Chapter 3 - Five Months Gone
Adrian found her apartment empty the following morning.
The coffee mug Claire had used the night before remained beside the sink.
Her favorite blanket was missing.
Her passport was gone.
Her clothes were gone.
So was Claire.
His consigliere, Matteo Russo, stood near the doorway.
“We can find her.”
Adrian stared at the apartment.
“No.”
Matteo frowned.
“You've had twenty men searching since last night.”
“Call them back.”
“Why?”
Adrian picked up a photograph from Claire's bookshelf.
It showed Claire surrounded by children during a school field trip.
She was laughing.
He remembered taking the picture.
“She ran because she's afraid of me.”
Matteo said nothing.
“If I hunt her,” Adrian continued, “I'll prove she was right.”
“So you're letting her disappear?”
Adrian placed the photograph down.
“If she wants to be gone, she's gone.”
But he didn't stop looking completely.
He simply stopped using soldiers.
Instead, every month, he asked one question.
Had Claire Bennett resurfaced?
The answer was always no.
What Adrian didn't know was that Claire had changed her surname to her mother's maiden name.
She moved from Milwaukee to a small town outside Madison.
She found work at a private elementary school.
Her stomach grew.
And every night, she told herself she had made the right choice.
Then her daughter kicked for the first time.
Claire cried for an hour.
Because her first thought was:
Adrian should have felt that.
At twenty-eight weeks, the doctor smiled during an ultrasound.
“She's stubborn.”
Claire laughed.
“Definitely mine.”
“Strong heartbeat.”
Claire looked at the screen.
A tiny face.
A tiny hand.
A daughter.
Her daughter.
Then the technician adjusted the image.
Claire froze.
The baby's profile looked strangely familiar.
The strong little nose.
The shape of the chin.
Bellandi.
Rachel noticed.
“You okay?”
Claire nodded.
But that evening she opened an old photograph of Adrian.
For the first time in months.
She whispered toward her stomach.
“Your father would have loved you.”
May you like
Then immediately hated herself for knowing it was true.
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