Chapter 5 - The Daughter He Never Got to Hold
Nobody spoke.
Maisie looked at Declan.
“You knew I was alive?”
Sienna knelt beside her.
“Maisie—”
“I’m asking him.”
There was so much of Sienna in that sentence that Declan almost smiled.
He didn’t.
Instead, he crouched several feet away.
“Yes.”
Maisie’s chin trembled.
“For how long?”
“Since before your first birthday.”
“Then why didn’t you come?”
Declan looked at Sienna.
She gave him nothing.
This answer had to be his.
“Because dangerous people were watching me.”
Maisie frowned.
“You could have called.”
“They were watching my calls.”
“You could have written.”
“They were watching that too.”
“You could’ve sent Grandma.”
“They watched her.”
Maisie’s eyes filled.
“You could’ve tried.”
Declan’s voice broke.
“I should have.”
That answer stopped her.
He didn’t defend himself.
Didn’t make excuses.
“I thought staying away would keep you safe. I told myself that every birthday.”
“You knew my birthday?”
“October seventeenth.”
Maisie blinked.
Declan swallowed.
“I knew your first tooth came in late. I knew you hated peas. I knew you broke your wrist when you were four.”
Sienna stared at him.
“How?”
“My mother.”
Margaret quietly wiped her eyes.
Declan continued.
“She found information when she could. Nothing that would expose where you lived. Just enough to tell me you were okay.”
Maisie whispered, “Did you have pictures?”
“One.”
He reached into his wallet.
Sienna’s breath caught.
A tiny, worn photograph sat behind his identification.
Maisie at approximately eighteen months old.
Sienna remembered it.
She had mailed it to Margaret before she understood Margaret had vanished too.
Declan held it toward Maisie.
“I carried it every day.”
Maisie took the photograph.
“You kept this?”
“Yes.”
“For five years?”
“Yes.”
“Even when you were scary?”
A tiny laugh escaped Sienna.
Declan nodded solemnly.
“Especially then.”
Maisie stared at the photograph.
Then she asked, “Did you love me?”
Declan closed his eyes for half a second.
“When I only had this picture, I loved you.”
Maisie looked up.
“And now?”
“Now I know you.”
A tear slipped down his face.
“And somehow it’s worse.”
Maisie frowned.
“Worse?”
“Bigger.”
That made sense to her.
She stepped closer.
Then hugged him.
Declan froze.
His hands remained suspended for a second as if he didn’t know where they belonged.
Finally, he wrapped his arms around his daughter.
Carefully.
Sienna turned away.
Because watching the man she had once loved hold the child they created together was more than she could process.
That night, after Maisie fell asleep, Sienna found Declan outside on the terrace.
Chicago’s distant glow reflected against the clouds.
“You lied to me,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I hate that.”
“You should.”
“Stop agreeing with everything.”
He almost smiled.
“Sorry.”
She leaned against the railing.
“What happens with Victor?”
“I end it.”
Her gaze snapped toward him.
“How?”
“Legally, if possible.”
“And if not?”
Declan looked toward the dark lawn.
“I’ve spent years collecting enough financial records to destroy what remains of his operation without starting a war.”
Sienna frowned.
“You have evidence?”
“Yes.”
“Then give it to the police.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“Why?”
“Because some people whose names are in those records wear badges.”
Sienna stared at him.
“So who do you trust?”
“A federal prosecutor named Natalie Keene. She’s been trying to flip me for three years.”
“You’ve been talking to a federal prosecutor?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does ‘not exactly’ mean?”
“She talks. I decline.”
“Maybe stop declining.”
Declan looked at her.
“If I cooperate, everything changes.”
“Good.”
“I lose businesses. Influence. Maybe most of my money.”
“Still good.”
“I might face charges myself.”
That made her pause.
“For what?”
“Things I won’t pretend were clean.”
Sienna studied him.
“Did you hurt innocent people?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“Did you order anyone to?”
“No.”
“Then deal with the consequences of whatever else you did.”
Declan stared at her.
“You make that sound simple.”
“It isn’t.”
She moved closer.
“But if you want to stand in front of Maisie someday and tell her what kind of man her father is, choose now what answer you want to give.”
For a long time, he said nothing.
Then he pulled out his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Natalie Keene.”
Sienna blinked.
“Right now?”
“You said choose.”
“I didn’t think you’d actually listen to me.”
“I’ve always listened to you.”
She gave him a look.
“You disappeared for seven years.”
“I didn’t say I was good at following instructions.”
Despite herself, she laughed.
It was small.
But real.
Declan stared at her.
Sienna immediately sobered.
“Make the call.”
He did.
At 11:38 p.m., Declan Voss began dismantling the empire that had cost him seven years with the woman he loved and six years with the daughter he had never held.
By sunrise, Victor Lasko knew.
May you like
And Victor did not intend to let him walk away.
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