Chapter 14 - echoes in red leather
Nathan returned to the estate before dawn, the leather ledgers tucked inside a locked steel case. As he walked into the private study on the second floor, he found Marco standing near the desk, holding a encrypted satellite phone with a dark expression on his face.
"Don Domenico’s faction has caught wind of our movement last night," Marco said, setting the phone down on the blotter. "His lieutenant, Counselor Vance, called two minutes ago. They know you visited apartment 4B and they know you took Sarah Bennett and the child into your personal care. Vance wants a meeting at the Grand Hotel at noon tomorrow to discuss 'family boundaries'."
Nathan walked over to his liquor cabinet, poured two fingers of straight whiskey into a heavy crystal glass, and drank it in a single swallow. "Vance is a coward who only moves when Domenico pulls his string. Domenico is seventy-two years old and dying of liver failure, but he still thinks he controls the south side. Tell Vance I will meet him at noon, but not at the hotel."
"Where then?" Marco asked.
"At the old textile mill," Nathan said, his dark eyes narrowing into razor slits. "Let him come to the room where his boss tried to bury my mother's legacy."
Nathan left his study and walked down the quiet corridor toward the nursery suite. The door was slightly open. Inside, Lily was sitting on a low plush rug near the fireplace, playing quietly with a set of wooden building blocks. Sarah was sitting in a wheelchair nearby, wrapped in a heavy fleece blanket, watching her daughter with a soft, peaceful expression.
When Nathan stepped across the threshold, Lily immediately stopped playing and looked up. She picked up a small piece of wood and held it out toward him.
"This one looks like the sewing foot," Lily said, her brown eyes bright under the soft lamp light. "Mom said when you fix things, you have to keep the thread tight so the stitches don't tear when you pull."
Nathan knelt beside her on the rug, his heavy frame looming over the small girl. He took the smooth piece of wood from her small hand, holding it carefully between his large, calloused fingers. "Your mother is right, Lily. If the thread is loose, everything falls apart."
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Sarah looked up at Nathan, her voice low and fragile. "He won't let you keep us, Nate. Domenico knows who Lily is. He knows she is the rightful heir to the Moretti foundation under your mother's original trust deed."
"Domenico doesn't make the rules in Chicago anymore," Nathan said, looking Sarah straight in the eye. "Seven years ago, I was a young soldier who trusted my family. Today, I am the boss. Nobody touches you or my daughter while I am breathing."
