Chapter 6 - What Lily Remembered

Dante did not show Lily the photograph.

He handed her back to Sofia and locked the nursery.

Then he opened Elena’s ledger.

The first pages were financial records.

The final pages were not.

They were names.

Dates.

Private notes.

Elena had built a timeline.

Vittorio.

Rocco.

Mara Voss.

Stefano Vieri.

And one name appeared more often than any other.

Dr. Julian Cross.

Dante recognized it immediately.

Julian had signed Elena’s death certificate.

He had also treated Lily after the accident because the child had developed night terrors.

Dante looked at Rocco.

“You said Lily was awake that night.”

Rocco nodded.

“How do you know?”

“Because after Elena left the nursery, I went in.”

Dante’s face hardened.

“I was looking for the ledger,” Rocco added. “Lily woke up. She saw me.”

“And?”

“I told her to go back to sleep.”

“That’s all?”

Rocco hesitated.

“No.”

Dante stepped closer.

“What else?”

“Julian came in later.”

Meredith looked up sharply.

Rocco continued.

“He gave Lily something to make her sleep.”

Dante’s entire body went still.

“She was one year old.”

“Yes.”

“You let him drug my daughter?”

Rocco lowered his eyes.

“I was not the man you think I was.”

Dante’s voice became cold.

“No. You were worse.”

The ledger contained payments from Vittorio’s shell companies to Julian Cross for three years after Elena’s death.

Not before.

After.

Dante immediately sent men to Julian’s private clinic.

The clinic was empty.

Julian had left that afternoon.

His phone was disconnected.

His home was cleared.

Someone had warned him.

Meredith whispered, “Vittorio.”

Dante looked at her.

“Or you.”

She flinched.

He returned to the ledger.

One note from Elena had been underlined twice.

LILY HEARD THE BLUE MUSIC.

Dante stared at the sentence.

He had no idea what it meant.

The next morning, Lily sat with him in the breakfast room.

No Meredith.

No guests.

No long dining table.

Only Dante, Lily, Bunny and a plate of pancakes Lily refused to touch.

He did not ask about the night Elena died.

He asked about music.

“What is blue music?”

Lily’s spoon stopped.

Dante noticed.

“Sweetheart?”

Her eyes moved toward the hallway.

“Mommy music.”

“What mommy music?”

She hummed four quiet notes.

Dante knew them.

Elena’s music box.

A small blue enamel box shaped like a book.

It had been a gift from Dante on their first anniversary.

After Elena died, it disappeared.

Dante had assumed it was lost.

Lily whispered, “The scary man played it.”

Dante kept his voice gentle.

“What scary man?”

She touched her own cheek.

“Daddy face.”

His blood chilled.

The man who looked like Alessandro.

Stefano.

“Did he come here?”

Lily nodded.

“When?”

“When Mommy was crying.”

Dante’s heart pounded.

She remembered.

Not clearly.

Not logically.

But she remembered fragments.

“What happened?”

Lily squeezed Bunny.

“Mommy said no.”

“To him?”

“Yes.”

“Then what?”

“The blue song.”

Her face tightened.

“He put it in his coat.”

Dante sat very still.

“And then?”

Lily looked at him.

“The other man said, ‘She knows.’”

“What other man?”

Lily pointed toward the front hall.

“Uncle.”

Vittorio.

Dante closed his eyes for one second.

When he opened them, Lily was watching him carefully.

“Did I make Mommy go away?”

The question destroyed what remained of his anger.

Dante moved to the chair beside her.

“No.”

Lily’s eyes filled.

“Meredith said—”

“Meredith lied.”

He took both of Lily’s hands.

“Your mommy loved you more than anything in this world.”

“How do you know?”

Dante swallowed.

“Because she left you a message.”

He played the part of Elena’s recording meant for Lily.

The happiest thing that ever happened to me.

Lily listened without moving.

Then her face folded.

Dante lifted her into his arms.

She cried against his shoulder.

For the first time in three years, Dante cried too.

Later that afternoon, one of his men entered the library.

“We found Dr. Cross.”

“Where?”

“Airport parking garage.”

Dante stood.

“Alive?”

“Yes.”

“Bring him.”

Julian arrived shaking.

Within ten minutes, he asked for police protection.

Within fifteen, he began talking.

He admitted he falsified part of Elena’s medical report.

Admitted Vittorio paid him.

Admitted Elena had survived the initial crash long enough to speak.

Dante stopped him.

“She spoke?”

Julian nodded.

“What did she say?”

Julian looked terrified.

“She kept repeating one thing.”

“What?”

“Blue music.”

Dante stared at him.

Julian swallowed.

“I thought she was delirious.”

“She wasn’t.”

Dante turned to Rocco.

“The music box.”

Rocco’s face changed.

He understood.

If Stefano had taken it from the mansion before Elena died, then Elena had seen it again after the crash.

Which meant Stefano had been at the crash scene.

Julian continued.

“There’s something else.”

Dante turned back.

The doctor reached into his coat and removed a plastic evidence sleeve.

Inside was a tiny brass key.

“I took this from Elena’s hand before Vittorio arrived.”

Dante stared.

Another key.

A blue enamel charm hung from it.

Music notes were engraved into the metal.

Julian placed it on the table.

“Elena died holding this.”

Dante picked it up.

On the reverse side were four stamped letters.

GATE.

And beneath them:

17.

Rocco whispered, “Gate Seventeen.”

Dante looked at him.

“What is it?”

Rocco’s face had lost its color.

“An old private storage terminal at the river docks.”

Meredith stood.

“No.”

Everyone looked at her.

She shook her head.

“You cannot go there.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed.

“Why?”

Meredith whispered the answer.

“Because Stefano lives there.”

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Then she looked toward the windows.

“And if Vittorio knows we found Elena’s ledger, he will already be waiting for us.”