Was she hurt?"
"Yes."
I felt the floor tilt under me.
May you like
Dominic's voice came softly from behind.
"And that's the part your dead heroes forgot to put in their letters."
