Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Dominic had the entire estate searched before sunrise.
Every bedroom, service corridor, garage, security station, and exterior gate was checked. The guards found no stranger, no broken lock, and no obvious sign of forced entry.
That made the situation worse.
Whoever had photographed Ethan had either entered the house with legitimate access or had someone inside helping them.
Dominic stood in his private office while Marco placed a thick folder on the desk.
“Adrian Cole's last known address is in New Jersey,” Marco said. “His phone has been disconnected for eighteen months. His company dissolved shortly after he left.”
“Find him.”
“Already working on it.”
Dominic opened the folder.
The first page contained Isabella's original accident report. Her car had supposedly skidded off a wet road and struck a concrete barrier. The report mentioned no witnesses and no evidence of foul play.
The second page contained something Dominic had never seen.
A handwritten note from the responding officer: Possible second vehicle observed near scene. Unable to locate driver.
Dominic read it twice.
“Why wasn't this in the final report?”
Marco leaned over the desk.
“Someone may have amended the file.”
“Find the officer.”
Before Marco could answer, the office door opened.
Lily stood there holding a small envelope.
“I'm sorry, sir. I know you asked not to be disturbed.”
Dominic noticed how tightly she gripped it.
“What is that?”
“Something I should have told you three years ago.”
He stared at her.
Lily placed the envelope on his desk.
“My mother worked in this house before I did. She was one of Mrs. Isabella's personal attendants. After the accident, she told me she found this hidden in the linen cupboard.”
Dominic opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Isabella standing beside an unfamiliar woman outside a hospital. On the back, Isabella had written a date and a single sentence:
If anything happens to me, find Grace.
“Who is Grace?”
“My mother never knew. She said Mrs. Isabella made her promise not to tell anyone unless Ethan was in danger.”
Dominic looked at Lily.
“Why didn't you come to me?”
“Because my mother was terrified. She said someone had threatened to hurt our family if she talked.”
“Who?”
“She never told me.”
Dominic wanted to demand more, but Lily's fear was unmistakable.
“Did you ever see Vanessa with Isabella?”
Lily nodded.
“Once. About a month before the accident. They argued in the west garden.”
“What about?”
“I couldn't hear everything. But I heard Mrs. Isabella say, ‘You promised me he would never be involved.’ Vanessa answered, ‘You should have stayed out of it.’”
Dominic felt the room tilt.
Vanessa had known his wife long before he introduced them as acquaintances.
“Why would Isabella meet her at a hospital?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Dominic called his attorney, Daniel Price, and asked him to locate the woman in the photograph. Then he ordered a forensic examination of every file connected to Isabella's accident and Ethan's trust.
By noon, the first result arrived.
The $250,000 transfer had been authorized through a company linked to a law firm that had handled Isabella's estate.
The same firm had processed a sealed document six weeks before her death.
A document Dominic had never been allowed to read.
Daniel arrived at the estate an hour later, carrying a leather briefcase.
“Dominic, we have a problem. The sealed document concerns Isabella's trust. Someone filed an amendment shortly before the accident.”
“Who signed it?”
“According to the file, Isabella.”
“Was it witnessed?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes. By Vanessa Sterling.”
Dominic stood so abruptly that his chair struck the wall.
“Vanessa was never Isabella's attorney.”
“No. But she was listed as a witness.”
“Show me the amendment.”
Daniel opened the briefcase and placed the document on the desk.
The amendment would transfer control of Ethan's inheritance to a temporary guardian if Dominic became incapacitated or remarried.
The guardian named in the document was Vanessa Sterling.
Dominic read the page again.
It wasn't merely a plan to send Ethan away. Vanessa had positioned herself to control his son's entire fortune.
“Can you prove this is fraudulent?”
“The signature looks genuine, but the date is suspicious. We need the original and a handwriting expert.”
Dominic's phone buzzed.
A message from Marco.
We found the hospital.
Dominic called him immediately.
“Which hospital?”
“St. Vincent's. The woman in the photograph worked there under the name Grace Miller. She left the city three years ago.”
“Where is she now?”
Marco paused.
“That's the problem. Someone accessed her old personnel file this morning.”
“Who?”
“The request came from a terminal registered to the Sterling Foundation.”
Dominic slowly lowered the phone.
Vanessa was still in the house.
Someone was searching for Grace at the same time he was.
He turned toward Daniel.
“Get me a court order to preserve every document related to that trust.”
Then he looked at Lily.
“From this moment on, nobody gets near Ethan without my permission.”
Lily nodded.
But as she turned to leave, she stopped.
“Sir, there's something else I remember.”
Dominic waited.
“The night Mrs. Isabella died, I saw Vanessa leave the estate wearing a coat over her evening dress.”
“When?”
“Just before midnight.”
“Did she come back?”
Lily's eyes filled with fear.
“Yes.”
“When?”
Lily whispered the answer.
“After the ambulance had already left.”
Dominic stared at her.
And suddenly, the most terrifying question was no longer whether Vanessa had lied about Isabella's death.
May you like
It was what she had returned to the estate to retrieve.
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