Chapter 2
The heavy silence that followed Lily’s words was thick enough to choke on. Gabriel Moretti froze mid-stride, his broad shoulders stiffening beneath the tailored black wool of his suit. The faint, arrogant smirk that had rested on Vanessa Bellini’s lips vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden, volatile flash of panic. Gabriel stared down at the tiny girl standing before him. His expression tightened like a coiled spring, the light stubble along his jaw sharpening as his dark eyes locked onto her face. Slowly, with a deliberate and agonizing slowness, the mafia boss lowered his massive frame onto one knee, the expensive fabric of his trousers rustling against the polished marble until he was precisely at Lily’s eye level. The tattoos on his knuckles gleamed under the warm lighting as he rested his heavy hands on his knees. "Who was your father, sweetheart?" Gabriel asked, his voice a low, gravelly baritone that vibrated through the cavernous room, stripped of all its usual lethal edge and replaced by a hollow, searching disbelief. Lily didn't cower from his terrifying aura; instead, she blinked her long eyelashes and smiled gently, entirely unaware of the razor-thin tightrope she was walking. "Daniel Hayes," Lily answered proudly, holding the white carnation out toward him as if offering a royal gift. The name struck Gabriel like a physical blow to the chest. He staggered back half an inch on his heel, his dark wavy hair falling slightly over his forehead as the breath rushed out of his lungs. Daniel Hayes. His brother-in-arms. The man who had taken a bullet meant for Gabriel five years ago during a dockside ambush, disappearing into the dark waters of the harbor before his body could ever be recovered. Gabriel looked up from the child, his slate-gray eyes flashing with sudden, cold fury as they swept past Lily to land squarely on Rachel. Across the room, Vanessa’s fingers tightened so violently around the stem of her champagne glass that the crystal stem threatened to snap. Her knuckles turned bone-white, and her eyes shifted wildly toward Rachel, blazing with an unspoken, murderous rage that whispered of secrets buried deep in the past.
