The Twin in the Shadows

"Frank?" I gasped, clinging to the rusted iron railing.

My manager looked down at me, his face devoid of the fatherly warmth he had faked for the last two years. He stepped aside, revealing Daniel Whitmore standing behind him, holding the crying baby wrapped in the white blanket.

"You should have quit when I told you to, Grace," Frank said, his voice flat.

I stared at Frank's hand holding the gun. Resting on his pinky finger was a gold ring with a black stone. The Moretti crest.

Answer One, Open Two. Frank wasn't just a manager. He was Daniel's inside man. But why had he hired me? Why put me in the private dining room where Vincent ate?

"You hired me on purpose," I realized aloud, the sick feeling rising in my throat.

Daniel smiled from the shadows. "Of course we did. We knew your father hid Anthony. We spent years tracking your family down. When Thomas died, we needed to keep an eye on you to see if he left you the trust fund documents. You led us right to the boy."

Frank raised the gun higher. "I'm sorry, Grace."

Before Frank could pull the trigger, a gunshot rang out from the alley below.

Frank screamed as a bullet tore through his shoulder. He dropped his weapon, collapsing against the brick wall.

Vincent climbed up the fire escape like a shadow, his gun smoking. He leveled the weapon at Daniel.

"Put my nephew down, Daniel," Vincent commanded.

Daniel backed toward the edge of the roof, holding the baby precariously over the sixty-foot drop. "Shoot me, and the boy falls, Vincent. The Moretti bloodline ends tonight."

The baby wailed, tiny arms flailing from the blanket. I saw the flash of the pale gray eyes.

"Don't do it!" Isabella screamed from the ground below.

Vincent didn't lower his gun, but I saw the slight tremor in his hand. For all his power, for all his terrifying reputation, he was completely paralyzed by the love for his brother's child.

"I'll give you everything," Vincent said, his voice breaking. "The bank accounts, the territory, the Foundation. Just hand Grace the boy."

Daniel laughed. "I already have everything, Vincent."

Daniel stepped backward, his heel resting on the very edge of the roof. He held the baby out over the empty air.