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CHAPTER
66
Lily
When I entered thewarehouse, I wasn’t surprised at all when I saw my sister. I knew it was one of two people who had paid Anthony, as I now knew him, to bring me here. After our exchange of words, he took me to a room and pushed me inside, slamming and locking the door behind me. When I heard my name called out, I turned around to find my mother sitting in a chair. “Momma, are you okay?” I asked, running over to her.
“I'm fine. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“No. What's this all about, Momma? If she's not doing this for Vitale’s hand in marriage and power, then what?”
Letting out a sigh, she gestured for me to sit down in the other empty chair. “She wants the money in your trust fund. She already has the money that was in hers... but...”
“But what, Momma?” I asked, getting nervous, knowing that there was more I probably didn't want to hear but needed to.
“She wants what's in yours as well and forced me to sign for it, earlier today, to be released to you, but that's not my biggest worry. Your father and I could just replace that money if she did get away with it... but it's the amount that’s in your trust. I-I'm just afraid that when she sees it, it will only confirm what she's been saying all along and why she's doing all of this.”
Not understanding where she's going with this, I took her hand in mine. “I'm confused.”
“I know, dear. In Camilla’s trust we left her with $5.2 million dollars.”
“Okay, so with mine then she’ll have $10.4 million, that's why she wants it, right?”
“That's what she thinks she’ll find.” Taking a deep breath, she continued. “But what she’ll really walk away with is $25.2 million.”
“Wait, what? There's $20 million in mine and only $5.2 in hers? Momma, why? Why would you and papa do that?”
Looking down for a brief moment, she straightened her spine and looked into my eyes as she grabbed a hold of my hand. “From the time that you were a little girl your father and I knew it would be you that would marry one day to merge our family with the Gatti family. Your father made that deal with Andrei Gatti before he died. As part of that arrangement there was an agreed upon payment that would take place at the time of the wedding that would guarantee your safety for the rest of your life, a payment to the Gatti family as a gift from your father and I to them for your protection. But when Camilla sees that amount of money in your account it's going to do nothing but feed into her theory that we loved you more than her. Lillian, I'm worried she's not stable and what she might do when she finds out.” Just after those last words left her mouth, we heard a gunshot ring out and a few moments later, the man I recognized as Luca, came in to grab my arm and drag me out. “No!” Momma yelled at him.
“I'm sorry,” Luca said with what I could see was regret in his eyes for what he had to do, so I tried to reason with him.
“You don't have to do this, Luca. You can help us and then my father can help you get as far away as you want.”
Chuckling, he looked at me with almost sad eyes. “I'm a dead man if your father or Vitale get their hands on me. The only ‘going away’,” he said, making finger quotations with his fingers, “I’ll do if they catch me is six feet under or in the Chicago, river and you know it, so let's go.” He proceeded to pull me out of the room.
“But what about Momma?”
“I'm staying with her.” He assured me just as Camilla came into view as he dragged me through the warehouse towards the door. “Don't you hurt Momma!” I yelled at her.
“Don't worry princess, Luca will keep your Momma safe... for now.”
Yanking my arm free from Luca, I spun around and headed straight for her, and before she or I even know what was happening my hand stung from the slap across her face. “She's your mother, too! That woman gave birth to you! She loves you!”
“You little bitch!” She yelled, lunging for me as Luca stepped in, quickly separating us.
“Enough! Lillian, just go with Camilla and get the money so this whole thing can be over and done with. You know that $5 mil is a drop in the bucket compared to what your parents’ are worth, they can replace it.” Remembering what Momma told me, a new fear began to rise.
Will she kill Momma when she finds out how much is really in there before I have a chance to get us out of this, before Vance and Brice get us out of this?
Luca continued to drag me out to the car and shove me inside, handcuffing my hands to my seatbelt. Only then did Camilla emerge from the warehouse and get into the driver’s seat. “What, afraid I’ll go through with my threats to strangle you, so you had me handcuffed so I can't?”
Laughing at me, she started to drive away from the warehouse. “You know I was thinking about something today. The only reason you’re still alive is because I made the grand mistake of trusting a man to come through for me.” Looking at me
with pure hate and jealousy burning in her eyes. “Which is why this time I’ll be taking care of things myself, and how all of that plays out will depend on you. If you do what I say and get the money out without drawing any attention to me I will let you and Momma live, but if you cause me any problems...” Pausing for a moment she continued. “You’ll be the one with Momma’s blood on your hands. Her life depends on you doing exactly what you’re told to do.”
“I will, but there's something you need to know before we get there.”
“And what's that? That there's more money in your trust than there was in mine?” The look on my face conveyed that she was right without even a word from me. “I know all about it, which is why I wanted yours, too.”
