Page 115 of Merciless Prince
Cooper nodded. “I was born three months later. After that, we had to wait for a female Vandenberg baby. That’s where Carla Bronson comes in.”
“Who’s that?”
“I’ll show you a photo of her later. For now, all you need to know is that she was a very beautiful woman with very poor taste in men.” Cooper paused to pull out another chair from under the dining table. He sat opposite me and went on. “Carla was—and still is—Ari Vandenberg’s favorite niece. Usually, the heads of the families have to approve marriages, but because Carla was so spoiled, she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. So when she chose to marry Gabe Bronson, her uncle wasn’t pleased, but he let it happen.”
“What was wrong with Gabe Bronson?”
“He wasn’t part of their world. He was an investment banker Carla met while she was drinking with friends in the city one night. Anyway, they got married a few months after they met and had a baby a year later. Her name was Olivia.”
“So Olivia was promised to you?”
Cooper nodded. “Yes. Obviously, we were babies at the time, so we had no idea what was going on, but we were still betrothed. As soon as we were both eighteen, we would be married. Then Gabe went and fucked everything up.”
My mind whirled, trying to keep track of all the different people. “The investment banker?”
“Yes. Carla’s husband. He got into some financial trouble. He borrowed money from his wife’s uncle Ari, but it wasn’t enough, and he was too ashamed to ask for any more. So then he ended up going to a man named Bruno Morelli for a loan.” Cooper paused and frowned, scratching at his cheek. “Morelli was a stupid little mafia wannabe. He had his own criminal outfit set up with a few soldiers, but they were basically just glorified loan sharks. They lent Gabe the money he needed with a ridiculously high rate of interest. Gabe thought he could pay it back in time. But he couldn’t.”
“So this Morelli guy killed him?”
“No. He was going to, though. He and his crew went to Gabe and Carla’s house, tied them up, and shot their housekeeper dead. When Carla told the story later, she said Morelli was about to kill them too, but then one of his men came down from upstairs and whispered something to him. After that, Morelli made a phone call. Then everything suddenly changed. Gabe and Carla were told they were free to go and their debt was paid in full. Nothing would ever happen to them again as long as they didn’t say a word to the police.”
“Why did Morelli change his mind?”
“Because the Bronsons had something he wanted,” Cooper said, forehead creasing. “When they were finally free, they ran upstairs to check on Olivia. She was gone.”
My eyes widened. “He stole their baby?”
“Yup.” Cooper nodded slowly. “Now, like I said before, Bruno Morelli was a fucking idiot. Despite all his gangster posturing, he didn’t know shit about most of the East Coast crime families. Didn’t bother to do more than a cursory amount of research on anything. So he had no idea that Carla Bronson was actually a Vandenberg. No idea that the police weren’t the ones he needed to worry about.”
I swallowed thickly. “What happened?”
“The Vandenbergs went crazy looking for Olivia. My family did too, seeing as she was promised to us. Every last one of Morelli’s associates was hunted down and tortured for information. But they took it too far. By the time the dust had settled, there was no one left from Morelli’s crew. No one who could answer the question of where baby Olivia ended up.”
My stomach lurched. “They killedallof them?”
“Yes. It was a stupid and costly overreaction, but emotions were high at the time, so I suppose it’s understandable. Anyway, Olivia was never found, and that triggered more fighting between my family and the Vandenbergs. On top of that, the peace deal completely fell apart,” Cooper said. “My family thought the Vandenbergs engineered Olivia’s disappearance in order to renege on their deal and keep her from us. The Vandenbergs thoughtweset it up to steal Olivia and ensure they couldn’t back out of the deal.”
“That’s crazy,” I muttered.
Cooper sighed heavily, looking at the wall over my shoulder. “When I was growing up, I never stopped hearing about this girl who was meant to be mine one day. The girl who was snatched away from us, never to be seen again. She was like a ghost, haunting me all the time. I never thought I’d see her or touch her.” He looked back at me, and his lips curved into a faint smile. “But then I found her.”
“How?”
He stood up and pulled out his cell phone. “Remember when I said I was going to show you a photo of Carla?” he said. “Here. Take a look.”
He held the phone out in front of me. I looked at the screen and frowned. “This is just a photo of me.”
“No. It’s Carla when she was your age.”
I slowly shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m trying to tell you something, Shay,” Cooper said. “It’syou.You’re Olivia. Carla and Gabe’s daughter.”
I stiffened. “That’s impossible.”
“It’s not. I knew it from the first moment I saw you. You look exactly like Carla. Except she’s blonde now, and in her fifties.”
I looked at the photo again. The woman on the screen really did look like me. The only difference I could see was a tiny white scar on her left cheek.
