Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD
Claire was not permitted to return to her apartment.
Dominic called it protection.
The armed men outside her bedroom called it something else.
By midnight, she was back at the Moretti estate, wearing borrowed clothes and sitting inside a guest suite on the third floor. Her wet uniform had been taken as evidence. Her phone had been returned, but the internet connection had been disabled, and every call she attempted passed through the estate’s security office.
Eli remained overnight at the hospital under the protection of six guards.
Dominic returned to the mansion without him.
Claire heard his footsteps in the corridor shortly after one in the morning.
Her bedroom door opened without a knock.
Dominic entered carrying the half-moon necklace in a sealed bag.
“You should try asking permission before walking into a woman’s room,” Claire said.
“You should try telling the truth.”
“I already have.”
He placed a folder on the table.
Claire recognized the photograph on the first page.
It was her employee application.
Several sections had been highlighted.
“You wrote that your mother’s name was Helen Bennett.”
“That was her name.”
“She worked at St. Vincent Medical Center.”
Claire said nothing.
“She was an emergency-room nurse for nineteen years.”
“What does my mother have to do with your son?”
“That is what I want to know.”
Dominic opened the folder to an old hospital employment record.
“Natalia was brought to St. Vincent four months before she supposedly died. She had been injured in a car accident. Your mother treated her.”
Claire stared at the page.
“My mother treated thousands of people.”
“She accessed Natalia’s medical file three times after the accident.”
“That doesn’t mean they knew each other.”
Dominic removed a photograph.
It showed a hospital charity event from eight years earlier. Helen Bennett stood near the back of the room wearing blue scrubs.
Beside her was Natalia Moretti.
The two women were holding hands.
Claire slowly sat down.
“My mother never mentioned her.”
“Did she leave you anything when she died?”
“A box of photographs. Some jewelry. Why?”
“Anything shaped like the other half of this pendant?”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
“I don’t have to think carefully. I know what she left.”
Dominic watched her face.
“You were selected for this job.”
“The agency selected me.”
“My sister recommended you.”
Claire looked up.
“Your sister?”
“Rosa Moretti oversees the household foundation. She personally approved your application, even though you had less domestic-service experience than the other candidates.”
Claire remembered Rosa.
Elegant.
Soft-spoken.
Always dressed in pale colors.
She had welcomed Claire on her first day and told her that loyalty was rewarded generously in the Moretti family.
“Why would Rosa choose me?”
“That is what we are going to find out.”
“We?”
“You can remain locked in this room while my men search your life, or you can help me identify whoever used your access code.”
Claire crossed her arms.
“And after that?”
“If you are innocent, you walk away.”
“If?”
Dominic met her eyes.
“I don’t make promises until I know the truth.”
Claire almost laughed.
“Then you must be a very lonely man.”
His expression hardened.
But for the first time, he had no answer.
The next morning, Eli returned home.
He looked smaller than Claire remembered, wrapped in a gray blanket as Dominic carried him inside. A doctor had ordered forty-eight hours of observation and no physical activity.
The moment Eli saw Claire, he reached for her.
Dominic hesitated before setting him down.
Eli walked across the foyer and wrapped both arms around Claire’s waist.
“You came back.”
“I told you I would.”
“You didn’t.”
Claire frowned.
“I didn’t what?”
“You didn’t leave me in the water.”
The adults in the foyer exchanged uncomfortable glances.
Claire knelt.
“Did the woman tell you I would?”
Eli looked toward the staircase.
“She said the new maid was bad. She said you put medicine in my lemonade.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Where did she give you the lemonade?”
“In the little glass house.”
“The greenhouse?” Claire asked.
Eli nodded.
“What else did she say?”
“That Daddy took everything from her.”
Dominic crouched beside them.
“Did she tell you her name?”
Eli whispered, “Livia.”
Dominic stood so quickly that Eli flinched.
Claire placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“Who is Livia?” she asked.
Dominic looked toward his head of security.
“Clear the room.”
Within seconds, the staff disappeared.
Only Claire, Eli, Dominic and two trusted guards remained.
Dominic walked toward the fireplace, where a framed wedding photograph stood among several family portraits.
Natalia smiled beside him in a simple ivory dress.
“She had a twin sister,” Dominic said.
Claire stared at the photograph.
“An identical twin?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“She drowned when they were seventeen.”
Claire looked toward the windows facing the pool.
“You saw the woman in the footage. She clearly didn’t drown.”
“We never recovered her body.”
“You believed she was dead anyway?”
“Their father identified her coat and personal belongings near the river. A note was found in her bedroom.”
“Was the note verified?”
Dominic’s silence gave her the answer.
“Livia had been receiving psychiatric treatment,” he said. “She had become obsessed with Natalia’s life. Her clothes. Her friends. Even the man Natalia was dating.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
Eli took Claire’s hand.
Dominic noticed but said nothing.
“After Livia disappeared,” he continued, “Natalia refused to discuss her. Years later, she told me her sister was gone and needed to remain gone.”
“And then Natalia died.”
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
“The car exploded before emergency crews arrived.”
“Was her body identified?”
“Through dental records.”
“Records can be changed.”
“Not those.”
“You were just shown a dead woman’s identical twin pushing your son into a swimming pool. Maybe stop acting as though your family records are sacred.”
One of the guards glanced away, hiding a reaction.
Dominic moved closer to Claire.
“You have an unusual habit of speaking without fear.”
“I have fear. I just don’t have patience.”
To her surprise, the corner of his mouth almost moved.
Then Rosa Moretti entered the foyer.
She wore a cream dress and carried a stuffed bear for Eli.
“My poor darling.”
Eli immediately stepped behind Claire.
Rosa stopped.
Her gaze settled on Claire’s hand holding his.
“What is she doing here?”
“She saved his life,” Dominic said.
“She may also be responsible for what happened.”
“I’m standing right here,” Claire said.
Rosa ignored her.
“I heard the gate was opened with her code. Dominic, this woman should be in police custody.”
“Someone copied the code.”
“Or she wants you to believe that.”
Rosa approached Eli with the bear.
He refused to take it.
Her smile tightened.
“Don’t you want to see Aunt Rosa?”
Eli pressed himself against Claire’s side.
Dominic watched his reaction.
“Rosa, why did you approve Claire’s employment application?”
Rosa’s expression did not change.
“I approve dozens of employees.”
“You wrote a personal recommendation.”
“Did I?”
“You know you did.”
She placed the bear on a table.
“Her mother helped at one of our hospital fundraisers. I remembered the name. I thought hiring her daughter would be an act of kindness.”
Claire felt a chill.
“My mother died five years ago. How did you know I was her daughter?”
“It was in your file.”
“My application only listed her as an emergency contact marked deceased. It didn’t list where she worked.”
Rosa looked toward Dominic.
“Are you interrogating me because a housekeeper is confused?”
“No,” Dominic said. “I am asking why my son was poisoned on the same day a woman from our past entered my property.”
For the first time, anger flashed in Rosa’s eyes.
“Be careful what grave you open.”
She turned and walked away.
Dominic’s guard started after her.
“No,” Dominic said. “Let her think we believe her.”
That afternoon, Claire returned to the second floor under supervision.
Her cleaning cart remained beside the library, untouched since the rescue.
She searched the shelves, the bucket and the pockets of her discarded apron.
Her electronic key was gone.
“Someone must have taken it while I was running to the pool,” she said.
Dominic examined the hallway.
“The nearest camera was disabled.”
“Convenient.”
“Professional.”
Claire looked through the glass toward the greenhouse.
“Eli said the woman gave him lemonade there.”
They crossed the lawn together.
The greenhouse sat beyond the formal gardens, half hidden by climbing roses. Inside, the air was thick with humidity and the smell of wet soil.
A child’s cup rested beneath a bench.
Dominic picked it up with a handkerchief.
Claire examined the surrounding floor.
One patch of dirt had recently been disturbed.
“There.”
A metal box had been buried beneath an orchid table.
Inside were photographs of Dominic, Natalia and Eli.
Some had been taken through windows.
Others had been taken at school events, restaurants and family funerals.
At the bottom was a photograph of Claire’s mother leaving St. Vincent Hospital.
Written across it in red ink were four words.
SHE KEPT THE OTHER HALF.
Dominic looked at Claire.
“You said your mother left you jewelry.”
“A few pieces.”
“Where are they?”
“In a storage box at my apartment.”
They drove to Poughkeepsie with three vehicles and eight security men.
Claire’s apartment door had already been forced open.
Drawers were overturned.
Couch cushions had been cut apart.
Her mother’s photographs covered the floor.
Megan was not home.
Claire called her sister six times before Megan finally answered.
“Where are you?”
“At the campus library. Why?”
“Stay there. Do not leave with anyone.”
“What’s happening?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Dominic sent two men to retrieve her.
Claire hurried into her bedroom.
The wooden box her mother had left was missing from the closet.
She searched beneath the bed and inside the dresser.
Nothing.
Then she remembered the old winter coat she had been unable to throw away.
Her mother had sewn a secret pocket into the lining for emergency cash.
Claire pulled the coat from a hook and tore open the pocket.
A tiny brass key fell into her hand.
Beside it was a folded piece of paper.
The handwriting belonged to her mother.
Claire unfolded it.
My darling Claire,
If anyone from the Moretti family ever finds you, do not trust the person who speaks most gently.
Natalia was alive when they said she was dead.
I helped her disappear because she believed someone inside her husband’s family was trying to kill her.
She gave me something that proves who betrayed her.
I hid it where two sisters once promised never to lie.
Forgive me for making this your burden.
Mom.
Claire read the letter twice.
Dominic stood over her shoulder.
“What does ‘where two sisters once promised never to lie’ mean?”
“I don’t know.”
A sound came from the kitchen.
Dominic pulled Claire behind him as his guards moved toward the doorway.
A woman stood beside the broken window.
White dress.
Dark hair.
Natalia’s face.
She held a knife, but the blade was pointed downward.
“Don’t come closer,” she said.
Dominic went completely still.
“Livia.”
The woman removed her sunglasses.
A thin scar crossed her left eyebrow.
“You always could tell us apart.”
“You pushed my son into the pool.”
“I pushed him away from the man standing behind him.”
“The footage showed your hand on his back.”
“The footage showed what Rosa wanted you to see.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Where is the original recording?”
“Destroyed.”
Claire stepped from behind him.
“You drugged Eli.”
“No. Rosa did.”
“Why should we believe you?”
“Because Rosa hired you.”
Livia pointed toward Claire.
“She needed Helen Bennett’s daughter inside the house. She believed your mother had given you Natalia’s evidence.”
“I didn’t know any evidence existed.”
“Rosa didn’t believe that.”
Dominic’s voice became dangerously calm.
“Where have you been for twenty years?”
“Surviving the people your family paid to silence me.”
“You expect me to believe my sister arranged all of this?”
“I expect nothing from you.”
Livia looked toward the brass key in Claire’s hand.
“But Natalia trusted Helen. And Helen hid what Natalia stole before the explosion.”
“What did she steal?” Claire asked.
“The original trust documents.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“What trust?”
“The one your father created before Eli was born. If you die or are declared unfit, control of every legitimate Moretti company passes to Eli. Until he turns twenty-five, the trustee controls his shares.”
Claire understood.
“Rosa is the trustee.”
“Yes.”
Dominic stepped closer to Livia.
“If Rosa wanted control, why not kill me?”
“She tried twice. Your guards blamed rival families. When that failed, she changed the plan.”
“To make me look unable to protect my son.”
“To create a pattern of neglect, violence and instability. Today was supposed to be Eli’s third documented accident.”
Claire remembered the boy’s pale face.
“He could have died.”
“Rosa said the dosage was low. I realized she lied when Eli collapsed near the pool. I tried to catch him.”
“You ran afterward,” Dominic said.
“Because your men would have shot me before asking my name.”
She looked at Claire again.
“Your mother hid the documents somewhere connected to two sisters. Natalia and I used to meet at an abandoned chapel near the river. We called it the place where we never lied.”
Dominic knew the location.
Claire saw it in his face.
A gunshot cracked through the apartment.
The window shattered.
Livia dropped to the floor.
Dominic covered Claire as his guards returned fire toward the opposite rooftop.
When Claire lifted her head, Livia was gone.
Only a streak of blood remained near the broken window.
Dominic’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face lost all color.
“What do you mean he’s missing?”
Claire’s heart stopped.
The security team at the estate had found Eli’s bedroom empty.
His two guards were unconscious.
On the pillow was the red plastic boat from the pool.
A second phone began ringing inside Claire’s apartment.
It had been placed beneath her mother’s overturned photographs.
Dominic activated the speaker.
A child was crying on the other end.
“Daddy?”
“Eli, listen to me. Tell me where you are.”
“I don’t know.”
A woman took the phone.
Her voice was soft and familiar.
Rosa Moretti.
“Bring Claire Bennett and the brass key to the old river chapel before sunrise.”
Dominic’s hand closed around the phone.
“If you touch him—”
“I already poisoned him once,” Rosa said. “Do not make me finish what I started.”
The call ended.
Claire stared at Dominic.
He looked at the woman who had saved his son, the woman his sister wanted delivered in exchange for the boy’s life.
Then he reached beneath his jacket and placed a handgun on the table between them.
“She thinks I’m bringing her a frightened maid,” he said.
“What are you bringing her?”
May you like
Dominic looked toward the broken window.
“A war.”
