Chapter 2 - The Girl with the Bluebird Spin
The grandfather clock in the main library of the DeLuca estate struck two in the morning.
Nora Bennett sat on the edge of a velvet armchair, holding a small blanket around four-year-old Lily, who was fast asleep with her head resting on Nora’s lap. Her stuffed rabbit was tucked tightly beneath her arm.
Two armed guards stood by the heavy oak doors. Nora did not look at them. Her shoulders were trembling, but her posture was straight, defensive, and unyielding.
The doors swung open, and Julian entered. He had stripped off his bow tie, his collar was unbuttoned, and the shadows under his eyes looked like dark bruises. He gestured for the guards to leave. They stepped out and pulled the thick doors shut behind them.
Julian stood five feet away from Nora, looking down at the sleeping child. The pale light of the fireplace illuminated Lily's soft cheeks and the dark curls that fell across her forehead—curls that were identical to his own when he was a boy.
"Who was Claire Arden to you?" Julian asked, his voice low, lacking the anger Nora had been bracing for.
Nora swallowed hard, clutching her daughter closer. "She was my foster sister. We grew up in the same group homes in South Chicago. We were all each other had."
Julian took a slow step forward, kneeling down on one knee in front of her so he was at eye level with the chair. "Four years ago, Claire vanished from my life. She left her apartment, her job, her phone was disconnected, and every lead went cold. I searched for her for two years until I thought she was dead."
"She is dead, Mr. DeLuca," Nora whispered, tears finally breaking past her eyelashes. "She died four years ago. In a private clinic in rural Indiana."
Julian felt as though the air had been sucked from his lungs. "How?"
"Pneumonia following childbirth," Nora choked out. "She was terrified. She was running from someone. She came to my tiny apartment in the middle of a winter storm, seven months pregnant, bruised, and bleeding. She begged me never to let the DeLuca family find her. She said if your family found out she was pregnant, they would kill the baby."
Julian stood up abruptly, his hands balling into fists. "That's a lie! I loved her! I would have given my life for her! I would have built a empire for that child!"
"I didn't say you would kill the baby, Julian!" Nora snapped softly, mindful not to wake Lily. "I said your family. She said someone inside your inner circle threatened her. They showed her photos of you being followed by hitmen. They told her that if she didn't disappear and leave Chicago forever, they would execute both of you and frame it as a gang war!"
Julian froze. His mind raced back four years. Four years ago, his father was dying, the Commission was on the verge of war, and his uncle and senior advisors were urging him to cut all ties with "distractions"—including a penniless orphan girl named Claire Arden.
"Who threatened her, Nora?" Julian rasped. "Who told her to run?"
Nora raised her chin, her eyes filled with bitter grief. "She never gave me a name. She was too terrified that if I knew, they would come for me too. She gave birth to Lily in secret. Two weeks later, her lungs collapsed. Before she died, she made me promise to raise Lily as my own daughter, to keep her hidden, and never, ever bring her near Lake Shore Drive."
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"Then why did you come here?" Julian asked, pointing to the grand hall outside. "Why did you apply to be a maid in my house eighteen months ago?"
Nora looked down at Lily’s sleeping face, her hand gently stroking the child's hair. "Because six months ago, Lily fell ill with a rare autoimmune condition. The treatment costs fifty thousand dollars every quarter. I was drowning in debt. I had nowhere left to turn. I came here to see if the man Claire loved was a monster... or if he was a father who deserved to know his daughter existed."
