Chapter 2 - The Woman Behind the Locked Door
“Julian, if you don't sign that document in the next two minutes, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.”
Victoria's voice had lost its sweetness.
Julian stood motionless behind his office door, staring at the authorization in his hand.
Someone inside his mansion was supposedly marked for death.
And the woman he intended to marry was demanding his signature.
“Why midnight?” he asked.
“Because the trust's review period expires tonight.”
“You never mentioned a review period.”
“I didn't think I needed to explain every financial detail to you.”
Julian looked at Daniel, who stood beside the security monitors.
Daniel shook his head slightly.
“Open the door,” Victoria said.
Julian unlocked it but remained in the doorway.
Victoria entered wearing the same burgundy silk dress she'd worn when Allison collapsed. Her diamonds glittered beneath the office lights.
She looked annoyed rather than frightened.
“Michael says the authorization protects the family assets,” she explained. “If you refuse, an outside audit takes control tomorrow morning.”
“An audit of what?”
“Your father's trust.”
“And why would an audit concern you?”
Victoria's expression tightened.
“Because we're getting married, Julian. Your family's problems become mine.”
Julian placed the document on his desk.
“Then tell me who Elliot Ricci is.”
For the first time, Victoria hesitated.
“Michael said he was a distant relative.”
“Interesting. The man who called says he's my father's heir.”
“That sounds like a scam.”
“Then you won't mind if I speak to him before signing.”
Victoria glanced at the clock.
11:59 p.m.
“You're making a terrible mistake.”
Julian leaned closer.
“Maybe. But it'll be my mistake.”
He picked up the authorization and tore it in half.
Victoria stared at the pieces.
“You have no idea what you've done.”
The clock changed to midnight.
Then every light in the west wing went out.
A fire alarm sounded.
Daniel's radio crackled.
“Smoke in the old records room. Mrs. Delgado's still inside!”
Julian was already moving.
Rosa Delgado had worked for the Ricci family for twenty-eight years. At sixty-four, she knew the mansion better than anyone.
She'd also cared for Julian's father through his final illness.
Julian reached the west corridor as smoke poured beneath the records-room door.
A young security guard struggled with the handle.
“It's locked from the outside, sir!”
Daniel examined the electronic lock.
“Someone activated the maintenance override.”
Julian stepped back.
“Move.”
He drove his shoulder against the door.
Once.
Twice.
On the third attempt, the damaged latch broke.
Inside, flames were crawling across a cabinet filled with old household files.
“Rosa!”
A faint cough came from behind a fallen shelving unit.
Julian and Daniel lifted the shelf together.
Rosa lay curled beneath it, clutching a dark charcoal overcoat against her chest.
Julian recognized the coat immediately.
It had belonged to his father, Antonio Ricci.
“Take the coat,” Rosa whispered.
“Forget the coat.”
“Please.”
Julian gathered both into his arms.
By the time they reached the corridor, Rosa was barely conscious.
Firefighters arrived minutes later.
Daniel ordered everyone evacuated to the front courtyard. Paramedics examined Rosa and placed her on oxygen.
Victoria stood near the fountain, watching.
When she saw the charcoal coat hanging over Julian's arm, her face changed.
“Where did you find that?”
“In the records room.”
“That old thing? It should have been thrown away years ago.”
“Apparently Rosa disagrees.”
Victoria reached toward it.
Julian moved the coat behind him.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“Julian, you're treating me like a criminal.”
“Then stop acting like someone who's afraid of an old coat.”
Daniel approached with a tablet.
“The fire started beside the security equipment. Someone damaged the wiring and used an accelerant on the cabinet.”
“An accident?” Victoria asked.
“No,” Daniel said. “Definitely not.”
Julian looked toward the records-room windows.
Someone had waited until midnight to destroy the evidence.
And Rosa had nearly died protecting it.
At 12:23 a.m., paramedics cleared Rosa to be taken to the hospital for further treatment.
Before they loaded her into the ambulance, she grabbed Julian's sleeve.
“Your father made me promise,” she rasped.
“Promise what?”
“That if something happened to him, I'd keep the coat until the right person came.”
“Who?”
Rosa looked at Victoria standing several yards away.
Then she lowered her voice.
“The boy from St. Anne's.”
Julian felt something cold settle in his stomach.
“Elliot?”
Rosa nodded.
“Your father never stopped paying for that child's care. Not even when everyone said the surgery wouldn't save him.”
Julian stared at her.
“Elliot is my father's son?”
Tears appeared in Rosa's eyes.
“Yes.”
Julian stepped backward.
His father had died six years earlier without ever telling him he had another brother.
Daniel quietly escorted Rosa to the ambulance.
Julian looked down at the coat.
One inside pocket had been carefully sewn shut with thread that didn't match the lining.
He borrowed Daniel's pocketknife and cut three stitches.
A faded hospital photograph slipped out.
It showed a little boy sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a blue hospital gown.
Beside him stood Antonio Ricci.
And on the other side was a younger Michael.
Julian turned the photograph over.
Three words were written in his father's handwriting.
Keep him safe.
Beneath the photograph was a small hospital identification bracelet.
ELLIOT HAYES.
Julian's jaw tightened.
“Hayes?”
Daniel examined the bracelet.
“His mother's last name, possibly.”
Julian glanced toward Victoria.
She was speaking urgently to someone on her phone.
When she noticed him watching, she ended the call.
“Daniel,” Julian said, “find out everything about Elliot Hayes.”
Daniel nodded.
“And have someone check the trust's original records. Not the copies Michael controls.”
Julian studied the photograph again.
Michael had known about Elliot for years.
He'd known about the hospital.
He'd known about the money.
And he had never said a word.
Before Julian could speak, Daniel's phone vibrated.
A message from the hospital.
Allison was awake and asking for him.
There was also an update about the second poisoned server.
Her name was Nora Perez.
She had recovered enough to speak, and her first words had stunned the attending nurse.
Julian read the message twice.
NORA SAYS THE POISON WAS MEANT FOR HER.
SHE SAYS MICHAEL TRIED TO STOP IT.
Julian looked up sharply.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel's expression was grim.
“Maybe the footage didn't show what we thought.”
Across the courtyard, Victoria hurried toward a waiting black sedan.
Julian called her name.
She stopped.
“Did Michael tell you Elliot was alive?” he demanded.
Victoria turned slowly.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she looked at the old photograph in Julian's hand.
“You should ask Michael what happened the night that picture was taken.”
“Why?”
Victoria's eyes filled with something Julian had never seen in them before.
May you like
Fear.
“Because your brother was the one who put that little boy on a bus and sent him away.”
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