Part 2: The Phone Call That Changed Everything
Part 2: The Phone Call That Changed Everything
The tiny vibration of Lily Miller's old phone seemed impossibly loud inside the grand ballroom.
No one moved.
The shattered remains of the seven-tier wedding cake lay scattered across the white marble floor. Frosting dripped from silver candleholders. Sugar flowers floated in spilled champagne like tiny ghosts.
Dominic Kane's gaze remained fixed on the cracked screen sticking halfway out of Lily's pocket.
"Answer it," he said.
Grace's face lost what little color she had left.
"Lily... don't."
But the little girl had already reached into her pocket. The phone was old enough that one corner was held together with clear tape. The wallpaper showed a faded picture of her and Grace sitting on a park bench, laughing over melting ice cream.
The screen displayed only one word.
NANA.
Lily swallowed before pressing the speaker button.
"Hello?"
An elderly woman's trembling voice filled the ballroom.
"Lily? Are you safe?"
"Yes, Nana."
"I saw the wedding on television." The woman sounded as though she had been crying for hours. "Please tell me you didn't let him eat the cake."
Lily looked up at Dominic.
"I stopped him."
A long silence followed.
Then the old woman whispered, "Thank God."
Four hundred guests listened without daring to breathe.
Dominic stepped closer.
"Who are you?"
The woman froze.
Lily looked at him carefully before answering.
"My grandmother."
Dominic spoke into the phone.
"What is your name?"
Several painful seconds passed.
Finally the woman replied.
"My name is Margaret Collins."
The name struck Dominic like a punch.
He had heard it only once before.
Nine years earlier.
Emily had spoken it during one of the last peaceful dinners they had shared together.
"My mother, Margaret, keeps asking when you'll visit."
He never had.
He never got the chance.
The ballroom seemed to tilt beneath his feet.
Serena recovered first.
"This is absurd," she said with a practiced smile. "Anyone could pretend to be Emily's mother."
Margaret's voice suddenly sharpened.
"I know exactly who you are, Serena Waverly."
Serena's smile disappeared.
"I remember the day you visited Emily in the hospital. You told her she wasn't strong enough to be Dominic Kane's wife."
Several guests exchanged uneasy glances.
Margaret continued.
"And I remember finding you in Emily's kitchen two days before she died."
Serena's breathing changed almost imperceptibly.
"You were wearing white gloves."
No one noticed Adrian Cross slowly taking one careful step backward.
Dominic did.
His eyes shifted briefly toward his attorney.
Margaret's voice trembled again.
"I should have gone to the police years ago."
Grace closed her eyes.
"Mom..."
The single word echoed through the silent ballroom.
Every head turned toward Grace.
Dominic stared.
"You called her... Mom."
Grace opened her eyes, tears streaming down her face.
"I never wanted this."
"Lied," Serena whispered.
Grace ignored her.
"I promised Emily."
The ballroom erupted with whispers.
Dominic felt the world narrowing around one impossible question.
"What promise?"
Grace slowly looked at Lily.
"The promise that no matter what happened... I would keep her daughter alive."
The silence that followed seemed endless.
Dominic's heartbeat thundered in his ears.
"No."
Grace nodded through her tears.
"Yes."
"No."
Lily looked from one adult to another, confused.
"Mom?"
Grace knelt in front of her daughter.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For waiting so long."
She brushed Lily's hair away from her face with shaking fingers.
"The truth is..."
Her voice broke.
"...I'm not the woman who gave birth to you."
Lily blinked.
"I don't understand."
Grace wrapped both arms around her.
"The woman who carried you loved you more than anything in this world."
Dominic could barely speak.
"Emily."
Grace nodded.
"Emily Kane."
The words shattered nine years of lies.
Dominic stumbled backward until he hit the cake table.
He remembered Emily laughing beneath autumn trees.
He remembered feeling their baby kick beneath her hand.
He remembered accusing her.
Watching her cry.
Turning away while Serena placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
He had believed everyone except the woman who loved him.
Lily stared at Dominic.
"So..."
Her small voice barely existed.
"...he's my father?"
No one answered.
No one needed to.
Dominic slowly walked toward her.
Every step felt heavier than the last.
When he finally stood before Lily, he dropped to one knee.
The most feared man in Chicago looked smaller than he ever had.
"I..."
His voice failed.
He tried again.
"I don't deserve to ask you anything."
Lily studied his face.
"You called me a brat."
The words pierced deeper than any bullet.
"I know."
"You hurt my mom."
"I know."
"You made my real mom cry."
Dominic closed his eyes.
"I know."
Tears escaped despite every effort to stop them.
"I'm sorry."
Lily had never imagined that monsters cried.
She wasn't sure what to do.
So she simply asked the question that mattered most.
"Did you love her?"
Dominic answered without hesitation.
"Every day."
"Then why didn't you believe her?"
His silence became the answer.
Across the ballroom Adrian quietly reached into his pocket.
Detective Vincent Ross saw the movement.
"Mr. Cross."
Adrian smiled politely.
"Yes?"
"Take your hand out of your pocket."
"It's only my phone."
"Slowly."
Adrian hesitated.
Too long.
Ross reached for his weapon.
Adrian suddenly turned and sprinted toward the service entrance.
"Stop him!"
Chaos exploded.
Guests screamed.
Security guards rushed forward.
Adrian shoved two waiters aside and burst through the kitchen doors.
Dominic stood instantly.
"Lock every exit!"
Serena grabbed his arm.
"Dominic, think about what this looks like."
He pulled away.
"I finally am."
Outside, Adrian raced across the estate gardens.
He knew exactly where he had hidden the backup files.
If Dominic discovered them, everything was over.
Nine years of careful planning.
Millions of dollars.
Three murders disguised as accidents.
All gone.
He reached the old greenhouse behind the mansion.
A black SUV screeched to a stop beside it.
The driver's window rolled down.
"Get in!"
Serena.
Adrian jumped inside.
"You shouldn't have come," he gasped.
"I wasn't going to let you leave me behind."
The SUV roared toward the estate gate.
Inside the ballroom Dominic received a radio from his head of security.
"They're heading east."
"Don't shoot."
"Sir?"
"I want them alive."
Ross frowned.
"They're running for a reason."
Dominic looked toward the ruined wedding cake.
"No."
He stared at the silver tube still lying on the marble floor.
"They're running because the truth finally caught them."
Lily quietly walked over to the tube.
No one stopped her.
She picked it up with both hands.
"It's warm."
Ross accepted it carefully.
"It wasn't supposed to be."
He twisted one end.
Inside was not an explosive.
Not poison.
Not money.
Instead...
A tiny flash drive slid into his palm.
Every eye followed it.
Ross looked at Dominic.
"This may explain everything."
Grace suddenly whispered, "There should be two."
Ross looked up.
"What?"
"There were always two."
"How do you know?"
"Because Emily showed them to me."
Dominic's heart pounded.
"Showed you what?"
Grace stared at the flash drive.
"Evidence."
"Evidence of what?"
She looked directly at Serena's empty place beside the wedding altar.
"The people who destroyed your family."
Outside, police sirens echoed through the night.
Inside the ballroom, Dominic looked at the daughter he had never known existed.
Nine years had been stolen from both of them.
He silently made himself a promise.
No amount of money...
No amount of power...
No amount of blood already spilled...
Would stop him from uncovering every lie that had taken Emily away.
Because tonight had not ended with a wedding.
May you like
It had begun with a phone call.
And before the sun rose over Chicago, the Kane empire would discover that the dead had been telling the truth all along.
