Chapter 3 - The Name Beneath the Name
Dominic did not answer immediately.
He wanted to say yes.
Every instinct inside him screamed that Lily was Anna.
But she was a child.
And he had already lost her once.
“I think you might be,” he said.
Lily frowned.
“That’s not a good answer.”
“It’s the safest one until we know.”
“How do we know?”
“A DNA test.”
“What’s DNA?”
Eleanor rubbed her forehead.
Dominic pulled out a chair.
“It’s something inside your body that you inherit from your parents.”
“So it can tell if you’re my dad?”
“Yes.”
Lily studied him.
“What if it says you are?”
The question silenced him.
Eleanor watched carefully.
Dominic finally said, “Then nothing happens that you don’t understand first.”
Lily looked toward Eleanor.
“Would Grandma still be Grandma?”
Eleanor turned away.
Dominic answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Eleanor looked back at him.
He held her gaze.
“If you kept her alive for three years, nobody is taking you away from her.”
Lily considered this.
“Okay.”
The test was done that afternoon at a private medical office Dominic trusted.
Victor met them outside.
Lily looked at him suspiciously.
“Who are you?”
“Victor.”
“Are you one of Dominic’s employees?”
Victor glanced at Dominic.
“Something like that.”
“Does he boss you around?”
“Constantly.”
Dominic opened the door.
“Victor.”
“What? She asked.”
Lily smiled.
It was the first time Dominic saw Anna in something other than her scar.
The same crooked smile.
The same amusement Claire used to call trouble arriving early.
The results came twenty-four hours later.
Dominic stood behind his desk.
Victor placed the envelope down.
“You want me to stay?”
“No.”
Victor reached the door.
“Actually.”
Victor stopped.
Dominic looked at the envelope.
“Stay.”
Victor returned.
Dominic opened it.
He read the page once.
Then again.
Probability of paternity:
99.9998 percent.
His chair moved backward as he sat.
Victor exhaled.
“Boss…”
Dominic covered his mouth.
For three years, he had imagined thousands of ways he might learn Anna was alive.
Not one involved a laboratory report and a little girl who collected scrap metal for grocery money.
“She was four miles from me,” he whispered.
“You didn’t know.”
“Four miles.”
“You searched half the Atlantic coast.”
“And she was four miles away.”
Victor let him have the silence.
Then Dominic folded the paper carefully.
“Bring the car.”
“You’re going there?”
“I’m going to tell my daughter who she is.”
They never reached Eleanor’s apartment.
Smoke was coming from the second-floor windows when Dominic’s SUV turned onto the block.
He was out before the vehicle stopped.
“Dominic!” Victor shouted.
Firefighters blocked the entrance.
Dominic grabbed the first one he reached.
“Apartment 2B. Woman and child.”
“Residents are out.”
“Where?”
“Across the street.”
Dominic turned.
Lily sat wrapped in a blanket beside Eleanor.
He crossed the street so quickly Lily barely had time to stand before his arms went around her.
She stiffened in surprise.
Then hugged him back.
“I’m okay.”
Dominic pulled away.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Eleanor?”
“Fine,” Eleanor said. “Angry, but fine.”
Victor joined them.
“What happened?”
Eleanor looked at the burning apartment.
“Someone broke in.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Before the fire?”
“Yes.”
“What did they take?”
“Nothing.”
Victor and Dominic exchanged a look.
Eleanor lowered her voice.
“They weren’t stealing.”
Lily tugged Dominic’s sleeve.
“They were looking for something.”
He crouched.
“How do you know?”
“They opened Grandma’s sewing box.”
Eleanor went pale.
Dominic noticed.
“What was inside?”
Eleanor said nothing.
“Eleanor.”
She slowly reached into the pocket of her coat.
Her hand came out holding a silver chain.
A tiny silver star hung from it.
Dominic stared.
Claire’s necklace.
Anna’s necklace.
Lily touched it.
“I’ve always had that.”
Eleanor whispered, “It was around her neck when she was brought to the shelter.”
Victor leaned closer.
“There’s something on the back.”
Dominic took it.
Three engraved letters.
A.M.M.
Anna Marie Moretti.
Lily read Dominic’s face.
“You know it?”
He looked at her.
“Your mother gave it to you.”
“My mother?”
“Claire.”
Lily’s expression softened.
“What was she like?”
Dominic smiled sadly.
“Smarter than me.”
Victor muttered, “Not a high bar.”
Dominic glared.
Lily laughed.
Then Victor’s phone rang.
He stepped away.
When he returned, the humor was gone.
“Fire marshal says somebody used an accelerant in the rear bedroom.”
Eleanor gripped Lily.
Dominic stood.
“Someone tried to destroy the apartment.”
Victor nodded.
“Or whatever evidence might be inside.”
Dominic looked at the necklace.
Then at Lily.
The kidnapping in Warehouse 19.
The fire.
Anna surviving the bridge crash.
None of it was separate anymore.
Someone from three years ago had just realized the missing girl was back.
Dominic handed the necklace to Lily.
“You’re coming with me.”
Eleanor immediately objected.
“No.”
“My house has security.”
“Your life has kidnappers!”
“And your apartment is burning.”
Silence.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“I am not separating you from her.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“But I am getting both of you somewhere safe.”
Lily looked between them.
“Do I get my own room?”
Dominic blinked.
“You already have one.”
“What?”
He realized what he had said.
“In my house.”
“You have a room for me?”
Dominic looked away.
“I never changed it.”
Lily’s face became very still.
“For three years?”
“Yes.”
She took his hand.
“Okay.”
Dominic looked down at their joined fingers.
May you like
Lily whispered, “You can show me.”
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