Chapter 4 — The Girl Volkov Was Watching
Chapter 4 — The Girl Volkov Was Watching
Adrian did not sleep that night.
Neither did Sarah.
Lily did.
That was the only thing that mattered.
She slept upstairs with Mr. Buttons tucked beneath her chin, completely unaware that two black vehicles had been sitting across the street for nearly an hour.
Adrian stood behind the curtains.
He didn't touch them.
He simply watched the reflections in the glass.
The first vehicle had arrived at 10:17.
The second at 10:26.
Neither had moved.
Vincent stood beside him.
“How many men?”
“Four that we can see.”
“And the ones we can't?”
“Unknown.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Volkov?”
“Most likely.”
“Most likely isn't good enough.”
“We're working on confirmation.”
Adrian looked at the street.
“What are they waiting for?”
Vincent hesitated.
“For us to make a mistake.”
Adrian turned.
“We already did.”
Vincent knew exactly what he meant.
They had found Lily.
They had exposed her existence.
And now the most dangerous man in Brooklyn knew that Adrian Moretti had something to lose.
At 2:11 a.m., one of the vehicles finally moved.
Vincent watched it disappear around the corner.
“Gone.”
Adrian didn't relax.
“That's not good.”
“No.”
“They're not leaving.”
Vincent looked at him.
“They're repositioning.”
Adrian nodded.
“Find out where.”
An hour later, Vincent returned.
His face was different.
Adrian knew immediately.
“What?”
“We pulled traffic cameras from the surrounding streets.”
“And?”
“The first vehicle appears in the neighborhood twenty-three days ago.”
Adrian stared.
“Twenty-three?”
“Yes.”
“That can't be right.”
Vincent handed him a tablet.
“We checked every available camera.”
Adrian scrolled.
A black SUV.
Monday.
Tuesday.
Thursday.
Saturday.
Different locations.
Same vehicle.
Always near Sarah's building.
Sometimes across from the daycare.
Sometimes near the grocery store.
Sometimes parked two blocks from the playground.
Adrian's face hardened.
“How long?”
Vincent pointed to another image.
“That's the oldest one.”
Adrian looked at the timestamp.
Three months.
His eyes narrowed.
“Three months.”
“Yes.”
“You said twenty-three days.”
“This is where it gets worse.”
Vincent swiped.
Another image appeared.
Different car.
Different plates.
Same pattern.
Then another.
Then another.
Adrian looked at the dates.
Six months.
Eight months.
Eleven months.
His stomach dropped.
“How long?”
Vincent's voice was quiet.
“We found evidence going back two years.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
Two years.
That meant Volkov's people had been watching Sarah long before Adrian had admitted he was Lily's father.
Long before the hospital.
Long before the shooting.
Long before he had decided to return.
Adrian looked toward the stairs.
Lily was sleeping upstairs.
He suddenly felt cold.
“They knew.”
Vincent nodded.
“They knew she existed.”
Adrian's hand tightened around the tablet.
“How?”
“We don't know.”
“You do know.”
Vincent looked at him.
“We have a theory.”
“Tell me.”
“Someone gave them the information.”
Adrian went silent.
Sarah entered the room.
“What happened?”
Adrian turned.
“Have you noticed anyone following you?”
She frowned.
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
“I said no.”
“Cars?”
“Sometimes.”
“Men?”
“I don't know.”
“People waiting outside?”
Sarah hesitated.
Then her expression changed.
“There was a man.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“When?”
“About a year ago.”
“Where?”
“Outside the daycare.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall.”
“Anything else?”
“Gray coat.”
“Face?”
“I don't remember.”
“Did he speak to you?”
“No.”
“Did he approach Lily?”
Sarah shook her head.
“He stood across the street.”
Adrian looked at Vincent.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Sarah's expression hardened.
“You weren't there.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
“I didn't know whether it mattered.”
“It mattered.”
“I didn't know that.”
Adrian stopped.
She looked at him.
“For three years, Adrian, I didn't know who I could trust.”
He lowered his voice.
“I understand.”
“No.”
Sarah's eyes filled.
“You don't.”
She walked toward the kitchen.
“When Lily was three, a man came to the apartment.”
Adrian froze.
“What man?”
“I don't know.”
“What did he want?”
“He asked for you.”
“Did he say my name?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I told him you weren't here.”
“Then?”
“He left.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“No.”
“Did he say anything?”
Sarah nodded.
“He said, ‘Tell Adrian we know.’”
Adrian's face changed.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought it was one of your enemies.”
“It was.”
“I didn't know which one.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Why did you stay?”
“Because I couldn't run forever.”
“You could have called me.”
“I didn't trust you.”
He flinched.
“Why?”
“Because I didn't know whether you were protecting me or controlling me.”
The room fell silent.
Adrian looked at the photographs on the wall.
Lily at three.
Lily at four.
Lily at five.
Lily at six.
Every birthday.
Every year he had watched from a distance.
And all the while, someone else had been watching too.
He suddenly understood why some photographs had felt wrong.
Why Lily sometimes looked toward the camera.
Why Sarah had changed apartments twice.
Why Vincent's surveillance teams had occasionally lost track of her.
Someone had been interfering.
Someone had been inside the shadows.
“Where was Lily born?”
Sarah looked confused.
“St. Vincent's.”
“Who was the doctor?”
“Why?”
“Answer me.”
“Dr. Marcus Hale.”
Adrian turned toward Vincent.
“Find him.”
“Already looking.”
By dawn, Vincent had a name.
Marcus Hale.
Obstetrician.
Private practice.
No criminal record.
No known connection to Volkov.
But there was one problem.
His medical office had closed eighteen months earlier.
And Dr. Hale had disappeared.
Adrian stared at the report.
“Disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“Family?”
“Wife and daughter.”
“Where are they?”
“Florida.”
“Find them.”
Vincent nodded.
Adrian looked at the report again.
“Who paid his malpractice settlement?”
Vincent hesitated.
“A private company.”
“Which one?”
“Meridian Holdings.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“That's a shell company.”
“Yes.”
“Who owns it?”
“We're tracing it.”
“Don't trace it.”
Vincent looked up.
“Find the beneficiary.”
A few minutes later, the answer arrived.
Dimitri Volkov.
Adrian closed the file.
“So that's how they found her.”
At seven thirty, Lily woke up.
She walked downstairs wearing pajamas.
“Daddy?”
Adrian turned.
“Good morning.”
She smiled.
“You stayed.”
“Yes.”
“You promised.”
“I did.”
She looked at him.
“Did you sleep?”
“A little.”
“Mommy says grown-ups need sleep.”
“Your mother is right.”
“She usually is.”
Sarah looked offended.
“Usually?”
Lily giggled.
Adrian smiled.
For one moment, the room felt normal.
Then Lily noticed the tablet on the table.
“What's that?”
“Nothing.”
She leaned closer.
Adrian closed it.
“Secret?”
“Work.”
“Are you a spy?”
Adrian smiled.
“No.”
“You said that yesterday.”
“Still true.”
She studied him.
“Are you dangerous?”
Sarah froze.
Adrian looked at his daughter.
“Yes.”
Lily frowned.
“Are you dangerous to me?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
Then she climbed onto the chair beside him.
“Can I have pancakes?”
Adrian looked at Sarah.
She smiled.
“Make them.”
“Me?”
“You're her father.”
He stared at the kitchen.
“I don't know how.”
Lily laughed.
“Daddy can't cook.”
“I can cook.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow.
“Can you?”
Adrian sighed.
“No.”
For the next twenty minutes, Adrian Moretti attempted to make pancakes.
He burned the first batch.
Lily laughed.
He burned the second.
Sarah laughed.
The third was edible.
Lily took one bite.
“It's good.”
Adrian smiled.
“Really?”
“No.”
Sarah burst out laughing.
For the first time in years, Adrian forgot that men were watching outside.
Forgot about Volkov.
Forgot about the diagnosis.
Forgot about everything except the sound of his daughter laughing.
Then his phone vibrated.
One message.
We have the doctor's family.
Adrian's smile disappeared.
He stepped into the hallway.
Vincent called immediately.
“We found them.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Florida.”
“Are they safe?”
“For now.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“Get them somewhere secure.”
“Already moving.”
“What about Hale?”
“We found his location.”
“Where?”
Vincent hesitated.
“New York.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“An apartment in Queens.”
“Send me the address.”
Adrian left the apartment two hours later.
Sarah grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To find out why someone has been watching Lily.”
“Don't go alone.”
“I won't.”
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
Sarah looked terrified.
“Don't bring this war to our door.”
Adrian looked at her.
“I won't.”
“You can't promise that.”
“No.”
He paused.
“But I can promise something else.”
“What?”
“They will never get to her.”
Sarah searched his face.
“That's what you said before.”
Adrian looked down.
“I know.”
“And she still grew up without you.”
He nodded.
“This time I'm not promising to disappear.”
The apartment in Queens was empty.
Dr. Marcus Hale was gone.
But someone had left something behind.
A box.
Inside were medical records.
Birth certificates.
Photographs.
And one envelope.
Adrian opened it.
The first photograph was Lily as a newborn.
The second showed Sarah leaving the hospital.
The third showed Adrian standing outside the hospital entrance.
He stared.
“I was there.”
Vincent looked at him.
“You knew?”
“I didn't.”
Adrian turned the photograph over.
A date.
The day Lily was born.
He remembered that day.
He had been in Brooklyn.
Or so he thought.
His father had called him that morning.
Don't go to the hospital.
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“My father knew.”
Vincent looked at the documents.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“This isn't the worst part.”
He handed Adrian another page.
A payment record.
Three payments.
All made before Lily was born.
Recipient:
Marcus Hale.
Sender:
Richard Moretti.
Adrian's face went cold.
“My father paid the doctor.”
“For what?”
Adrian looked at the final document.
A handwritten note.
Confirm the child's bloodline. Do not inform Adrian.
Silence.
Vincent whispered:
“Your father knew about Lily before you did.”
Adrian stared at the words.
Then another page slipped from the envelope.
A report.
DNA analysis.
Adrian's name.
Sarah's name.
Lily's name.
And at the bottom:
Confirmed biological daughter of Adrian Moretti.
Adrian's hands began to shake.
“Why?”
Vincent looked at him.
“Why did Richard care?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Because another question had already formed.
If Richard Moretti knew about Lily before she was born…
and Volkov's people had been watching her for two years…
then the danger hadn't started when Adrian returned.
It had started before Lily could even walk.
That night, Adrian returned to Sarah's apartment.
Lily was asleep.
Sarah waited in the kitchen.
“What did you find?”
Adrian put the file on the table.
She opened it.
Her face drained of color.
“You knew.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Knew what?”
“My father knew about Lily.”
Sarah stared at the documents.
“No.”
“He paid the doctor.”
“I didn't know.”
“He had a DNA test.”
Sarah's hands trembled.
“When?”
“Before she was born.”
She looked up.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Sarah sat down.
Adrian remained standing.
“Did Richard ever contact you?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Did anyone else?”
Sarah hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“The man at the daycare.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“What did he say?”
“He told me something.”
“What?”
Sarah looked toward Lily's bedroom.
“He said…”
She swallowed.
“‘Your daughter isn't important because she's Adrian's child.’”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“What else?”
“He said she's important because of what she inherits.”
The room became completely silent.
Adrian looked at Sarah.
“What does Lily inherit?”
“I don't know.”
“Sarah.”
“I swear.”
Adrian believed her.
But before he could say anything, a soft sound came from upstairs.
A door opening.
Lily's voice.
“Mommy?”
Sarah stood.
“I'm here.”
Lily appeared at the top of the stairs.
She was holding her drawing.
The same drawing with the faceless man.
Except now there was something new.
She had drawn a second figure beside him.
A tall man.
Black suit.
No face.
Adrian stared.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“I saw him.”
Adrian's blood ran cold.
“Where?”
“Outside.”
Sarah rushed toward her.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“What did he look like?”
Lily pointed toward the window.
“He was in the black car.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“Did he talk to you?”
“No.”
“Did he come close?”
“No.”
“Then why did you draw him?”
Lily looked confused.
“Because he was looking at me.”
Adrian slowly walked to the window.
Across the street, there was nothing.
No black SUV.
No man.
Nothing.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
Beautiful daughter, Adrian.
A photograph followed.
Lily.
Standing in the apartment window.
Taken less than a minute ago.
Adrian's blood turned to ice.
Another message appeared.
Now you understand why we watched her.
He stared at the screen.
Then came the final line.
Volkov doesn't want your daughter, Adrian.
A pause.
He wants what your father hid inside her inheritance.
Adrian slowly lowered the phone.
For three years, he had believed Lily was being watched because she was his weakness.
He had been wrong.
She was being watched because someone knew she was the key to a secret Adrian's own father had buried.
And whoever had been waiting in the shadows had finally realized something terrifying.
May you like
Adrian Moretti was no longer hiding.
He was standing between them and the girl they wanted.
