Chapter 2
Sarah took Lily into the private music room before answering my questions.
I allowed it.
After what the child had just done for my son, the least I could give her was a room without twenty armed men staring at her.
Ethan refused to leave Lily.
That surprised me.
He sat beside her on the sofa while she held Sarah’s hand.
I remained across from them.
“Tell me about the man.”
Lily looked at her mother first.
Sarah nodded.
“It’s okay.”
“He came when Mommy was working.”
Sarah’s face changed.
“When?”
Lily thought carefully.
“Nighttime.”
Sarah looked at me.
“I work late during family events. My sister watches Lily sometimes.”
“Was your sister there?”
Lily shook her head.
“No. Mommy was home.”
Sarah went pale.
I noticed.
“You remember someone coming?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I never saw his face.”
She swallowed.
“Someone knocked at the back door about three weeks ago. I was putting Lily to bed. By the time I came downstairs, nobody was there.”
Lily frowned.
“He was.”
Sarah turned.
“What?”
“He was by the window.”
The room went silent.
I leaned forward.
“What did he do?”
“He looked inside.”
“Did he speak to you?”
“No.”
“Did you tell your mother?”
Lily looked down.
“I thought he was a delivery man.”
Sarah covered her mouth.
I felt anger settle deeper.
The man who handled Ethan’s birthday cake had apparently watched my head housekeeper’s home weeks earlier.
That made Lily more than an accidental witness.
Someone had already been looking at the child before she caught them today.
“Did he wear anything you remember?”
Lily nodded.
“A ring.”
My expression changed.
“What kind?”
She held up three fingers awkwardly.
“Snake.”
Sarah looked at me.
I knew the symbol.
Not Moretti.
Not exactly.
It belonged to an old crew my father absorbed fifteen years ago.
The Santoro faction.
Most of them served under one man now.
Julian.
I stood.
Genevieve’s son had attacked me the second Lily spoke.
May you like
Now the kitchen worker carried a ring tied to Julian’s oldest loyalists.
Coincidence was becoming expensive.
