Chapter 2 - Lily Moves Into the Penthouse
Lily Hart entered Dante Moretti’s home carrying a pink backpack and a stuffed rabbit missing one ear.
She stared at the marble foyer.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Is this a hotel?”
“No.”
“A museum?”
“No.”
Lily looked at Dante.
He waited beside the elevator in his wheelchair.
“Is he rich?”
“Lily.”
“What? You said asking questions is how people learn.”
Dante answered before Amelia could.
“Yes.”
Lily considered that.
“Really rich?”
“Unfortunately.”
She walked closer.
“Why unfortunately?”
“Because everyone asks me for money.”
“I have twelve dollars.”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“Lily.”
Dante looked almost amused.
“Keep it.”
“Okay.”
Lily walked away.
Dante turned to Amelia.
“She negotiates better than you.”
“She’s six.”
“Exactly.”
The arrangement worked surprisingly well.
Amelia managed Dante’s calendar during the day while Lily stayed in a private guest suite after school.
Dante’s security remained outside.
Never inside.
That had been Amelia’s rule.
Dante honored it.
He also started coming home earlier.
Amelia noticed.
So did Lily.
On the fourth evening, Lily appeared in Dante’s office carrying two sheets of paper.
“I made you something.”
Dante looked up.
“What?”
“A picture.”
“I don’t collect pictures.”
“You do now.”
She placed it on his desk.
It showed three stick figures.
Amelia.
Lily.
And Dante in a square-shaped wheelchair.
Dante stared at it.
“Why am I enormous?”
“You’re bossy.”
“That affects height?”
“In drawings.”
Amelia covered her mouth.
Dante looked at her.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
Lily climbed onto the sofa.
“Mr. Dante?”
“Yes?”
“Marco asked about my school.”
Amelia stopped smiling.
Dante’s eyes lifted.
“What did he ask?”
“What time I go.”
The room became quiet.
Amelia crouched in front of her daughter.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Lily thought.
“He asked if I still go through the blue door.”
Amelia’s stomach tightened.
Dante rolled closer.
“Lily.”
The little girl looked at him.
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Mom says grown-ups who need to know things usually already know them.”
Dante slowly looked at Amelia.
“That’s what you teach her?”
“I teach her not to give strangers information.”
“Marco isn’t a stranger.”
“To her, he is.”
Dante reached for his phone.
Amelia caught his wrist.
“No.”
His eyes dropped to her hand.
She released him.
“Sorry.”
“What?”
“If Marco is involved, confronting him tells him Lily noticed.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“You think Marco had something to do with the shooting?”
“I think your underboss asked my six-year-old daughter which entrance she uses at school.”
Dante became terrifyingly calm.
“He has no reason to know that.”
“Exactly.”
Dante called his security director, Vincent Russo.
“Change Lily’s transportation tomorrow. Quietly.”
“Problem?”
“Maybe.”
“No one tells Marco?”
“No one.”
Dante ended the call.
Amelia watched him.
“You trust Vincent?”
“With my life.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Dante looked at her.
Amelia continued.
“The sniper knew where you would be standing. Your cameras went down. Someone inside your organization provided information.”
Dante leaned back.
“Marco has been beside me fourteen years.”
“That makes him innocent?”
“It makes accusing him dangerous.”
“I’m not accusing him.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Paying attention.”
Dante looked toward Lily.
She was coloring again.
“Keep doing it.”
That night, Amelia found an envelope beneath her bedroom door.
There was no note.
Only a photograph.
Lily leaving school.
Taken that afternoon.
On the back were four handwritten words.
Tell Moretti to surrender.
Amelia carried it directly to Dante.
He read it.
His face changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“My door.”
Dante pressed the intercom.
“Vincent. Lock the building.”
Amelia remained perfectly still.
“Someone got onto this floor.”
“Yes.”
“Past your security.”
“Yes.”
“Then your problem isn’t outside.”
Dante looked at the photograph again.
“No.”
His voice was colder now.
May you like
“It’s standing somewhere inside my house.”
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