Chapter 3 - The Mother Who Vanished
I didn’t sleep much after finding the photograph.
I checked the locks twice.
Then three times.
I watched Rosie breathe in the bed beside me and tried to ignore the cold pressure in my chest.
By morning, the paper was gone.
I had put it on the dresser.
Now it had vanished.
I searched the room, the bathroom, the hallway outside our door. Nothing.
When I found Henry in the breakfast room, he looked pale before I said a word.
“You saw it,” I told him.
Henry’s hand tightened around his coffee cup.
“Ms. Bennett—”
“Who was she?”
He looked toward the doorway, as if Matteo might appear at any moment.
“Her name was Elena Ricci.”
“The boys’ mother.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
Henry’s face shut down. “That is not a subject we discuss.”
“Someone put a photograph of her under my door.”
His eyes widened.
For the first time, Henry Brandt looked afraid.
“Where is it?”
“It disappeared.”
He stood abruptly. “You must not mention this to the boys.”
“Why?”
“Because it causes distress.”
“They’re eight years old. Their mother is gone. I think they might already be distressed.”
“Ms. Bennett—”
“Where is she?”
Henry lowered his voice.
“Officially, Mrs. Ricci died in a car accident three years ago.”
“Officially?”
He looked at me for one long second.
Then Matteo entered the room.
Every muscle in Henry’s body stiffened.
Matteo wore a black dress shirt and dark trousers. No tie. No jacket. He looked less like a businessman this morning and more like the man people warned one another about.
His gaze moved from Henry to me.
“What are you discussing?”
“Breakfast schedules,” Henry said immediately.
I stared at him.
Matteo noticed.
Of course he did.
“Clare?” he asked.
I hated the way my first name sounded in his voice.
“Your wife,” I said.
The room went silent.
Henry closed his eyes.
Matteo’s face became utterly still.
“Excuse me?”
“Your wife. Elena.”
“You were told not to discuss her.”
“No one told me anything. Someone left her photo under my door.”
Matteo moved toward me.
Not quickly.
That was worse.
“You found a photograph?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“It disappeared.”
His eyes darkened.
“Who entered your room?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did anyone touch Rosie?”
The sharpness of his question caught me off guard.
“No.”
“Did anyone speak to her?”
“No.”
He turned toward the security camera in the corner of the breakfast room.
“Dante.”
A man appeared almost instantly from the hall. He was broad-shouldered, scarred, and quiet enough that I hadn’t heard him approach.
“Review every camera covering the east wing,” Matteo said. “From midnight until sunrise. Nobody enters or leaves without me knowing.”
“Yes, boss.”
“And double the guard rotation near Ms. Bennett’s suite.”
I folded my arms. “I don’t need guards outside my bedroom.”
“You do now.”
“I need answers.”
Matteo looked at me.
“You need to protect your daughter.”
“I can do both.”
His mouth tightened.
“You know nothing about this house.”
“Then tell me.”
For one second, something in his expression cracked.
Then Leo burst into the room wearing only one shoe and a pirate hat.
“Dad! Asher locked Nico in the elevator!”
Matteo turned slowly.
“Did he?”
Leo grinned. “Maybe.”
A furious banging sounded from the hallway.
“LET ME OUT!” Nico yelled.
Asher appeared around the corner, holding an elevator keycard behind his back.
Matteo’s face became thunderous.
“Asher.”
“It was an experiment,” Asher said quickly.
“What were you testing?”
“If elevators can be prisons.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Okay,” I said. “New rule.”
All three boys looked at me.
“No locking people in anything. Closets, rooms, elevators, cabinets, trunks, doghouses, or secret tunnels.”
Leo blinked. “There’s a secret tunnel?”
Asher looked at him sharply. “You weren’t supposed to say that.”
Matteo’s gaze snapped toward them.
“What secret tunnel?”
The triplets went silent.
Then Nico, still trapped in the elevator, yelled, “THE ONE MOM USED!”
Everything stopped.
Matteo went white.
And from somewhere deep beneath the mansion, a loud metallic sound echoed through the walls.
May you like
Like a door opening after three years.
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