Chapter 5: The Man Who Sent the Bullets
Gabriel found her in the hallway outside Lily's room at noon.
He had changed into a dark shirt, sleeves rolled, and he looked like a man who had not slept in five days because he hadn't.
He was holding a phone he wasn't looking at, which meant the phone call he had just finished had not gone the way he wanted.
"She drank again this morning," Claire said before he could speak.
"Six sips.
She let me brush her hair."
Something in his face shifted.
"Did she speak?"
"Not yet.
But she's tracking.
She watches the door now.
Before, she looked through it."
He nodded.
Leaned against the wall beside her.
For a moment they stood in the particular silence of two people who are not yet sure what they are to each other.
"Who is Solin?" Claire asked.
The phone in his hand went face-down against his thigh.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"Lily said it.
Twice.
Last night, in her sleep."
Gabriel looked at the closed bedroom door.
A muscle in his jaw moved once.
"Renata was in the kitchen this morning," Claire continued.
"She left me a note telling me to stop humming to Lily.
She said there were details of what Lily saw that certain people would prefer she not be able to articulate."
The silence that followed was a different kind of silence.
The kind that has weight.
"She said that to you directly."
"She was very polite about it."
Gabriel pushed off the wall and turned to face her fully.
"Renata Voss has been my chief financial advisor for six years.
She manages the legitimate side of my holdings.
She has access to every account, every property, every contract." He paused.
"She was also in the car behind us on the FDR Drive the night Elena was sh0t."
Claire's breath held.
"She said she was following because she'd received a threat and wanted to make sure we arrived safely." His voice was flat and precise, the voice of a man reciting facts he has examined from every angle and cannot yet disprove.
"I had no reason not to believe her.
She has been with this family for six years.
She attended our wedding.
She was in the delivery room when Lily was b0rn."
"But you believe her less now."
"I believe her less since Lily said the name Solin in her sleep." He looked at Claire.
"Dmitri Solin is the man I have been at war with for three years.
He controls the eastern port routes.
He has been trying to take my harbor contracts since before Elena and I were married.
He has tried twice to have me kjlled." A pause.
"The second attempt was the FDR Drive."
The hallway felt very small.
"If Renata was in contact with Solin—" Claire started.
"Then she knew the route we were taking that night.
She knew the timing.
She knew which car Elena would be in." His voice didn't change.
It stayed flat and controlled.
But his hand, the one holding the phone, had gone white at the knuckles.
"She is the only person outside my inner security team who had that information."
"Have you confronted her?"
"I have no proof.
A name spoken by a four-year-old in her sleep is not proof." He looked at the door again.
"But Lily was there.
Lily saw everything from the back seat.
And if she is starting to surface — if she is starting to remember—"
"Then Renata needs her to stay silent."
He didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Claire thought about the index card.
The neat block letters.
*You don't know what you're waking up.* She thought about the way Renata had stood in the kitchen doorway, coffee cup in hand, warm and careful and completely in control.
"She's going to try to remove me," Claire said.
"Probably."
"And you're going to let her try."
Gabriel looked at her.
"I'm going to watch what she does when she tries.
There's a difference." He straightened.
"Stay close to Lily.
Don't tell her what I've told you.
Don't change anything about how you're working with her." He moved to leave.
"Mr.
Varrick."
He stopped.
"Lily is not bait," Claire said.
"Whatever you're building toward — she is not bait."
He turned back.
His gray eyes held hers for a long moment.
"No," he said quietly.
"She is not."
He walked away.
Claire stood in the hallway until she heard Lily stir behind the door, and then she went back in.
May you like
On the nightstand, the yellow duck cup was empty again.
Lily had finished it on her own.
