Chapter 4 - THE AGREEMENT HIS FATHER SIGNED
“My father signed an agreement to imprison Claire?”
Alessandro's voice was low.
Rosa Martino closed the reservation book.
“I don't know every detail. I only know what Nicholas discovered before he died.”
Rachel studied the four names.
“Who are Dr. Pierce and Margaret Voss?”
“Pierce ran the private psychiatric facility,” Rosa explained. “Margaret Voss managed your family's charitable foundation.”
Alessandro remembered Margaret.
For twenty years, she'd handled donations, hospital partnerships, and confidential family arrangements.
She had also organized his mother's memorial.
He trusted her.
Or he had.
“Margaret retired last year,” he said.
Rosa shook her head.
“She retired publicly.”
“What does that mean?”
“She still attends the Whitmore Foundation's private meetings.”
Rachel touched the edge of Claire's wedding photograph.
“Was there any reason for Claire to need psychiatric treatment?”
Rosa's expression hardened.
“Claire was grieving her father and her husband. She needed someone to believe her. Instead, wealthy people called her unstable because she wouldn't stop asking questions.”
Alessandro looked toward the street.
“How did they keep her there?”
“That's the part Nicholas feared.”
Rosa opened another compartment in the old reservation book.
Inside was a hospital admission receipt.
It was dated three days after Nicholas's death.
The patient's name was listed as Catherine Moore.
The sponsoring organization was the Elena Romano Charitable Foundation.
Alessandro recognized the foundation's former seal.
His mother had founded it to provide medical care for low-income families.
Now her name had been used to confine a woman seeking justice.
He felt sick.
“Who authorized payment?” Rachel asked.
Rosa pointed to the signature.
Margaret Voss.
“But the foundation couldn't authorize treatment by itself,” Alessandro said. “Someone must have signed the admission paperwork.”
“Exactly.”
Rosa looked at him.
“That's why Nicholas told Claire not to trust anyone who claimed to speak for the Romano family.”
Alessandro rose.
“We're going to get her out.”
Rachel touched his sleeve.
“Not by storming into a hospital with armed men.”
He looked at her.
“Someone stole six years of her life.”
“I know. But Claire has already had enough men making decisions about where she belongs.”
The words stopped him.
Rachel continued.
“Find out what she wants. Make sure she's safe. Then let her decide.”
For the first time that night, Alessandro had no argument.
By morning, Marco had obtained the facility's current information.
St. Catherine's Residential Care stood outside Boston, surrounded by landscaped gardens and a stone wall.
It operated as a private treatment center.
Claire was still listed under the name Catherine Moore.
But her records showed something strange.
She had been approved for independent discharge eighteen months earlier.
The discharge had never happened.
“Why?” Alessandro demanded.
Marco handed him a summary of the facility's response.
“Her designated financial guardian continued paying for residential care.”
“Who?”
“Edward Whitmore's private family trust.”
Alessandro stared at the document.
Edward had controlled Claire's living arrangements for six years.
And according to the facility, Claire had recently asked to leave.
Rachel stood beside the window.
“She knows she's being kept there.”
Marco nodded.
“There's more. She submitted three written requests for an independent patient advocate.”
“What happened?”
“They were marked as withdrawn.”
“By Claire?”
“That's what the files claim.”
Rachel looked at Alessandro.
“Does that sound like a woman who spent eight years refusing to stop asking questions?”
“No.”
They drove to St. Catherine's that afternoon.
Alessandro had arranged for an independent attorney specializing in patient rights to accompany them.
He made one condition clear.
The attorney would represent Claire alone.
No Romano money would give Alessandro access to her private treatment records or authority over her choices.
At reception, a polished administrator named Evelyn Hart greeted them.
“Mr. Romano, this is an unexpected visit.”
“I'd like to ask whether Claire Morgan wishes to speak with me.”
“We don't have anyone registered under that name.”
“Then ask Catherine Moore.”
Evelyn's smile faltered.
“I'm afraid she isn't receiving visitors.”
The attorney stepped forward.
“I'm here to offer Ms. Moore independent legal assistance. She is free to decline, but I would like that decision communicated directly.”
Evelyn glanced toward Alessandro.
“I'm sure you understand that patients require privacy.”
“Absolutely,” Alessandro said.
“Then perhaps you could arrange an appointment.”
He placed Nicholas's wedding photograph on the counter.
“Show her this. If she says no, I'll leave.”
Evelyn disappeared down the corridor.
Twenty minutes passed.
Then thirty.
Rachel sat beside a window overlooking the garden.
A woman in a gray cardigan was walking slowly along a stone path.
Her hair was shorter than in the photograph.
Her face looked tired.
But Rachel recognized her immediately.
“Alessandro.”
He followed her gaze.
Claire Morgan.
Alive.
For a moment, neither moved.
Claire looked toward the building.
Her eyes settled on Alessandro.
Then she stopped walking.
She didn't smile.
She didn't wave.
She simply stood motionless while the afternoon wind lifted her cardigan.
Alessandro stepped toward the window.
Claire took one step backward.
Rachel saw the fear in her face.
“Don't go outside,” Rachel whispered.
He stopped.
A nurse approached Claire and spoke quietly.
Claire shook her head.
Then she pointed toward the window.
At Alessandro.
The nurse led her inside.
Five minutes later, Evelyn returned.
“Ms. Moore has agreed to meet with Miss Bennett and her attorney.”
Alessandro looked at Rachel.
“Not me?”
“No, Mr. Romano.”
He nodded slowly.
“That's her decision.”
Rachel entered a small consultation room.
Claire sat beside the window, holding Nicholas's photograph.
Her hands were steady.
Her voice was not.
“Where did you find this?”
“In an old uniform. At the Romano estate.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Camille kept it.”
Rachel sat opposite her.
“Yes.”
“Did Alessandro see the photograph?”
“He did.”
Claire looked toward the door.
“Does he know Nicholas was my husband?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, tears rolled down Claire's cheeks.
“He was supposed to come back for me.”
Rachel swallowed.
“I'm sorry.”
Claire shook her head.
“Nicholas did come back. That's what they never told anyone.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
“After the crash, he survived long enough to tell someone what happened.”
“Who?”
Claire's face tightened.
“Camille.”
Outside, Alessandro stood beside the reception desk.
Marco had just arrived with another discovery.
The original police report from Nicholas's accident contained a missing supplemental page.
It had been removed before the case was closed.
But the hospital's emergency admission log recorded Nicholas arriving conscious.
And under the section marked NEXT OF KIN NOTIFIED, someone had written:
CAMILLE WHITMORE — 11:42 P.M.
Alessandro read the entry twice.
Camille had always claimed she'd been in New York that night.
Then Rachel emerged from the consultation room, pale and shaken.
“Claire wants to speak to you,” she said.
Alessandro stepped forward.
Rachel blocked his path.
“Before you go in, there's something you need to know.”
“What?”
“Nicholas didn't die at the scene of the accident.”
“I know. Marco found the hospital report.”
Rachel shook her head.
“That's not the worst part.”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“Claire says Nicholas was wearing your father's signet ring when the ambulance brought him in.”
Alessandro went cold.
His father's gold signet ring had disappeared the night Nicholas died.
May you like
And three weeks later, Vittorio Romano had given Alessandro a replacement ring.
Claiming the original had been lost.
