Chapter 2 - The Woman Behind the Diamond
Claudia released Harper's uniform.
"Everybody out."
Nobody moved until Damian nodded.
Mrs. Gable disappeared first. The guards followed.
Harper started toward the door.
"Not you," Damian said.
She stopped.
Claudia stared at him. "You're keeping her here?"
"I'm interested in hearing what she meant."
Harper turned.
"I meant exactly what I said."
"Harper," Claudia warned.
Damian's gaze stayed on Harper.
"Explain."
Harper wondered how quickly unemployment could become a homicide investigation.
Then she remembered seventy thousand dollars of debt.
Fear had become expensive.
"Everyone here is terrified of Miss Claudia because they think she speaks for you. But whenever something actually matters, she looks at you before acting."
Claudia laughed.
"You're psychoanalyzing me now?"
"No. I'm cleaning your shoes."
Damian almost smiled.
Almost.
Claudia saw it.
Her humiliation transformed into fury.
"You have no idea what this woman is," she told Damian. "You don't know where she came from."
"Neither do you."
"I had her investigated."
Harper's stomach tightened.
Damian's expression changed.
"You did what?"
Claudia crossed her arms. "Someone had to."
She retrieved a folder from a drawer and threw it onto the chaise.
Harper recognized her photograph.
Her address.
Her mother's name.
Her hospital records.
Her debt.
Damian picked up the folder.
"When?"
"After the dinner."
"You investigated my employee without telling me?"
"I investigated a stranger who suddenly fascinated my fiancé."
Harper felt the room shift.
Damian closed the folder.
"You should leave."
Claudia stared at him.
"This is my bedroom."
"Then I'll leave."
He walked out.
Harper followed.
"Not you," Claudia snapped.
Harper stopped again.
The moment Damian disappeared, Claudia's expression changed.
The socialite vanished.
Something colder appeared.
"You think he's protecting you."
"I don't."
"Good."
Claudia stepped closer.
"Because Damian Costa destroys everything he loves."
Harper met her gaze.
"Then you should probably be worried."
Claudia's face twitched.
Harper walked out.
That evening, she found Mrs. Gable crying inside the laundry room.
The older woman hurriedly wiped her eyes.
"You need to quit."
"Why?"
"Because Claudia doesn't forgive humiliation."
Harper leaned against a dryer.
"What happened to the maids before me?"
Mrs. Gable went pale.
"I don't know."
"That's not true."
"Please."
Harper noticed bruising around the woman's wrist.
Finger-shaped.
"Did Claudia do that?"
Mrs. Gable covered it.
"Go home, Harper."
Harper didn't.
At 11:40 p.m., she finished her shift and walked toward the employee exit.
A black SUV waited outside.
Damian leaned against it.
"No guards?" Harper asked.
"They're watching."
"Comforting."
He held out Claudia's folder.
"This belongs to you."
Harper took it.
"You read it?"
"Yes."
"That's invasive."
"Yes."
The lack of an excuse surprised her.
Damian looked toward the mountains.
"Your mother died eighteen months ago."
Harper stiffened.
"Don't."
"I wasn't offering sympathy."
"Good."
"I was going to ask why her medical debt became yours."
"Because debt collectors don't care who deserves what."
"That's not legally how most medical debt works."
Harper stared at him.
Damian continued.
"Someone convinced you that you owed money you may not owe."
That got her attention.
"Who?"
"I don't know yet."
"Why would you care?"
Damian finally looked at her.
"Because Claudia's investigator found something unusual."
He handed her a second page.
A company name appeared repeatedly beside her mother's hospital bills.
Valence Holdings.
Harper frowned.
"I've never heard of them."
"I have."
"Who are they?"
Damian's jaw tightened.
"A shell company."
"For whom?"
"My fiancée."
Harper stared at him.
Before she could respond, glass shattered inside the mansion.
Damian turned.
A woman screamed.
They ran inside.
Mrs. Gable stood in the foyer.
Claudia was gone.
On the marble floor lay Harper's personnel folder.
Beside it was a photograph Harper had never seen.
Her mother stood outside the Costa estate.
And beside her was Damian's murdered father.
May you like
On the back, someone had written four words:
SHE KNEW WHERE IT WAS.
