Chapter 5 - The Truth About Lily
I didn’t return to Las Vegas.
Not yet.
For the first time in my life, I understood that knowing every secret wasn’t always the same as healing.
Daniel and I married quietly the following spring.
No casinos.
No ballroom.
No hundred-person guest list.
We stood in a garden outside Boston with twelve people.
When Daniel placed the ring on my finger, my hands didn’t shake.
A year later, our son, Noah, was born.
Holding him changed something inside me.
I finally understood that love could feel safe.
But the anonymous messages continued.
Every few months.
Never threatening.
Always revealing.
A bank statement.
A date.
A photograph.
Lily had received $500,000.
The money came through a company associated with Vittorio Moretti.
But Vittorio had died years earlier.
Someone was still using his network.
Then I received the message that brought me back.
Your mother is sick.
I called Rachel.
She confirmed it.
Mom had undergone surgery.
Nothing terminal, but serious enough that Lily had contacted Rachel hoping she would tell me.
I looked at Noah sleeping against Daniel’s chest.
Three years had passed.
I had built a life.
Maybe that was why I finally felt strong enough to revisit the old one.
Daniel came with me.
When our plane landed in Las Vegas, I expected panic.
Instead, I felt calm.
The city looked smaller.
Mom cried when she saw me.
She hugged Noah.
Then she hugged Daniel.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“Everything.”
We talked for hours.
Eventually, I asked about the money.
Mom’s face changed.
“What money?”
“The five hundred thousand Lily received.”
She stared at me.
“I didn’t know.”
For once, I believed her.
“Who called Lily before the affair started?”
Mom looked confused.
Then she remembered.
“Sofia.”
My half sister.
Dante’s half sister.
The woman in Manhattan.
I felt cold.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
That night, I found Lily.
She lived in a quiet house outside Henderson.
When she opened the door, she froze.
“Claire.”
I looked at my sister.
Three years had changed her.
She looked older.
Tired.
Then a little girl appeared behind her.
Isabella.
Dark hair.
Dante’s eyes.
My niece.
None of this was her fault.
“Is that Claire?” Isabella asked.
Lily began crying.
“You told her about me?”
“I show her pictures.”
That hurt in a completely different way.
We sat down.
For several minutes, neither of us knew how to begin.
Finally, I asked:
“Did someone pay you to sleep with Dante?”
Lily’s face went white.
That was my answer.
“Who?”
“Sofia.”
“Why?”
Lily cried.
“She said Dante married you because of Dad’s records.”
I stared at her.
“She told me he was using you. She said if I could get close to him, she could prove it.”
“For half a million dollars?”
“I didn’t take the money at first.”
“But you took Dante.”
She covered her face.
“I hated myself.”
“How did it start?”
“At Mom’s birthday party.”
The cuff link.
Of course.
“Dante was drunk. I was angry. I confronted him about you.”
“And?”
“He told me he loved you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Interesting way of showing it.”
“I kissed him.”
Lily looked directly at me.
“He stopped me.”
That surprised me.
“What?”
“He told me never to do it again.”
“Then how did you end up having a two-year affair?”
Her eyes filled.
“Because Sofia wouldn’t stop.”
Sofia convinced Lily that Dante was dangerous.
She provided documents.
Some real.
Some altered.
She told Lily that seducing Dante was the only way to gain access to information that could protect me.
Eventually, Lily tried again.
This time Dante didn’t stop her.
One night became months.
Months became Isabella.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because by then I loved him.”
That sentence hurt.
Even after three years.
“Did he love you?”
Lily looked down.
“No.”
I hadn’t expected that answer.
“He cared about me. He loves Isabella. But he never loved me.”
“Then why continue?”
“Because he was angry at you.”
“At me?”
“He thought you were secretly gathering evidence against the Morettis.”
I almost laughed.
Everyone had manipulated everyone.
“And Mom?”
“She found out when I got pregnant.”
“So she protected you.”
“Yes.”
“Not me.”
Lily cried.
“No.”
At least she didn’t lie.
“Where is Dante now?”
“He doesn’t live with us.”
That surprised me.
“He sees Isabella every week. He bought the house. But we were never together after you left.”
“Why?”
“Because the day you disappeared, he blamed me.”
Of course.
Men like Dante always needed someone else to blame.
I stood.
Lily grabbed my hand.
“Claire.”
I looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
“Can you ever forgive me?”
“I don’t know.”
It was the most truthful answer I could give.
Then she said, “There’s something else.”
There always was.
“What?”
“Sofia didn’t pay me to destroy your marriage.”
“Then why?”
“She wanted Dante distracted.”
“From what?”
“From finding your father’s records.”
I frowned.
“Why would Sofia care?”
“Because some of the records aren’t about Vittorio.”
Lily walked upstairs.
She returned with an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Sofia.
My mother.
And a man I didn’t recognize.
On the back was written:
The Bellarosa transfer.
Lily whispered, “Sofia has been controlling part of the Moretti organization for years.”
I looked at her.
“She used you?”
“Yes.”
“And Dante?”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
Lily nodded.
Then she said the one thing I hadn’t expected.
“Claire, Sofia is the person who arranged for you and Dante to meet.”
My entire marriage had been manipulated before it even began.
But why?
The answer arrived twenty minutes later.
Someone knocked.
Lily opened the door.
Dante Moretti stood outside.
Three years had passed since I had seen him.
His eyes moved past Lily.
Then he saw me.
Then Daniel.
Then Noah in my arms.
May you like
For the first time in all the years I had known him, Dante Moretti looked completely powerless.
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