Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO SIGNED THE ORDER
Dominic had spent eighteen months believing his wife's death was a tragedy no one could have prevented.
Now, standing in the garage with Isabella's letter in his hand, he wondered whether every comforting explanation he'd been given was a carefully constructed lie.
He turned to his head of security, Marco Bellini, who had appeared at the sound of raised voices.
“Get the car ready. We're going to St. Catherine's Hospital.”
Vanessa stepped between Dominic and the exit.
“It's after midnight. You can't walk into a hospital demanding confidential medical records because a maid handed you a suspicious letter.”
Dominic looked at her coldly.
“Then you shouldn't have looked so frightened when I opened her suitcase.”
Her lips parted.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Emily attempted to stand, but pain crossed her face. Dominic caught her elbow before she could fall.
“Easy. You're freezing.”
“I'm fine, sir.”
“No, you're not.”
He turned to Marco.
“Call Dr. Reynolds. Have him meet us at the hospital. And arrange a private room for Emily.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You're abandoning your own fiancée for a servant?”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“I'm taking a pregnant woman somewhere warm. If that offends you, reconsider what kind of person you've become.”
Emily looked down, hiding her tears.
For eighteen months, Vanessa had taught everyone in the mansion to treat Isabella's memory as a forbidden subject. Emily had learned to remain silent, keep her head down, and never question an order.
But Isabella had trusted her with something that could destroy a powerful family.
And Emily had nearly lost everything trying to protect it.
At the hospital, Dr. Reynolds greeted Dominic in a private consultation room.
He had treated Isabella during her final months and had personally delivered the news of her death.
When Dominic showed him the letter, the older physician's face changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“From someone my fiancée threw into a freezing garage.”
Dr. Reynolds removed his glasses.
“Dominic, I advised against the surgery.”
“What surgery?”
“The procedure performed the night Isabella died. Her condition was serious, but there were alternative treatments. Isabella wanted a second opinion before proceeding.”
Dominic gripped the edge of the desk.
“Who authorized it?”
The doctor hesitated.
“The hospital's system lists the authorization as having come from the family representative.”
“I'm her husband.”
“Not on that form.”
Dominic felt the room tilt.
“Then who?”
Dr. Reynolds opened a secure file and turned the monitor toward him.
A scanned consent form appeared.
At the bottom was a signature.
VANESSA STERLING.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Vanessa wasn't even my wife.”
“She was listed as an authorized representative shortly before the operation,” the doctor explained. “The document was submitted by someone claiming Isabella had granted her that authority.”
“Did Isabella?”
“I never saw a valid document establishing it.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Then why did you allow the operation?”
“I didn't authorize it. I was removed from the surgical team after raising concerns.”
The doctor opened another file.
“There's something else. Isabella's original bloodwork was altered in the electronic record after her death. The original results showed a discrepancy that should have been investigated.”
“What discrepancy?”
Before the doctor could answer, a nurse entered carrying a sealed evidence envelope.
“Dr. Reynolds, hospital administration found this in the archive you requested.”
Dominic recognized Isabella's handwriting on the front.
For my husband. Only if I cannot explain it myself.
He tore it open.
Inside was a small flash drive and a handwritten note.
Dominic, if Vanessa is involved, don't trust anyone who says she acted alone.
Beneath that sentence was another name.
VICTOR MORETTI.
Dominic's father.
He had been dead for three years.
And yet, on the reverse of the note, Isabella had written a date six weeks after his funeral.
Dominic slowly looked up at the doctor.
“My father was supposed to be dead before this document was created.”
Dr. Reynolds went pale.
“Then someone has been using his name.”
Dominic's phone vibrated.
A message from Marco appeared.
Boss, we checked the mansion cameras. Vanessa left the house twenty minutes ago. She wasn't alone.
Attached was a photograph of Vanessa climbing into a black SUV.
May you like
The man holding the passenger door was Dominic's uncle, Salvatore.
And Salvatore had been buried beside Dominic's father three years earlier.
