Chapter 1 - The Blue Stain That Exposed a Family Secret
“Use your injured hand, Claire. And don't stop until all forty-eight steps are spotless.”
Claire Sullivan knelt on the marble staircase of Roman Castellano's $24 million mansion outside Pittsburgh, struggling to clean through the pain in her swollen wrist.
Above her stood Natalie Cross, Roman's beautiful fiancée.
Natalie knew Claire needed her job to pay for her father's medical care. She also knew Claire had discovered something dangerous in the mansion's sealed underground archive.
When Roman unexpectedly returned home, he immediately noticed Claire's injury.
More importantly, he recognized the bright blue stain spreading across her bandage.
It was archival security fluid.
A chemical kept exclusively in the private archive Roman had ordered sealed six months earlier.
Natalie claimed Claire had injured herself in the kitchen, but Roman quickly exposed the lie.
Later, Claire confessed that Natalie had taken her into the archive that morning.
Inside an old cabinet, Claire had seen a photograph of Roman's supposedly deceased mother, Elena Castellano, holding a baby outside a hospital.
The photograph was dated eleven years after Elena's death.
Roman was stunned.
His mother had died when he was eight years old.
Claire also revealed that Natalie had stolen the photograph and a small wooden box before injuring her wrist to keep her silent.
When Roman ordered his security chief, Aaron Fletcher, to investigate, another impossible fact emerged.
Someone had entered the archive using a key registered to Roman's younger brother, Daniel.
Daniel had died in a boating accident six months earlier.
Roman had personally identified his body.
Then Aaron discovered an envelope beneath the cabinet.
Written in Roman's father's handwriting were the words:
TO ROMAN—IF YOUR MOTHER EVER COMES BACK.
Before Roman could process the discovery, three slow knocks sounded at his bedroom door.
An unfamiliar woman stood outside.
“Roman Castellano? The woman you buried as your mother wasn't the woman who gave birth to you.”
Roman demanded to know who had sent her.
“Your brother Daniel.”
Natalie stepped backward.
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Then the stranger delivered one final warning.
“And before you open this door, ask your fiancée what she did with your mother's real death certificate.”
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