Chapter 6
Vivienne did not scream when they arrested her.
She was too proud for that.
She lifted her chin while officers cuffed her and acted as if everyone in the room had misunderstood a generous woman.
“This family will collapse without me,” she said.
I looked at Rose in Claire’s arms and Eli in Mason’s.
“No,” I said. “It will breathe.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“You always were Nathan’s shadow.”
That one found its mark.
She knew it would.
Nathan had been warmth.
I had been the knife kept in the drawer.
Nathan built bridges.
I burned roads behind us.
Vivienne leaned closer as an officer guided her past.
“He was the better man. That is why Grace trusted him with love and you with violence.”
Claire turned.
“Enough.”
Vivienne looked amused.
“You think he is safe because he looks gentle with babies tonight?”
Claire stepped toward her, still holding Rose carefully.
“No. I think he is dangerous. I also think tonight he chose who deserved that danger.”
For the first time, Vivienne’s smile faltered.
Then they took her away.
I should have felt victory.
I felt hollow.
The hospital room became a storm of doctors, police, social workers, and lawyers.
Rose was examined.
Eli was examined.
Claire finally let the doctor treat her because Rose would not stop crying unless Claire stayed in the chair beside the bassinet.
I stood outside the glass wall and watched.
Mason came beside me.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good. I was going to worry if you said yes.”
I looked at him.
“How did Vivienne get the convoy route?”
His face went still.
“I don’t know.”
“I need you to find out.”
“You think there’s another leak.”
“I know there is.”
He nodded.
“I’ll start with comms.”
By noon, the news had broken.
KANE HEIR ABDUCTED.
VIVIENNE KANE ARRESTED.
UNKNOWN SECOND CHILD FOUND.
My phone exploded with calls.
Enemies.
Allies.
Reporters.
Men who wanted to know which side of the power shift would keep them alive.
I answered none of them.
Elena Marchetti handled the court.
She secured emergency guardianship of Eli for me and emergency protection for Rose while her identity was verified.
Claire was listed as a protected biological relative.
That mattered more than she wanted to admit.
When Elena told her, Claire looked down at her bandaged hands.
“I don’t know how to be family to anyone rich.”
I answered before Elena could.
“Then don’t be rich family. Be real family.”
Claire looked at me for a long moment.
“You say that like you know how.”
“I don’t.”
“At least you’re honest.”
“That is new for my house.”
She almost smiled.
Then Rose cried again.
Claire picked her up with a tenderness that made something in my chest ache.
Eli watched from his carrier.
His little hand opened and closed.
I bent and placed him beside Rose on the blanket between two nurses.
The babies turned toward each other.
Not much.
Just enough.
Claire covered her mouth.
“They know.”
“Maybe.”
“They were alone in that warehouse together.”
I looked at the two tiny faces.
“Not anymore.”
Mason returned at dusk.
His expression told me the leak had a name.
“Say it,” I ordered.
“Father Luca.”
I stared.
My family priest.
Nathan’s confessor.
The man who baptized Eli.
The man Vivienne insisted pray over Grace’s coffin.
Mason continued.
“He had access to Vivienne’s phone through her driver. But boss, it’s worse.”
“It always is.”
“He was meeting Cross. We have photos.”
My jaw hardened.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
Claire looked up from the chair.
“Check the church nursery.”
We both turned to her.
She swallowed.
“In the warehouse, one man said, ‘The priest can hide anything. He hid the girl once.’”
Rose.
My blood turned cold.
We went to St. Bartholomew’s at midnight.
The church was dark except for candles near the altar.
I had not prayed in years.
That night, I wanted to.
Mason found fresh tire tracks by the back door.
I found a locked cabinet in the nursery.
Inside were baby records.
Adoption papers.
Cash.
Passports.
And a photograph of Grace as a teenager holding newborn Rose.
On the back was written:
Forgive me. I let them take her.
A soft sound came behind me.
Father Luca stood in the doorway with a gun in his shaking hand.
“I did what I was told,” he whispered.
I stepped in front of Claire.
“By Vivienne?”
May you like
He shook his head.
“By your father.”
