Chapter 4 - "DON'T YOU DARE ORDER MY MOMMY AROUND!"
Sarah watched Anthony Moretti’s world collapse without making a sound.
On the laptop screen, his father stood three feet from Daniel.
There was no audio.
Only movements.
Daniel pointed angrily at a folder.
Anthony Moretti Sr. appeared to argue.
Paul Rainer stepped between them.
Then Daniel shoved a document into the older man’s chest and walked away.
The footage ended.
Sarah waited.
Anthony did not speak.
Finally, she said, “Your father confronted him.”
“Yes.”
“Was that the night Daniel died?”
Anthony nodded.
“Six hours earlier.”
Sarah felt sick.
“Then he killed him.”
“We don’t know that.”
“You said you wouldn’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
Anthony turned.
“My father was ruthless. I have no intention of defending him. But if he had ordered Daniel’s death, he would not have argued with him publicly in a parking garage first. He was many things. Careless was not one of them.”
Sarah hated that the logic made sense.
Marco studied the video.
“There’s another possibility.”
Anthony looked at him.
“Dominic.”
Marco nodded.
“If Daniel showed your father evidence that DeLuca was stealing from him, your father may have confronted Daniel because he wanted the records.”
“And Dominic found out,” Sarah said.
Anthony looked at her.
“And silenced your husband before the information reached anyone else.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
Two years.
Daniel had been dead for two years because he had tried to expose powerful men.
And one of those powerful men might have been trying to help him.
The idea was almost unbearable.
By evening, federal agents had surrounded Pier Nineteen.
Dominic DeLuca was gone.
They found an abandoned office, shredded documents, two empty safes and blood on the warehouse floor.
But no Dominic.
Vivienne had also disappeared.
Anthony had ordered his security team to escort her from the mansion earlier.
She never reached her family estate.
Her car was found abandoned twelve miles away.
Anthony responded with terrifying calm.
“Her father took her.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You think Dominic kidnapped his own daughter?”
“I think Dominic protects himself before anyone else.”
“And now she knows too much.”
“Yes.”
Sarah wanted to feel satisfaction.
Instead, she felt afraid.
Vivienne had been cruel and arrogant.
But nobody deserved to vanish for knowing the truth.
The next morning, Sarah insisted on returning to work.
Anthony objected.
“You were attacked yesterday.”
“I cannot sit in a guest room and stare at walls.”
“You’re under protection.”
“Protection doesn’t mean imprisonment.”
Anthony rubbed a hand over his face.
“Sarah.”
“I need normal.”
He stopped arguing.
That was how Sarah ended up polishing the formal dining room silver while Ellie colored at the staff table nearby and six armed security men quietly occupied different parts of the mansion.
Normal, apparently, had become relative.
At eleven twenty, the front doors opened.
Vivienne walked in.
Alone.
Her hair was disheveled.
Her expensive coat was torn at the sleeve.
Evelyn gasped.
Anthony appeared from the west corridor.
“Vivienne.”
She ignored him.
Her eyes locked on Sarah.
“You.”
Sarah set down the cloth.
“What happened?”
Vivienne crossed the room rapidly.
“This is your fault.”
Anthony moved between them.
“Stop.”
“My father thinks I betrayed him!”
“You did.”
Vivienne’s eyes flashed.
“Because of her!”
“No. Because you accepted money connected to a dead man.”
Vivienne looked toward Ellie.
The child had stopped coloring.
“You ruined everything,” Vivienne hissed at Sarah.
Sarah’s patience finally broke.
“Your family killed my husband.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know you were paid two million dollars after he died.”
Vivienne’s face twisted.
“It wasn’t payment for murder!”
“Then what was it?”
Silence.
Anthony stared at her.
“What was the money for?”
Vivienne’s eyes filled unexpectedly.
“For silence.”
Nobody moved.
“My father told me Daniel Bennett was trying to destroy the family. He said your father had become weak and Daniel was feeding information to investigators.”
Anthony’s jaw hardened.
“So Dominic paid you to do what?”
“Delete files from one of the family servers.”
Sarah felt nauseated.
“You destroyed evidence.”
“I was twenty-six!”
“You were old enough to know what you were doing.”
Vivienne stepped toward her.
“Do not lecture me, maid.”
Sarah’s eyes narrowed.
Anthony’s voice cut sharply through the room.
“Vivienne.”
But humiliation had already turned Vivienne reckless.
“You come into this house polishing floors, bringing your child where she doesn’t belong, and suddenly Anthony behaves as if you’re some tragic saint.”
“Enough.”
“No, Anthony. She needs to remember who works for whom.”
Sarah straightened.
“I work for this household. I do not work for you.”
Vivienne stepped closer.
“You will clean the upstairs guest suite.”
“No.”
The word stunned everyone.
Vivienne blinked.
“What?”
“I’m off today at noon, and Ellie has a pediatric appointment.”
“You will go upstairs.”
“No.”
Vivienne reached out and grabbed Sarah’s upper arm.
“Do not make me repeat—”
A tiny chair scraped loudly across the floor.
Ellie ran forward.
Her little face was furious.
“DON’T YOU DARE ORDER MY MOMMY AROUND!”
The room froze.
Sarah’s heart stopped.
“Ellie—”
The three-year-old planted herself between Sarah and Vivienne.
“You’re mean!”
Vivienne stared down at her.
“You need to teach your child manners.”
“Do not speak to her,” Sarah said.
Vivienne reached as if to move Ellie aside.
Ellie recoiled.
Her heel caught on the leg of a chair.
She fell backward.
Her head missed the corner of the table by inches.
Sarah screamed.
But Anthony was already moving.
He caught Ellie before she hit the floor.
Everything changed.
The most feared man on the East Coast dropped to both knees on the polished dining room floor, one arm around the frightened child, the other steadying her shoulder.
“Hey,” Anthony said softly. “Look at me.”
Ellie’s lower lip trembled.
“Are you okay?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“My elbow hurts.”
“Can I see?”
She nodded.
Anthony carefully checked it.
Sarah sank beside them.
“Baby.”
“I’m okay, Mommy.”
Anthony looked up.
His face was white with controlled rage.
But he did not look at Vivienne.
Not yet.
His attention stayed on Ellie.
“Can you wiggle your fingers for me?”
Ellie did.
“Good. Very good.”
She sniffled.
“You got dirty.”
Anthony looked at the knee of his suit.
For some reason, that broke Sarah.
A laugh escaped through her tears.
Anthony smiled faintly.
“So I did.”
Then he stood.
The warmth disappeared from his face.
He turned toward Vivienne.
She took one step backward.
“I didn’t push her.”
“No,” Anthony said. “You grabbed her mother and created a situation where a three-year-old believed she had to protect her.”
“Anthony—”
“You are leaving.”
“You can’t—”
“This house. This property. My companies. My life.”
Vivienne stared.
“You would choose a maid over me?”
Anthony’s expression did not change.
“I’m choosing decency over you.”
Her face crumpled with fury.
“You think Sarah Bennett is better than me?”
Sarah stood.
“This isn’t about me.”
Vivienne ignored her.
“You want her because she looks at you like you can still be saved.”
Anthony went completely still.
Vivienne laughed bitterly.
“But ask her what happens when she finds out what your family really did.”
Anthony’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Vivienne smiled.
A broken, frightened smile.
“My father told me one more thing.”
Sarah’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
Vivienne looked directly at her.
“Daniel didn’t die at the crash site.”
Sarah could not move.
Anthony’s voice was dangerously quiet.
“Explain.”
“He survived the crash.”
The room vanished around Sarah.
Vivienne continued.
“Someone pulled him out of the car.”
Sarah whispered, “Who?”
Vivienne looked at Anthony.
“Your father.”
Anthony went pale.
Sarah’s legs nearly failed.
“What happened after that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying!”
“I swear.”
Sarah grabbed the table for support.
Vivienne reached inside her torn coat.
Marco immediately drew his weapon.
“Hands!”
Vivienne froze.
Slowly, she pulled out a small envelope.
“My father had this hidden.”
She dropped it onto the table.
Anthony opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Daniel lay in a hospital bed.
Alive.
The date printed in the corner was two days after Sarah had been told he died.
Sarah made a broken sound.
Anthony stared at the image.
On the back, someone had written an address.
And beneath it:
ASK MORETTI WHAT HE DID WITH THE ACCOUNTANT.
Sarah looked at Anthony.
The man who had just protected her daughter.
The man she had begun trusting.
The man whose father had apparently hidden Daniel after his supposed death.
“Where is my husband?”
Anthony’s face showed something Sarah had never seen before.
Fear.
“I don’t know.”
Sarah stepped away from him.
May you like
“Then we find out.”
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