Chapter 6 - The Maid Who Had Been Protecting Him All Along
Vincent drove straight to his sister's house.
He found Grace in the kitchen, preparing sandwiches for Oliver and Sophie.
She smiled when she saw him.
“Mr. Castellano. Would you like something to eat?”
He placed the photograph on the counter.
Grace's smile vanished.
For several seconds, she stared at her younger self standing beside Caroline and Daniel.
Then she closed her eyes.
“I wondered when you'd find that.”
Vincent felt anger rising.
“You knew my wife.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Daniel Ashford.”
“Yes.”
“And you came into my home without telling me.”
Grace looked toward the doorway.
The children were laughing in the next room.
“Not here,” she whispered.
Vincent followed her into the small study.
She closed the door.
“Mr. Castellano, I didn't come to hurt anyone.”
“Then why lie?”
“Because Caroline asked me to protect Oliver.”
Vincent stared.
“Caroline died three years before you came to work for me.”
Grace nodded.
“She knew she might not be there to raise him.”
The words struck Vincent harder than he expected.
“Explain.”
Grace sat slowly.
“I was a nurse at St. Andrew's. Caroline visited Michael Ward regularly.”
“Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know who he was?”
“Eventually.”
Grace clasped her hands.
“Caroline discovered financial records showing that Richard Vale had been stealing from several Castellano companies for years. He used forged signatures and false invoices.”
“Why didn't she come to me?”
“She tried.”
Vincent frowned.
“When?”
“Two months before she died.”
He shook his head.
“She never mentioned any of this.”
Grace looked at him sadly.
“She said you told her to stop worrying about your father's old business.”
Vincent remembered that conversation.
Caroline had approached him late one evening with a folder.
He'd been preparing for a meeting.
She'd said something about unusual transfers.
He'd kissed her forehead and told her his accountants would handle it.
Then he'd left.
The memory made him feel sick.
“She thought you were too busy to listen,” Grace said.
Vincent looked away.
“And she was right.”
Grace continued.
“Daniel helped Vale move money for years. At first, he thought he was handling legitimate transactions. Then he discovered accounts tied to people who had been threatened or harmed.”
“What happened when he confronted Vale?”
“Vale tried to silence him.”
“The fire?”
Grace nodded.
“Daniel escaped, but he was badly injured. Caroline found out he was alive and helped move him to St. Andrew's under another name.”
“Why not call the police?”
“She was afraid the records would disappear before anyone acted. She wanted copies stored somewhere safe.”
Vincent studied her.
“And you helped?”
“Yes.”
“Where are those copies?”
Grace hesitated.
“I don't know where Caroline put the complete set.”
Vincent didn't believe her.
“You expect me to accept that?”
Grace met his eyes.
“No. I expect you to be angry.”
“Then tell me why you came to my house.”
Grace took a breath.
“Fourteen months ago, I learned Madeline Ashford was living with you.”
Vincent stiffened.
“What did Madeline have to do with it?”
“I didn't know. Caroline had warned me that Madeline was being manipulated by Vale, but I didn't know how much she'd discovered.”
“So you applied for a job?”
“Yes.”
“And I hired you.”
“Mrs. Castellano had once told me Oliver loved stories about ships. During my interview, I mentioned that I enjoyed reading those books.”
Vincent remembered.
Grace had seemed unusually familiar with Oliver's interests.
He'd thought she was simply good with children.
“You used Caroline's knowledge to get close to my son.”
Grace's eyes filled.
“I used it to make sure he had someone who would notice if he was frightened.”
Vincent wanted to argue.
But he remembered Oliver begging him not to fire her.
“Why didn't you tell me after you arrived?” he asked.
“Because I didn't know whether Vale still had people in your house.”
“Did Caroline tell you to distrust me?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Grace hesitated.
“She said you were a good father who didn't always know how to be present.”
Vincent lowered his eyes.
Grace continued gently.
“She loved you, Mr. Castellano. But she was afraid you'd protect everyone except yourself.”
Silence settled between them.
Then Vincent asked the question he'd been avoiding.
“Did Caroline know she was going to die?”
Grace shook her head.
“She was frightened. But she believed she could stop Vale.”
“Did she tell you what happened during her final days?”
“Only that she'd found proof involving medication.”
Vincent immediately thought of the pharmacy receipt.
“What medication?”
“I never saw the original container.”
“Could it have killed her?”
Grace looked deeply uncomfortable.
“I can't answer that without medical evidence.”
“Then what can you tell me?”
“Caroline said somebody had been changing things in the house. Small things. Her tea. Her vitamins. Even the bottles in her bathroom.”
Vincent remembered finding Caroline asleep on the sofa during those final weeks.
She'd complained of dizziness.
He'd urged her to rest.
He hadn't questioned why.
That evening, Grace showed Vincent something she'd kept hidden for years.
A small brown envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Caroline and Oliver at the beach.
On the back was a handwritten message.
If I cannot be there, remind him that being brave doesn't mean never being afraid.
Vincent sat with the photograph for a long time.
“Why didn't you give me this?”
Grace answered softly.
“Because Caroline addressed it to Oliver.”
Vincent looked up.
“Then he should have it.”
Grace smiled through tears.
“Yes. He should.”
They found Oliver playing a board game with Sophie.
Vincent sat beside him.
“Buddy, I have something from Mommy.”
Oliver's eyes widened.
Vincent handed him the photograph.
The boy looked at it carefully.
“That's our beach.”
“Yes.”
“I remember her hat.”
Vincent smiled sadly.
“She loved that hat.”
Oliver turned the picture over.
Vincent read Caroline's message aloud.
Oliver studied him.
“Daddy, are you brave?”
Vincent thought for a moment.
“Sometimes.”
“Were you scared when Mommy died?”
“Very.”
Oliver leaned against him.
“Me too.”
Vincent wrapped an arm around his son.
For once, he didn't pretend to be stronger than he felt.
Later that night, Ethan examined the original pharmacy receipt.
A detail had been overlooked.
The receipt showed Madeline's name, but the payment had been made using an employee purchasing account linked to Vale Holdings.
The medication had been collected by an authorized representative.
Not necessarily Madeline.
Vincent studied the signature.
It was almost identical to Madeline's.
Almost.
The final letter was written differently.
“Someone forged it,” Ethan said.
Vincent nodded.
“But why use Madeline's name?”
“To make sure you'd blame her if the receipt was discovered.”
Vincent frowned.
“Vale knew Caroline was investigating him. He may have prepared someone else to take the fall.”
Ethan turned the receipt over.
A handwritten notation appeared on the back.
C.C. — evening dose.
Caroline Castellano.
Vincent's face hardened.
“Get her medical records reviewed by an independent specialist.”
Ethan nodded.
Then he opened another archived file.
“Boss, there's something else.”
The file contained the final inventory from Caroline's bedroom after her death.
One item had been removed before the room was sealed.
A small leather medicine case.
The authorization bore Vincent's signature.
But Vincent had never signed it.
He looked at the employee name recorded beside the removal.
ETHAN MORETTI.
Vincent slowly turned toward his security chief.
Ethan stared at the screen.
“Vincent, I never took that case.”
“Then why is your name here?”
Ethan's voice was barely audible.
“Because somebody wanted you to think I did.”
Vincent studied the record.
The removal time was 11:43 p.m.
The date was the night Caroline died.
Then Ethan noticed a second line beneath the authorization.
A destination.
PRIVATE COLLECTION — RICHARD VALE.
Vincent stood.
The medicine case wasn't missing.
Someone had kept it.
And whoever controlled it might still possess the only physical evidence of what happened to Caroline.
Vincent reached for his coat.
Ethan stopped him.
“Boss, look at the last page.”
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Caroline's leather medicine case sat open on a polished wooden desk.
Beside it lay her wedding ring.
The photograph had been taken three days earlier.
Vincent stared.
Then he recognized the desk.
It belonged to the office where he'd proposed to Madeline.
May you like
And beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
“THE FIRST DOSE WAS NEVER MEANT FOR CAROLINE.”
