Chapter 1: The Parallel Eyes
Mateo Vance had conquered the ruthless skyline of Chicago, but right now, kneeling on the damp soil of Lincoln Park, his world narrowed down to a pair of hazel eyes.
"Daddy, she is your daughter too," his five-year-old daughter, Chloe, repeated. Her little finger remained firmly pointed at the girl standing across from them.
Mateo looked between them. Chloe wore a custom-tailored canary yellow lace dress, her hair pinned with an Italian silk ribbon. The other girl wore an oversized, unraveling brown knit cardigan over a faded floral print, clutching a threadbare teddy bear missing its left button eye. Yet, under the dappled sunlight filtering through the oak canopy, their bone structures were identical—the high cheekbones, the faint cleft chin, the exact arch of the dark eyebrows.
"Emma," Mateo whispered, the name tasting like ash and old regret on his tongue. "Who is your mother, sweetheart?"
The little girl took a half-step back, her knuckles turning white around the stuffed bear. "Mommy told me not to talk to strangers in suits. But... she said if I ever got lost, I should look for the man with the swallow tattoo on his neck."
Mateo’s hand involuntarily rose to the ink etched just below his left ear—a mark he had gotten seven years ago in a coastal town in Maine.
"Where is your mommy right now, Emma?" Mateo asked, his deep voice trembling despite his best efforts to maintain his composure. Behind him, his head of security, Marcus, took a cautious step forward, his hand hovering near his jacket.
Emma pointed toward the edge of the park where the city bus lines ran. "Mommy is at the clinic. She coughs a lot. She told me to sit on the bench and wait, but I saw her..." Emma looked at Chloe. "She looked like my mirror."
May you like
Mateo stood up slowly, his tall frame casting a long shadow across the dirt path. "Marcus," he said quietly, never taking his eyes off Emma. "Cancel the board meeting at Vance Holdings. Find out every free clinic operating within a five-mile radius. Now."
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