He Chose Another Heir Now He Wants Me Back Chapter 54
The girl was staying in a gray apartment building on the edge of the East Harbor.
The building didn’t belong to any family. The lobby door had three locks. Moretti men stood downstairs, while a De Luca car was parked across the street. The two sides watched each other, neither crossing the center line.
Dante parked the car and looked at me.
“Salvatore signed the freeze request himself. You don’t have to go in. I can have the lawyers handle it.”
“Ray entrusted her to me, not to a lawyer.”
I unfastened my seat belt.
“Besides, I promised no one would touch her over his old debts.”
Dante didn’t argue. He just handed me a file folder. Inside were the guardianship documents Ray had left, the account information, and the letter Vittorio had received. It was everything from the brown paper envelope—nothing more, nothing less.
The door to the innermost apartment on the second floor was ajar.
A girl in a black hoodie sat by the window. She was fifteen, with her hair cut just below her ears and a brow that was just like Ray’s. An old backpack sat at her feet, half-unzipped, as if she were ready to leave at any moment.
“Nora Corrigan?” I asked.
“That’s his name,” she said without looking at me. “I don’t use it.”
The lawyer, standing in the kitchen doorway, quietly told me that after reading the documents, Nora had refused to sign. She wouldn’t accept Moretti protection, and she didn’t want to go with me.
I asked everyone to leave.
Dante was the last one out. He didn’t close the door all the way, leaving it open by a crack.
Nora saw it and gave a cold laugh.
“You’re all the same. You say I get to choose, but there are always people standing outside the door.”
“They’re not watching you. They’re blocking the people who want to use you to settle debts.”
“Including you?”
She finally looked up.
Her black eyes held none of the panic a fifteen-year-old should have—only the wariness of someone who had been alone for too long.
“Ray saved your mother, so now you’re raising his daughter. When the favor’s repaid, where do I go?”
“He didn’t save my mother,” I said, sitting across from her. “The volunteer donor passed an independent evaluation. The donation was their decision. Ray helped us find them, but he didn’t trade your future for it.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I made a promise.”
She stared at me.
I pushed the guardianship confirmation toward the edge of the table but didn’t offer her a pen.
“You don’t have to sign. I’ll have the lawyers keep fighting the account freeze, and I’ll make sure you have a place to stay until you’re an adult. If you want to see me, I’ll come. If you don’t, I’ll leave you a number you can always reach.”
Nora’s fingers twitched.
“You’re not going to make me call you family?”
“No.”
“You’re not handing me over to some other family?”
“Absolutely not.”
I took the safe-deposit key from the folder and placed it next to the confirmation form.
“This is what Ray left for you. The key is yours, not mine.”
She looked at the key, her lips pressing together.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside.
A De Luca advisor stopped in the doorway and handed the lawyer a notice stamped with the black-and-silver seal.
“The head of the family expects Elena at the old house tonight. Corrigan’s old debt must be settled in front of witnesses.”
The color drained from Nora’s face.
I took the notice, folded it in front of her, and slipped it into my bag.
“Tell Salvatore I’ll be there.”
After the advisor left, Nora asked, “How are you going to settle it?”
“With the documents Ray already left behind.”
I stood up.
“Debts can be settled. People can’t.”