Chapter 2 - The Woman Dominic Was Supposed to Forget
Dominic did not release Sophie after five minutes.
He held her for seven.
I knew because I counted every second.
I stood at the end of the corridor with one hand gripping the edge of my cleaning cart, wondering whether I should apologize, run, or simply accept that I was about to lose the only job keeping food in our refrigerator.
Sophie eventually leaned back.
“Your hug is good.”
A sound escaped one of the guards.
It might have been a laugh.
The man immediately turned it into a cough when Dominic looked toward him.
Sophie touched Dominic’s cheek.
“You're sad.”
“Sophie.”
My voice finally worked.
She turned.
“Mommy!”
Dominic went completely still.
I hurried forward.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Valenti. My babysitter canceled and I had no one else. She was supposed to stay in the staff room.”
Dominic rose.
At six-foot-three, he seemed even larger now.
But he wasn't looking at me.
He was looking at Sophie.
Then at me.
Then back at Sophie.
“What is her full name?”
The question frightened me more than anger would have.
“Sophie Bennett.”
“How old?”
“Three.”
“Exactly.”
I stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“When was she born?”
His security chief, Marco Bellini, shifted beside him.
“Boss.”
Dominic ignored him.
I pulled Sophie closer.
“I don't understand why that matters.”
“Her birthday, Claire.”
Hearing my first name from him sent cold through me.
I had never introduced myself personally.
Of course, my employment records contained it.
That had to be how he knew.
“March seventeenth.”
Dominic's face emptied.
“What year?”
I told him.
He took one slow breath.
Then another.
“Dominic?”
A woman's voice came from behind us.
I turned.
Vivienne Russo stood at the top of the staircase.
Everyone in the household knew Vivienne.
Beautiful, polished, thirty-two, and born into one of Chicago's most powerful families. According to the staff gossip, she and Dominic were expected to announce an engagement before Christmas.
Her gaze settled on Sophie.
Then me.
And for half a second, I saw something on her face that didn't belong there.
Fear.
It disappeared instantly.
“Who is this?”
“My employee,” Dominic said.
Vivienne smiled.
“Employees don't usually bring children into your private residence.”
“Today one did.”
Sophie peeked around my leg.
Vivienne stared at her.
Something about that stare made me pull Sophie closer.
Dominic noticed.
“Marco.”
“Yes?”
“Clear the corridor.”
Nobody argued.
Within seconds, the guards and staff disappeared.
Vivienne remained.
Dominic looked at her.
“That includes you.”
Her smile cracked.
“Dominic, surely—”
“Now.”
She left.
But before turning the corner, she looked at Sophie again.
That look stayed with me.
Dominic led us into his study.
I'd cleaned the room dozens of times.
Dark walnut walls. Leather furniture. A fireplace large enough to stand inside. No family photographs except one silver frame that always faced downward on his desk.
This time Dominic picked it up.
He stared at it for several seconds.
Then turned it toward me.
My lungs stopped working.
The photograph showed Dominic eleven years younger.
Beside him stood a smiling woman with long dark hair.
She looked nothing like me.
But Sophie looked exactly like her.
The same eyes.
The same dimple near the left corner of her mouth.
Even the same slight tilt of her head.
“Who is she?” I whispered.
Dominic didn't answer.
Instead, he opened a drawer.
Inside was another photograph.
This one made my knees weaken.
The woman was holding Mr. Buttons.
Not a rabbit like Sophie's.
The rabbit.
Same crooked black button on its chest.
Same stitched left paw.
Except both ears were still intact.
I looked down.
Sophie was hugging the battered toy.
I had owned that rabbit for as long as I could remember.
Or almost as long.
My memories before seventeen were fragmented.
The doctors blamed the car accident.
My adoptive parents told me I'd been found after the crash with no identification and severe head trauma.
I had built a life around the empty spaces.
Dominic whispered one word.
“Elena.”
I looked up.
“What?”
His eyes met mine.
“Your name wasn't always Claire Bennett.”
The room tilted.
“You don't know me.”
“I knew you before you knew yourself.”
“No.”
“Your name was Elena Moretti.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I laughed because the alternative was screaming.
“That's impossible.”
Dominic walked toward me.
I stepped backward.
He stopped immediately.
Eleven years of pain lived in his expression.
“I buried you.”
The words barely came out.
“What?”
“Eleven years ago, your car went over a bridge outside Milwaukee. They found wreckage. Blood. Your necklace.” His voice roughened. “They told me there was no possibility you survived.”
I stared at him.
“I was seventeen eleven years ago.”
“I know.”
The answer came too quickly.
My stomach turned.
Dominic saw the horror on my face.
“Not like that.”
He opened a hidden compartment behind his desk and removed an old newspaper clipping.
A photograph showed an eighteen-year-old Dominic standing beside a seventeen-year-old girl.
Me.
Not similar.
Me.
Same scar beneath my chin.
Same eyebrows.
Same face.
My hand began trembling.
Sophie reached up and took it.
“Mommy?”
I couldn't breathe.
Dominic looked at her.
Then back at me.
“But Sophie changes something.”
“What?”
“Three years ago,” he said, “you came back.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“You did.”
“I've never met you.”
“You came to this house in the middle of the night.”
I shook my head.
“You were terrified. You said someone had found you.”
“No.”
“You stayed here for three weeks.”
“Stop.”
“And then you disappeared again.”
I covered Sophie's ears.
“Stop talking.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“The last night you were here was almost exactly four years ago.”
The arithmetic hit me.
Sophie was three years and seven months old.
Dominic looked at her.
Then at me.
He didn't have to ask.
I understood.
“No.”
“Claire—”
“No.”
I grabbed Sophie's hand.
“We're leaving.”
Dominic didn't stop us.
But as I reached the door, he said something that froze me.
“You left the rabbit behind.”
I turned.
He pointed toward Mr. Buttons.
“You didn't take anything else when you disappeared. But you took that.”
Sophie hugged her rabbit tighter.
May you like
Dominic's voice dropped.
“And nine months later, Sophie was born.”
