Chapter 6 - THE PRICE OF WEARING HIS RING
"Then stop it."
My voice sounded louder than I intended.
Dante looked up from the payment schedule.
"Elena—"
"If that account is still active, stop the payments."
Marco glanced at him.
Dante nodded.
"Freeze the disputed management fees. Keep every legitimate patient payment running."
Marco left to make the arrangements.
Vanessa pressed her fingers against her forehead.
"You don't understand what you're doing."
Dante turned toward her.
"Then explain."
"My father's company employs more than six hundred people. Some of those contracts pay for their salaries."
"Money intended for sick patients shouldn't be paying inflated management fees."
"You don't know they're inflated."
"Neither do you."
Vanessa's eyes filled with angry tears.
"Do you think I wanted this?"
I looked at her.
"You wanted my mother frightened enough to lose her treatment."
She turned toward me.
"I thought she was taking advantage of him."
"Because I'm his maid?"
"Because my father told me she'd been involved in the old scandal."
"And you believed him without asking her."
Vanessa looked down.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, "Yes."
It was the first honest answer she'd given me.
And somehow, it made me angrier.
Because she had been willing to gamble with my mother's health based on a story she'd never bothered to investigate.
Dante moved around his desk.
"Vanessa, when did you learn Elena's mother worked at St. Agnes?"
"A week ago."
"How?"
She hesitated.
"I recognized the name in the medical-support records."
"And?"
"I asked my father."
Dante waited.
"He told me Miriam Carter was dangerous. He said your mother had trusted her and that she'd betrayed both families."
"Did he show you evidence?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"Just the transfer form."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Her voice cracked.
"Because he said the engagement would fall apart if you reopened the investigation."
The room became terribly quiet.
Dante's expression softened slightly.
"Was that what you were afraid of?"
Vanessa laughed without humor.
"Do you know how long our families have been talking about this marriage?"
I looked between them.
Dante had never told me why he was marrying Vanessa.
I had assumed he loved her.
Or at least that he wanted to.
Vanessa lowered herself into a chair.
"Our fathers planned this partnership years ago. My father's shipping company needed Moretti protection. The Moretti businesses needed legitimate supply routes."
Dante looked uncomfortable.
"It was supposed to benefit both sides."
"And I was supposed to make it permanent," Vanessa said.
Her voice turned bitter.
"I spent years being told that marrying you would secure everything my mother built."
I swallowed.
"Your mother?"
"She believed hospitals should treat people whether they were rich or poor. The charity was important to her."
I thought of the photograph.
Three women smiling outside a hospital.
One dead.
One frightened.
One fighting for her reputation.
"And you threatened a sick woman to protect that legacy?" I asked.
Vanessa flinched.
"No."
I held her gaze.
"That's what you did."
She didn't argue.
Later that evening, Marco returned with a discovery.
He had reviewed security footage from the private hospital where my mother was receiving treatment.
Frederick Bennett had visited the administrative offices three days earlier.
Vanessa had accompanied him.
Dante looked at her.
"You said you hadn't visited the hospital."
"I didn't visit Miriam."
"That's not what I asked."
Marco placed the tablet on the desk.
The footage showed Vanessa walking through the hospital's administrative entrance.
Beside her was Frederick Bennett, tall and silver-haired, wearing an expensive navy suit.
Vanessa carried a long garment bag.
At the elevator, Frederick took it from her.
Dante paused the video.
"What's inside?"
Vanessa's eyes moved toward the screen.
"My mother's coat."
"Why bring it to the hospital?"
"Because Father wanted it."
I stared at her.
"The blue coat in the photograph?"
She nodded.
"My mother kept it for years. Before she died, she asked me never to throw it away."
"Why did Frederick want it?" Dante asked.
Vanessa looked miserable.
"He said there was something hidden in the lining. Something Beatrice had taken from Lucia."
My pulse quickened.
"The missing charity records?"
"I don't know."
Dante turned the tablet toward Marco.
"Did Frederick leave with the coat?"
"Yes."
"Where did he take it?"
"We've confirmed he returned to his company's Manhattan offices."
Vanessa stood suddenly.
"You can't go there and threaten him."
Dante looked at her.
"Then give me a better way."
She stared at the engagement ring on her finger.
For a long moment, she seemed to be deciding something.
Finally, she spoke.
"There's a locked cabinet in his executive office. He keeps my mother's belongings there."
Dante studied her.
"How do you know?"
"Because he made me help him move them after the hospital visit."
"And you didn't think to mention that?"
Vanessa's voice broke.
"Because I'm still afraid of him."
I believed her.
I didn't forgive her.
But I believed her.
Then she looked at Dante.
"I can get you into his office tomorrow. During the scheduled family-business meeting."
Dante nodded.
"Do it."
She turned to me.
"Elena, I know an apology doesn't fix what happened."
"No," I said quietly. "It doesn't."
Her eyes filled.
"I'll help you find the truth anyway."
I watched her leave.
Then Marco replayed the footage once more.
This time, he enlarged the image just before Frederick entered the elevator.
Something had slipped from the garment bag.
Vanessa bent quickly and tucked it back inside.
It was a narrow strip of pale blue fabric.
And sewn into it was a small white label.
Marco enlarged the image.
Three words were visible.
LUCIA MORETTI — PERSONAL.
Dante stared at the screen.
May you like
Then he turned toward me.
"Elena, that wasn't Beatrice Bennett's coat. It was my mother's."
