Chapter 8
Gregory did not move at first.
He looked almost amused, as if the courtroom had made a small mistake and would apologize in a moment.
Then one officer touched his shoulder.
Gregory exploded.
“Get your hands off me.”
Carmela screamed.
Reporters pressed against the courtroom doors.
Noah was not there, thank God, but I still heard his voice in my head.
Dad said Mom would never find me.
The officers pulled Gregory’s hands behind his back.
He stared at me while they cuffed him.
“You have no idea what you opened.”
I did not look away.
“For the first time, I do.”
He was charged with unlawful restraint, child endangerment, witness intimidation, and obstruction.
Not my father’s death.
Not yet.
Detective Hart warned me that murder took longer.
Men like Gregory left others to do their dirtiest work.
But the arrest changed everything.
That afternoon, the court gave me temporary sole custody.
The estate security system was seized.
Carmela was ordered to stay away from Noah.
When the judge said it, she made a sound like he had slapped her.
“You cannot keep me from my grandson.”
I stood behind Rachel and said nothing.
Silence felt better than begging.
Back at the safe house, Noah was building a tower out of couch pillows when I walked in.
He looked up.
“Did Dad come?”
I knelt in front of him.
“No.”
“Is he mad?”
“He is not allowed near you.”
Noah stared at me, waiting for the trick.
There had always been a trick in our house.
Rules changed depending on Gregory’s mood.
Love came with conditions.
Safety had always felt temporary.
I touched his cheek.
“You are safe tonight.”
He whispered, “Promise?”
“I promise.”
He climbed into my lap and cried without making much noise.
That scared me more than screaming would have.
Later, after he slept, Sophia told me what Gregory meant in court.
We sat at the kitchen table with untouched tea between us.
“There was another child,” she said.
My chest tightened.
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
I stared at her.
Sophia’s eyes filled, but her voice stayed steady.
“I had a daughter. Lily. She was three months old when Carmela decided I was unfit to raise a Romano-blood child outside family control.”
I could barely speak.
“What happened?”
“They took her during a custody visit. I fought. Your father fought too, once he realized what they had done.”
“My father knew?”
“He found out late,” she said. “By then Lily had vanished through private adoption papers. Carmela buried everything.”
I stood and backed away from the table.
“No.”
“I’m not telling you to hurt you.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Because you were sixteen. Because your father thought he could fix it quietly. Because Gregory learned from Carmela exactly how to weaponize a child.”
The room pressed in on me.
Noah behind a hidden door was not madness.
It was a family method.
A tradition wrapped in money and Sunday dinners.
Sophia reached for my hand.
“I never found Lily.”
I sat down slowly.
“Do you think Gregory knows where she is?”
“I think Carmela does.”
Outside, a car rolled past too slowly.
Frank moved to the window.
His body stiffened.
“Lights off.”
Daniel killed the kitchen light.
Another car stopped behind the first.
No one spoke.
Then my temporary phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photo appeared.
Noah asleep in the safe house bedroom.
Taken through the window.
My blood turned to stone.
A message followed.
You got Gregory arrested. Now choose which child you want to save.
Then a second photo loaded.
A young woman about twenty-two stood outside a diner in Milwaukee.
She had Sophia’s eyes.
May you like
Under the photo were three words.
Her name is Lily.
