Chapter 4 - The Secret Beneath the Christmas Tree
Tony dismissed everyone from the study.
He stared at the photograph Mrs. Gable had described, which Dominic retrieved from the storage room.
Isabella stood beside a black limousine. Victor Vance was beside her.
The date printed on the back was four days before her death.
"Why was this hidden?" Tony asked.
Dominic studied the picture.
"Maybe it was misplaced."
"Or maybe somebody wanted it forgotten."
Tony had spent four years avoiding Isabella's name. Their relationship had been complicated by family expectations, business pressure, and his own inability to separate love from power.
She had been the only woman who ever challenged him without fear.
Her death had changed him.
He had become colder, more suspicious, and less willing to trust anyone.
Now, a maid who had nearly died in his backyard had stumbled into something he had never thought to investigate.
At the hospital, Clara was beginning to recover.
The doctors had warned her that she might experience weakness and pain for several days. Tony arranged for a private nurse and paid every medical expense.
When he visited that afternoon, she looked embarrassed.
"You don't have to keep coming here."
"I know."
"Then why do you?"
He pulled a chair closer.
"Because I want to."
Clara studied him.
"People say you're dangerous."
"They're usually not wrong."
"Then why are you helping me?"
Tony considered the question.
"Because nobody should have to earn the right to be rescued."
Clara looked down at her hands.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then she told him about the photograph.
She had found it while organizing old files in the west wing. Isabella had been mentioned in several documents, and Clara, who had studied literature, had always been interested in the history of the estate.
She had recognized Victor from newspaper photographs.
She had also noticed something strange: the photograph had been placed inside a folder marked for disposal, but the folder contained financial records dated months after Isabella's death.
"Did you tell Lana?" Tony asked.
"No. I didn't know what it meant."
"Did anyone see you with it?"
"Mrs. Gable did."
Tony stood and walked toward the window.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Clara hesitated.
"Because I was afraid I'd lose my job."
That answer hurt more than he expected.
He had believed his employees could approach him with concerns. He had never considered how the household's hierarchy made that nearly impossible.
"You're not going back to work," he said.
Clara stiffened.
"Please don't fire me."
"I'm not firing you. I'm telling you to rest."
"I need the money."
"Your salary will continue."
She looked at him suspiciously.
"Why?"
"Because you earned it."
Then her phone rang.
The number was unfamiliar, but the message preview was enough to drain the color from her face.
Your father has until Friday. We know where you work.
Tony noticed her reaction.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Clara."
She handed him the phone.
He read the message.
"Is this Gambino?"
She nodded.
"He threatened my father. I thought the job would help me pay the debt."
"How much is left?"
"Forty-three thousand."
Tony returned the phone.
"That's not your responsibility."
"It became mine when he started receiving threats."
Tony called Dominic.
"Get me everything on Vinnie Gambino."
While Dominic worked, Clara revealed something she had kept secret.
Two weeks before Christmas, she had received a package from Chicago. Inside was an old letter written by her mother, who had died when Clara was sixteen.
Her father had insisted the letter contained nothing important.
But Clara had found a photograph tucked into its envelope.
It showed her mother standing outside the Moretti estate.
On the back were the words:
If anything happens to me, find Isabella. She knows the truth.
Tony read the message twice.
"Your mother knew Isabella?"
"I think so."
"Did your father explain?"
"No. He told me never to mention the letter again."
Tony looked at Clara.
"Where is it now?"
"In my room at the estate."
Dominic returned a few minutes later.
He carried a second folder.
"Boss, I found something. Gambino's loan records show that Arthur Thorne's original debt was only twelve thousand dollars. The remaining amount was added through penalties and fabricated interest."
Tony's eyes narrowed.
"Who arranged the original loan?"
Dominic placed a photocopy on the table.
The authorization signature belonged to Victor Vance.
Tony stared at it.
The Vance family had not merely been connected to Isabella.
They had helped place Clara's father under Gambino's control.
And suddenly, the attack on Clara looked less like jealousy and more like an attempt to silence her.
That evening, Tony returned to the estate and searched the west wing.
Behind a locked cabinet, he found an envelope containing several photographs.
One showed Isabella with Clara's mother.
Another showed the two women standing outside a Chicago courthouse.
The final photograph contained a handwritten message:
The child must never learn what happened in Aspen.
Tony turned it over.
May you like
A name was written beneath the sentence.
Arthur Thorne.
