Once she was gone, I asked, “What did she say?”
Caity shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. What did you need to talk to me about?”
She stood up from the table, taking the dishes with her, and walked to the sink. I knew from the stiff set of her shoulders she was bracing herself.
I took a deep breath, hoping the air in my lungs would cushion the blow to my heart. “It’s time you moved back to your house.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Caity
An hour earlier...
“Mom? Are you here?”
I’d heard the elevator doors open, hoping it was Cian finally coming back home. He’d been gone for hours, when Sal called to let me know he had shown up at the office.
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
“Is Dad home?” she asked, looking around the apartment.
“No. He’s still at the office.” I hoped my voice didn’t give away how upset I was.
“I saw Sinclair,” she announced.
My body stiffened, as I turned to look at her. “And?” I asked. She held up a file.
“This is everything he has on the Valentinetti family.” I followed her to the dining table and she opened the envelope, pulling out the stack of papers.
A quick look through the papers and I was already sick to my stomach. Pages and pages of records of women who’d given birth to children who were then stolen from them and sold.
I’d done some research after Cian left. I wanted to read about Sylvia St. James. I knew she was heavily involved in charity work, but I hadn’t expected Nicolette Valentinetti to be on the board of Sylvia’s charity, Sunshine Child.
I’d found information about Sunshine Child and its subsidiary, Sunshine Kids. Everything about Sylvia St. James and theSocietyhad been released years ago.
I’d never paid attention to the news reports because I didn’t think it had anything to do with me and my family. I wish I’d known then how utterly wrong I was.
This would not only affect Henry, who bore the Valentinetti name, but if the public found out that Maddie was the granddaughter of Sylvia St. James, she and Henry would never be safe.
I looked at my daughter. Her brow was furrowed as she read through the papers Sinclair had given her.
“I don’t understand any of this. How could this man be so evil and yet have a hand in raising children who were so good?”
“Maddie, you said it yourself: Illyria is the only one you’ve met and, well, she wasn’t exactly friendly.”
“No, but she’s protecting my son. I can’t fault her for that.” She looked up at me. “You would have acted the same way,” she said with a smile.
“That’s true.” Maddie didn’t know the truth about Illyria Valentinetti. I wouldn’t be the one to tell her. Not unless we got Henry back. “But the rest are boys. You know as well as I do that the boys are raised to be like their fathers.”
“Uncle Sal isn’t like Grandfather.”
I smiled at her logic. My brother was certainly no saint, but she was right. He wasn’t the monster my father was. “That’s true, but still—”
“Mom, I know. But I trusted Salvatore. I trusted him with my son. He wasn’t like his father. He died for his sister. Giovanni almost died for his wife, and he walked away from the family business. Lorenzo too. Luciano was killed before he had the chance to fall in love, and Antonio gave up everything for Grace.Men who do this...” She held up the papers in her hand. “They don’t put others first. Especially the women in their lives.”
I had to agree with her. My father was working with Valentino Valentinetti. He wouldn’t have given up anything for a woman. Hell, he wouldn’t even give up his freedom and marry one of the many women he impregnated.
“Sinclair offered to help me,” Maddie said quietly as she stared at the files.
