Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE GOLD NECKLACE
For three seconds, nobody in the ballroom moved.
Then the woman in gold found her voice.
“This is absurd.” She forced a laugh, though her fingers were trembling. “Dominic, the child is obviously confused. Someone must have put those ideas in her head.”
The billionaire didn't look at her.
His attention remained fixed on the photograph. On the younger version of himself standing beside Isabella Bennett, his arm around her waist, smiling in a way he hadn't smiled since the night she supposedly died.
He had buried Isabella seven years ago.
Or so he had been told.
“What's your name?” he asked the little girl.
“Lily.”
“Your full name, sweetheart.”
“Lily Bennett.”
His jaw tightened.
“And your birthday?”
“April seventeenth.”
Dominic Moretti went completely still.
April seventeenth was the date Isabella had been declared dead.
The date of the car accident that had supposedly killed her and their unborn child.
He rose slowly, his expression hardening into something that made even the most powerful guests step away.
“Everyone out.”
A few guests hesitated.
Dominic turned toward them.
“Now.”
Chairs scraped. Shoes hurried across marble. Within moments, the ballroom emptied except for Dominic, Lily, and the woman in gold.
Vanessa Sterling.
Dominic's fiancée.
The woman he'd intended to marry in six weeks.
“Dominic,” Vanessa said, approaching him with practiced concern, “you're exhausted. This child has clearly been coached. We should call security and have her taken somewhere safe.”
Lily immediately grabbed Dominic's sleeve.
“Please don't make me leave.”
He looked down.
“I'm not sending you anywhere.”
Vanessa's smile faltered.
Dominic crouched to Lily's height. His expensive suit brushed the floor.
“Where is your mother?”
“At home.”
“Where is home?”
Lily hesitated.
“An apartment in Queens. But we might not be there tomorrow.”
“Why not?”
“Mommy couldn't pay the rent. The landlord said we have to leave.” She lowered her eyes. “I wasn't supposed to come here. But Mommy hasn't eaten much, and she needs medicine. I thought if I played the piano, somebody might give me food.”
Dominic felt something twist painfully beneath his ribs.
He had spent millions of dollars tonight on champagne, flowers, and a charity auction while Isabella's daughter had wandered into his ballroom barefoot, begging strangers for dinner.
“What's your mother's illness?”
“Her heart gets tired. Sometimes she can't breathe. She says it's nothing, but I hear her crying when she thinks I'm asleep.”
Dominic stood and immediately called his chief of security.
“Get the car. Bring a doctor. Find out where Isabella Bennett is living.”
Vanessa caught his arm.
“You cannot seriously be considering this.”
He looked at her hand until she released him.
“You recognized Isabella's name before I did.”
“I recognized a name. That's hardly a crime.”
“Then explain why you dropped your glass.”
Her face hardened.
“Because you were making a scene over a photograph.”
“No.” Dominic stepped closer. “You dropped it when Lily pointed at you.”
Vanessa's eyes flicked toward the girl.
“Children invent stories. You know that.”
Lily shook her head.
“You told Mommy that the man in the picture hated her.”
Vanessa's expression changed.
Just for an instant, the polished socialite disappeared, and something colder showed beneath her face.
“What exactly did your mother tell you?” she asked.
Lily backed away.
Dominic moved between them.
“Don't speak to her like that.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You're choosing a stranger over me?”
“I'm choosing answers.”
His phone vibrated. His security chief had sent a message: Address located. Medical assistance requested.
Dominic took Lily's hand.
“We're going to see your mother.”
For the first time that night, the little girl smiled.
Then Vanessa spoke behind them.
“Dominic, if Isabella is alive, you need to understand something.”
He turned.
Vanessa's eyes were bright with anger.
“The woman you remember is not the woman you'll find.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Why?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Because seven years ago, she made a choice that destroyed your family.”
Before he could demand an explanation, the ballroom doors opened.
A man in a gray suit hurried inside and whispered into Vanessa's ear.
Her face drained of color.
She looked at Lily, then at Dominic.
“Don't go to that apartment,” she said.
Dominic's voice dropped.
“Give me one good reason.”
May you like
Vanessa's answer came out barely above a whisper.
“Because someone has been waiting seven years for you to find Isabella. And if you arrive tonight, they'll know the child is alive.”
