Chapter 4 - The Cuff Link
Matteo refused to let Abigail return home alone.
Abigail refused to live in one of his penthouses.
The argument lasted eleven minutes.
“I am not moving into a billionaire’s hotel because somebody sent one creepy text.”
“Your apartment was burglarized.”
“My toaster was already broken. Maybe they felt sorry for me.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“It becomes funny when the alternative is screaming.”
Matteo stared at her.
Abigail stared back.
Isabella, watching from the hospital doorway, whispered to Luca, “He’s losing.”
Luca nodded.
“Badly.”
Matteo heard them.
Neither looked ashamed.
Eventually they compromised.
Abigail would stay in a modest suite inside the Grand Atoria for three nights while Matteo’s security team investigated.
“Three,” Abigail emphasized.
“Fine.”
“And I’m paying employee rate.”
“No.”
“Then I’m going home.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
“Employee rate.”
Isabella smiled.
“You’re the first person I’ve ever seen negotiate him downward.”
“I wait tables. Angry customers trained me.”
By afternoon, Luca had retrieved the shoebox from a storage locker in Abigail’s apartment building.
The cuff link was still there.
Matteo held it under the light.
Black onyx.
Silver border.
The Sinclair family crest engraved on the back.
Richard Sinclair had worn an identical pair in photographs from the period surrounding Antonio Romano’s death.
It was not proof of murder.
But it proved Richard had likely been inside St. Catherine’s service corridor the night of the crash.
A place he had previously denied visiting.
Matteo called an attorney.
Then a retired detective.
Then someone Abigail did not know and probably did not want to know.
By evening, the story had become national gossip.
A photograph from the ballroom showed Matteo kneeling beside Abigail while Vanessa leaned toward them.
Another captured Isabella hugging her.
Headlines exploded.
Abigail hated all of them.
Some called her a hero.
Some called her Matteo’s “mystery woman.”
One site claimed the baby was his.
Abigail nearly choked on tea.
Matteo saw the headline over her shoulder.
“That’s absurd.”
“Thank you.”
“We only met yesterday.”
She slowly turned.
“That’s the part you object to?”
He blinked.
Then Isabella burst out laughing from across the suite.
Even Matteo smiled.
It was brief.
But Abigail saw it.
For the first time, she saw the man beneath the reputation.
And that frightened her in an entirely different way.
Later that evening, Vanessa Sinclair arrived.
Security stopped her downstairs.
She demanded to see Abigail.
Matteo wanted her removed.
Abigail surprised everyone.
“Let her up.”
Vanessa entered without diamonds, without her father, and without the confidence she had worn the previous night.
She placed her purse on a chair.
“I came to apologize.”
Abigail waited.
Vanessa swallowed.
“What I did was disgusting.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa clearly had not expected agreement.
“I was angry.”
“That explains it. It doesn’t excuse it.”
“No.”
Vanessa looked down.
“My father has spent my entire life teaching me that embarrassment is worse than cruelty.”
Abigail said nothing.
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I became very good at believing him.”
Matteo remained near the window.
“Why are you really here?”
Vanessa looked at him.
Then reached into her purse.
Luca immediately moved.
Vanessa froze.
“It’s only a flash drive.”
She placed it on the table.
“My father’s.”
Matteo did not touch it.
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know. But he keeps it in a private safe.”
“Why steal it?”
“Because last night I heard him say Abigail’s name.”
Abigail’s skin prickled.
Vanessa continued.
“He was talking to someone. He said, ‘The Foster girl remembers more than she should.’”
Matteo’s gaze hardened.
Vanessa’s voice trembled.
“I asked what he meant. He told me to forget the entire evening.”
“And you didn’t.”
“No.”
She looked at Abigail.
“For once.”
Luca took the drive.
It was encrypted.
Matteo sent it to his forensic team.
Vanessa prepared to leave.
At the door, Abigail stopped her.
“Vanessa.”
She turned.
“I accept the apology.”
Relief flashed across Vanessa’s face.
“But forgiveness doesn’t erase consequences.”
Vanessa nodded slowly.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Abigail touched her cheek.
Vanessa looked ashamed.
“I think I’m starting to.”
After she left, Matteo studied Abigail.
“You’re unusual.”
“That’s billionaire language for annoying.”
“No.”
His gaze held hers.
“It’s admiration.”
The room became unexpectedly quiet.
Abigail looked away first.
“I’m pregnant.”
“I noticed.”
“And emotionally unavailable.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You were thinking loudly.”
That earned another almost-smile.
Then Luca entered.
Whatever humor existed disappeared.
“We opened part of the drive.”
Matteo stood.
“And?”
“Financial records. Shell companies. Payments going back more than a decade.”
“To whom?”
“One name matters.”
Luca placed a printout on the table.
Abigail read it.
Thomas Reed.
She frowned.
“Who’s that?”
Matteo knew.
The truck driver blamed for the crash that killed his father.
Officially, Thomas Reed had fallen asleep behind the wheel.
He had served four years in prison.
After his release, he vanished.
The Sinclair records showed payments to Reed’s mother beginning two weeks before the crash.
And continuing every month for eight years.
Isabella sat down.
“Oh my God.”
Matteo stared at the numbers.
Richard had paid the man responsible for Antonio Romano’s death.
But the final transaction was different.
It had occurred only three days earlier.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Abigail felt cold.
“What was that payment for?”
Luca’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What hospital?”
Matteo looked at him.
Luca ended the call.
“We found Thomas Reed.”
“Alive?”
“For now.”
“Where?”
“Mercy General.”
“What happened?”
“Hit-and-run.”
Abigail stared at Matteo.
Three days after receiving money from Richard Sinclair, the only surviving man connected to Antonio’s crash had been run down by a car.
Matteo reached for his coat.
Abigail stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“He may recognize me.”
“You were nineteen.”
“So was Isabella when I recognized her.”
Matteo hesitated.
Then nodded.
Twenty minutes later, they entered Mercy General through a private entrance.
Thomas Reed lay unconscious behind guarded doors.
A detective met them.
“He woke briefly about an hour ago.”
“Did he say anything?” Matteo asked.
The detective nodded.
“Four words.”
Matteo waited.
May you like
The detective looked directly at Abigail.
“He asked for her.”
