Chapter 3 - THE DAUGHTER NOBODY WAS SUPPOSED TO FIND
The alarm came from beneath the mansion.
Dominic knew that before anyone explained it.
His father had installed three separate security systems when Dominic was a teenager.
One protected the grounds.
One protected the house.
The third protected something Antonio Russo had never discussed.
Dominic had heard that particular alarm only once.
The night his father died.
“Basement archive,” Marco said.
Dominic was already moving.
Rachel grabbed his arm.
“What about what she just said?”
He stopped.
She looked shaken in a way that had nothing to do with alarms.
“My entire life just changed in thirty seconds.”
Dominic looked at Catherine.
Then at Rachel.
His anger softened.
Only slightly.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Rachel’s eyes burned.
“You lost your mother. I understand that. But I just found out the woman I thought was a stranger is claiming she gave birth to me.”
Catherine flinched.
Rachel continued.
“And the man I’ve worked for nine months is supposedly my brother.”
Dominic glanced around the ballroom.
Sixty wealthy strangers were watching Rachel’s life collapse.
He looked at Marco.
“Clear the room.”
“What?”
“Guests go home. Every name gets recorded. Nobody leaves without security checking their vehicle.”
Marco nodded.
Dominic turned to Rachel.
“You’re right.”
Her expression changed slightly.
“This doesn’t happen in front of an audience.”
Within ten minutes, the ballroom had emptied.
The mansion became unnervingly quiet.
Catherine sat in the library.
Eleanor remained near the fireplace, pale and silent.
Rachel stood by a window with her arms folded across herself.
Dominic placed the newborn photograph on the desk.
“Start at the beginning.”
Catherine looked at Rachel.
“Do you want me to?”
Rachel swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
That answer seemed more painful than anger.
Dominic poured water and placed the glass near her.
Rachel didn’t touch it.
Catherine began.
“Twenty-four years ago, your father began investigating Malcolm Cross.”
Dominic leaned against the desk.
“For what?”
“Money laundering through three of your family’s legitimate construction companies.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Catherine continued.
“Malcolm had been Antonio’s attorney for eleven years. He knew every trust, every property, every account.”
Eleanor looked at the floor.
“And you were seeing him,” Catherine said.
Dominic turned.
Eleanor whispered, “It ended before any of this happened.”
“You were sleeping with the man stealing from my father?”
“I didn’t know he was stealing.”
“You knew enough to hide the relationship.”
Eleanor’s chin trembled.
“Yes.”
Catherine continued before Dominic’s anger consumed the room.
“Your father discovered the missing money shortly before Rachel was born.”
Rachel finally spoke.
“Why was I hidden?”
Catherine looked at her.
“Because Antonio changed his estate plan.”
Dominic frowned.
“What estate plan?”
Catherine’s eyes moved toward him.
“After your father discovered Malcolm’s theft, he created a separate trust.”
“For Rachel?”
“For both of you.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“I was seventeen.”
“Yes.”
“You could have told me.”
“I intended to.”
“Apparently intention was a popular currency in this family.”
Catherine accepted the blow.
Rachel pressed a hand against her forehead.
“What does Vivian have to do with any of this?”
“Malcolm had a daughter.”
“Vivian.”
“Yes.”
Catherine nodded.
“She was twelve when everything happened. He raised her believing Antonio destroyed their family.”
Dominic gave a humorless laugh.
“So she dates me for four years?”
“I don’t know when she learned about Rachel.”
“I do.”
Everyone looked toward the doorway.
Marco stood there holding a tablet.
“We accessed personnel records.”
He placed it in front of Dominic.
Rachel’s employee application was displayed.
But there was another document attached.
A handwritten instruction.
APPROVED — PLACE IN EAST HOUSEHOLD STAFF. V.C.
Rachel stared.
“Vivian hired me?”
“You interviewed with Mrs. Daniels.”
Marco nodded.
“Mrs. Daniels believed the request came from Dominic.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
Rachel felt sick.
Nine months.
For nine months she had believed she accidentally found work at the Russo mansion.
She hadn’t.
Vivian had put her there.
“Why?”
Catherine whispered, “To draw me out.”
Rachel looked at her.
“You knew where I was?”
Catherine hesitated.
That hesitation answered everything.
Rachel stepped back.
“You knew.”
“Rachel—”
“You knew I was working here.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Seven months.”
Rachel laughed once.
It had no humor in it.
“Seven months.”
“I couldn’t contact you.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You were watching me clean your son’s house.”
Catherine stood.
“I was watching to make sure you survived.”
“I survived twenty-three years without you.”
Catherine stopped.
Rachel’s voice cracked.
“Patricia sat beside me when I had the flu. Patricia worked two jobs when I was thirteen. Patricia taught me how to drive. Patricia sold her wedding ring when I needed braces.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You don’t get to walk through a door and replace her.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“Then stop looking at me like you lost something you own.”
Catherine began crying silently.
Dominic looked away.
He understood that pain too well.
Marco cleared his throat.
“There’s more.”
Dominic turned.
“The basement archive alarm?”
“Someone accessed the old service elevator.”
“Vivian?”
“We found her shoes near the wine cellar exit.”
Rachel frowned.
“Her shoes?”
Marco nodded.
“And a blood smear on the door.”
Catherine stood abruptly.
“Is she hurt?”
Dominic stared at her.
“You’re worried about Vivian?”
“I’m worried about what Malcolm taught his daughter to do when cornered.”
Marco swiped the tablet.
“We also found something else.”
A video appeared.
Security footage from fifteen minutes earlier.
Vivian moved through the service corridor.
She wasn’t alone.
Eleanor was beside her.
Dominic slowly turned toward his aunt.
Eleanor’s face collapsed.
“That isn’t what it looks like.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“You opened the door.”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“She showed me something.”
“What?”
Eleanor’s eyes moved to Rachel.
“A photograph.”
Rachel’s stomach tightened.
“Of what?”
Eleanor said nothing.
Dominic took one step toward her.
“Eleanor.”
“Patricia.”
Rachel went white.
“My mother?”
“Vivian had a photograph taken tonight.”
Rachel’s knees weakened.
Catherine caught the back of a chair.
Eleanor continued.
“Patricia was sitting in her kitchen.”
Rachel grabbed her phone.
She called.
Once.
Twice.
No answer.
Again.
Dominic held out his hand.
“Give me the address.”
Rachel ignored him and called again.
This time someone answered.
Rachel nearly collapsed with relief.
“Mom?”
Silence.
“Mom?”
A man breathed on the other end.
Then a voice said:
“Rachel?”
Not Patricia.
Male.
Calm.
Rachel’s face drained.
“Who is this?”
Dominic took the phone from her and activated the speaker.
“Who are you?”
The man chuckled.
“Dominic Russo.”
“Where is Patricia Monroe?”
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
Dominic’s eyes went cold.
“What question should I ask?”
The man paused.
“Ask your mother why Antonio Russo paid Patricia Monroe two million dollars the night Rachel disappeared.”
Rachel slowly turned toward Catherine.
Catherine closed her eyes.
Dominic stared at her.
The voice continued.
“And after she explains that, maybe Rachel can decide whether Patricia saved her…”
A soft sound came through the phone.
A door closing.
“…or bought her.”
The call disconnected.
Rachel looked at Catherine.
“You said she saved me.”
“She did.”
“Then what was the money?”
Catherine’s mouth opened.
Rachel’s phone rang again.
Everyone jumped.
Unknown number.
Dominic answered.
No voice.
Only an audio recording.
Patricia Monroe was crying.
Then she whispered four words.
“Rachel, don’t trust Catherine.”
May you like
The recording ended.
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