Chapter 8 - THE MOTHER WHO CHOSE HER SONS“Put the gun down, Mother.”
Dominic's voice carried across the cemetery.
Eleanor didn't lower her weapon.
She looked older than the woman in his childhood photographs. Her hair had turned almost entirely silver, and deep lines marked the corners of her mouth.
But her eyes were unmistakable.
The same blue eyes that had watched over him when he was a child.
The same eyes he had mourned for twelve years.
“Move away from him, Dominic.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Mother, please.”
“Don't call me that.”
The words silenced him.
Eleanor's hand trembled, but the gun remained pointed at her younger son.
“You promised me you would never return.”
“I had to protect Lily.”
“You could have sent her away. You could have stayed hidden.”
“And let Marcus find her?”
Eleanor's expression faltered.
Dominic slowly moved between them.
“Someone needs to explain why my mother is alive, why my brother has been hiding, and why everyone seems to know the truth except me.”
Eleanor looked at him.
For the first time, her composure broke.
“Oh, Dominic.”
She lowered the gun.
“I never wanted you to become part of this.”
“You made that decision for me twelve years ago.”
She closed her eyes.
“Your father told me he would kill both of you if I stayed. He had already ordered Gabriel's car to be burned, and he had discovered that I was helping him expose the financial accounts. I believed the only way to protect you was to disappear.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe I had lost my mother.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
“I know.”
Dominic turned away, unable to bear the sight of her crying.
Eleanor looked at Rachel.
“Thank you for protecting Lily.”
Rachel held the child closer.
“How do you know my name?”
“Your mother saved my life.”
Eleanor stepped toward them.
“Evelyn discovered that Anthony planned to eliminate Gabriel and his family. She helped me escape the clinic where he had confined me. Later, she helped hide Lily.”
Rachel's eyes filled.
“My mother died believing she'd failed.”
“No,” Eleanor said firmly. “She died protecting a child who is alive because of her courage.”
Rachel looked down at Lily.
The little girl stirred and wrapped her arms around Rachel's neck.
Dominic turned back to Eleanor.
“Who poisoned Father?”
His mother looked toward the ruined church.
“Your father had become dangerous even to the people who loved him. He was preparing to sell information about his own associates to save himself from prosecution. He planned to blame everything on Gabriel.”
“Who killed him?”
Eleanor's silence lasted too long.
“Mother.”
“I didn't poison him.”
“But you know who did.”
She nodded.
“The night he died, I received a message from someone inside the house. They told me Anthony had collapsed. By the time I arrived, he was dead.”
“Who sent the message?”
Eleanor looked at Gabriel.
“He did.”
Dominic turned sharply.
“You killed Father?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No. I found him after he was already dead.”
“Then why did Mother think you did it?”
“Because I was holding the glass.”
Eleanor's eyes filled again.
“He called me to his study that night. He said he had something important to tell me. When I arrived, Gabriel was standing beside his body, holding a crystal glass. He told me he hadn't killed him, but I didn't know what to believe.”
Gabriel lowered his head.
“I'd spent years gathering evidence against Father. Everyone thought I had motive.”
Dominic stared at them both.
“And you let me believe Father died of natural causes?”
Eleanor nodded.
“I was afraid that if I told you the truth, you'd go looking for Gabriel.”
“I did anyway.”
“I know.”
For the first time, her voice held something other than fear.
Pride.
A police siren approached the cemetery. Dominic had contacted a detective he trusted after the fire, but he hadn't expected her to arrive so quickly.
Detective Laura Bennett stepped from the vehicle, accompanied by two uniformed officers.
“Mr. Moretti, we need to speak with all of you.”
Dominic nodded.
“About Marcus?”
“About Marcus, your father, and an attempted murder charge connected to the Boston highway collision four years ago.”
Rachel stiffened.
“Lily's mother?”
Bennett nodded.
“We recovered a financial record linking the driver to a company controlled by Anthony Moretti. The payment was authorized two days before the collision.”
Gabriel's face tightened.
“Can you prove who gave the order?”
“Not yet. But we found a second payment, made after Anthony's death. The recipient was a private account opened under an alias.”
“Whose alias?”
The detective looked at her notes.
“Eleanor Ward.”
Dominic turned toward his mother.
Eleanor went pale.
“I never opened an account.”
“Someone used your identity to move money after Anthony died.”
Gabriel took a step toward her.
“Who had access to her documents?”
Eleanor shook her head.
Then her gaze moved toward Rachel.
“Evelyn.”
Rachel recoiled.
“No. My mother would never—”
“I didn't say she was responsible,” Eleanor interrupted. “I said she was the only person outside the family who knew where I had hidden my identity papers.”
Dominic felt the pieces shifting.
The cakes.
The hotel.
The secret account.
The woman who had supposedly died.
Someone had been using the identities of the dead to move money, manipulate the family, and conceal the truth.
Detective Bennett's phone rang.
She answered, listened, and suddenly straightened.
“Repeat that.”
She looked at Dominic.
“Marcus Bell has been found.”
“Where?”
“In a private clinic outside Boston.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then take us to him.”
The detective hesitated.
“He's conscious, but he refuses to speak to anyone except one person.”
“Who?”
Bennett looked at Eleanor.
“Your mother, Mr. Moretti.”
Eleanor's face crumpled.
“He knows what happened to Anthony.”
Dominic approached her.
“Then we'll hear it from him.”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand. Marcus didn't poison your father.”
“Who did?”
Eleanor stared at him.
“The person who ordered the first wedding cake.”
Before Dominic could ask another question, Gabriel's phone rang.
He looked at the screen and went rigid.
“What is it?” Dominic asked.
Gabriel turned the phone around.
A photograph showed Lily asleep in Rachel's arms.
The picture had been taken moments earlier.
May you like
Beneath it were seven words.
BRING ME THE WHITE ROSE, OR SHE DIES.
