Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO KEPT THE SWALLOW
“If my mother knows who tried to kill your brother, then she's been frightened for twenty-six years for a reason.”
Sophie stood in Vanessa's dressing room, clutching the list Margaret Sinclair had hidden inside the green coat.
Alessandro reached toward the paper.
Sophie pulled it back.
He stopped immediately.
“I'm not going to take it from you.”
“You've taken control of everything else tonight.”
Her voice shook, but she held his gaze.
“The phones. The guests. My job. My father's birthday dinner—”
“Richard isn't your father,” Vanessa interrupted.
Sophie turned sharply.
“I said my father's birthday dinner because that's what this was supposed to be. Your father's dinner.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
Sophie took a breath.
“My mother spent years teaching me that good people could be powerful and that powerful people could still be dangerous.”
She looked at Alessandro.
“I need to know which kind you are.”
The words landed hard.
Alessandro had spent most of his adult life being obeyed.
He wasn't accustomed to someone demanding an answer while refusing to surrender what she held.
“You don't owe me your trust,” he said. “And you don't have to remain employed here. Your wages and medical benefits won't depend on whether you help us.”
Sophie watched him carefully.
“Will you put that in writing?”
“Yes.”
“Then I want to see my mother.”
Daniel stood.
“I'll come.”
“No,” Sophie answered.
Daniel looked surprised.
“She knows something about my accident.”
“She also knows something about what happened before I was born. That's my business first.”
Daniel slowly nodded.
“You're right.”
Alessandro glanced at Marco, who had appeared in the doorway.
“Is Richard secure?”
“In the library. The police are on their way. He's demanded his attorney.”
“Let him.”
Marco hesitated.
“There's another problem. The security archive has been accessed from an outside account.”
Alessandro frowned.
“When?”
“Eight minutes ago.”
Vanessa went still.
“Father's account?”
“No,” Marco answered. “Your account.”
Everyone looked at Vanessa.
She shook her head.
“I haven't touched the security system.”
Marco held out a tablet.
The access log showed footage from the upstairs hallway had been downloaded.
The same hallway where Rebecca Hayes had emerged crying.
Vanessa stared at the screen.
“My father knows my passwords.”
Alessandro's voice turned cold.
“Change them.”
Marco spoke quietly.
“It's already been done. But the footage was copied before we stopped it.”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Richard's trying to learn what we have.”
“Or someone else is helping him,” Alessandro said.
Vanessa took off her engagement ring.
She placed it on the dressing table.
Alessandro looked at the diamond.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving you back something I stopped deserving.”
“That's not what tonight is about.”
“It is for me.”
Her voice broke.
“I loved you, Alessandro. I still do. But every time my father threatened my mother, I convinced myself that keeping quiet was protecting her.”
“And Rebecca?”
Vanessa covered her face.
“I knew she was frightened of him. I didn't know he'd done the same thing to other women.”
Sophie spoke quietly.
“But you knew he was frightening me.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Yes.”
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Vanessa whispered, “And I made it worse.”
Sophie didn't forgive her.
She simply turned toward the hallway.
“I need to go.”
Alessandro escorted her to the waiting car.
He didn't insist on accompanying her.
Instead, he arranged for Marco to drive and another security officer to follow at a distance.
Before Sophie got inside, Daniel approached.
He held out a small leather pouch.
Inside was a silver rosary.
“Margaret carried this when she visited me at the hospital.”
Sophie examined it.
A tiny swallow charm hung beside the crucifix.
“Why are you giving it to me?”
“Because Laura might recognize it. And because Margaret asked me to return it if anything happened to her.”
Sophie looked up.
“Did something happen?”
Daniel hesitated.
“We haven't heard from her in eleven days.”
The hospital was quiet when Sophie arrived.
Her mother, Laura Miller, lay in a private treatment room, reading beneath a small lamp.
She looked tired.
The scarf around her head had slipped, revealing the soft new hair beginning to grow after weeks of treatment.
“Sophie?”
Laura set aside her book.
“Honey, what's wrong?”
Sophie crossed the room and hugged her.
For several seconds, she couldn't speak.
Then she placed the faded photograph on the bed.
Laura's face changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“Richard Sinclair.”
Laura closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
“Mom, why is Margaret Sinclair standing beside you when I was born?”
Laura touched the photograph.
“She helped us.”
“From what?”
Laura didn't answer.
Sophie took out the silver rosary.
Laura gasped.
“Where did you find that?”
“A man named Daniel Romano gave it to me.”
Laura dropped the rosary.
“No.”
“He's alive.”
Laura stared at her daughter.
For a moment, the room seemed too quiet.
Then Laura began crying.
“Oh, thank God.”
Sophie sat beside her.
“You knew?”
“I hoped.”
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“Because the last time I tried to tell the truth, Richard threatened to take you away from me.”
Sophie felt cold.
“Why would he do that?”
Laura reached for her hand.
“Because I worked in his accounting office. I found records connecting him to stolen money and fraudulent property transfers.”
“From Romano Shipping?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell Margaret?”
Laura nodded.
“She was already trying to help several young women he'd mistreated. Rebecca was one of them.”
Sophie remembered the complaint.
“She was harassed?”
Laura's expression tightened.
“Richard made her fear for her livelihood. He did that to many women. He wanted everyone dependent on him.”
“Did he do it to you?”
Laura looked away.
“He tried. But when I found the records, he had a different way to threaten me.”
“What records?”
Laura reached beneath her pillow.
She brought out the little silver swallow necklace.
“I promised Margaret I'd keep the last piece safe.”
She pressed the pendant against her palm.
“My father taught me how to keep copies of important records. I used the necklace to carry a key to a storage box.”
Sophie stared.
“You kept evidence in a necklace?”
“Not the evidence itself. The access key.”
She opened the pendant.
Inside lay a tiny brass key.
“Margaret told me she would come back for this when it was safe.”
“Where's the box?”
Laura hesitated.
“At the bank where I worked after leaving Sinclair Development.”
Sophie looked at her mother.
“What's inside?”
Laura took a shaky breath.
“The original payment instructions. Richard couldn't destroy them because I took copies before he knew I'd discovered anything.”
“Who signed them?”
Laura began to answer.
Then she looked beyond Sophie.
Marco was standing just outside the room.
Laura's expression became fearful.
“Who is that man?”
“Alessandro's security chief.”
Laura gripped her daughter's hand.
“Tell him not to let Alessandro come here yet.”
“Why?”
“Because there's something he needs to understand before he sees those records.”
Sophie leaned closer.
“Tell me.”
Laura's eyes filled with tears.
“Seven years ago, Daniel Romano wasn't the only person Richard intended to kill.”
May you like
She touched Sophie's cheek.
“Your name was on the same list.”
