Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO DISAPPEARED
Dominic entered the east sitting room with Marcus at his side.
Vanessa stood near the window, holding a glass of water. She had removed her earrings and wiped away most of her makeup. On the table lay her phone, screen down.
She looked up.
"Have you calmed down?"
Dominic shut the door.
"Who accessed my security system?"
"I have no idea."
"Your room was used to erase the footage of you attacking Emily."
Vanessa set down the glass.
"Then perhaps you should investigate your own people instead of accusing your fiancée."
Marcus placed a tablet on the table and played the surviving recording.
The footage showed Vanessa pulling Emily's tray. It showed the broken glass, the bleeding hand, and Vanessa forcing the maid to kneel.
Then the image froze.
A second recording began. It showed a person entering the security control room shortly before the deletion. The face was obscured by a hood, but the person wore a distinctive signet ring.
Dominic recognized it.
He looked at Vanessa's right hand.
Her ring finger was bare.
"Where's your family signet ring?"
Vanessa's expression shifted for half a second.
"I lost it."
"When?"
"Last week."
"Interesting."
He leaned forward.
"You're going to tell me everything you know about Emily's mother."
Vanessa folded her arms.
"I only know what your mother told me."
"Which was?"
"That Emily was a mistake your father made. A secret that would ruin the Moretti family if it became public."
Emily had followed Dominic into the room. She stood near the doorway, pale but determined.
"Why did you hate me before you even knew who I was?"
Vanessa turned toward her.
"Because you were always there."
"Where?"
"In the study. In the kitchen with Isabella. Walking through the gardens as though you belonged here."
"I work here."
"Exactly!" Vanessa snapped. "You were supposed to be invisible."
Dominic's expression became dangerous.
Vanessa swallowed and lowered her voice.
"Your mother hired Emily six months ago. She insisted on keeping her close. I asked questions, and I discovered that Richard Moretti had once paid a woman named Claire Carter to leave New York."
Emily's face drained of color.
"Paid her?"
"That's what the records said."
Dominic looked at his mother, who had entered silently behind them.
"Is that true?"
Isabella nodded reluctantly.
"Richard gave Claire money so she could disappear. He believed your grandfather's threats were real."
"And was Claire paid to leave, or paid to keep quiet?"
His mother said nothing.
Emily's eyes filled.
"You're all talking about my mother like she was a transaction."
She turned to leave.
Dominic caught himself before reaching for her arm.
"Emily."
She stopped.
"I need air."
He nodded to Marcus, who escorted her into the adjoining corridor.
The moment the door closed, Dominic faced Vanessa.
"Who gave you those records?"
She hesitated.
"A private investigator."
"Name."
"Peter Lang."
Marcus checked his phone.
"Boss, Peter Lang died eighteen months ago."
Vanessa went still.
Dominic watched her carefully.
"Then who hired him?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe a dead investigator sent you evidence about a woman who vanished twenty-five years ago?"
Vanessa's composure finally cracked.
"Your father was planning to change everything before he died!"
The room fell silent.
Dominic stepped closer.
"What does that mean?"
Vanessa looked toward Isabella, then back at him.
"Richard was preparing to amend his will. He intended to acknowledge Emily publicly and give her a share of the family estate."
Dominic stared at her.
"How do you know?"
"Because someone sent me a copy."
"Who?"
"I never saw the sender."
Dominic turned to Marcus.
"Find every message and payment connected to Peter Lang. Start with Vanessa's financial records."
Vanessa recoiled.
"You can't do that!"
"I can do a great deal more than that."
She stared at him, her eyes suddenly cold.
"You think you're protecting Emily. But you have no idea what she is."
Dominic moved toward the door.
"Then enlighten me."
Vanessa's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Claire Carter didn't disappear because she was afraid of your grandfather."
He stopped.
"She disappeared because she knew what Richard had done."
Dominic turned slowly.
"What did my father do?"
Vanessa looked at the closed door through which Emily had left.
"He didn't just abandon her."
Her lips trembled.
"He signed the order that put her mother in the ground."
Dominic went completely still.
Before he could demand an explanation, a gunshot shattered the silence outside.
Marcus drew his weapon.
Dominic ran into the corridor.
Emily lay on the carpet beside a shattered wall sconce. Blood spread across her sleeve, and a security guard was shouting for a doctor.
At the far end of the hallway, a service door swung open.
Someone had escaped.
Dominic dropped beside Emily.
"Emily! Look at me!"
Her eyes fluttered.
She grabbed his sleeve with her uninjured hand.
"Don't trust..." she whispered.
"Who?"
Her lips moved again.
"Your mother."
Then she lost consciousness.
Dominic looked up at Isabella.
His mother stood frozen in the doorway.
May you like
And for the first time in his life, Dominic wondered whether the woman who had raised him had helped kill his father.
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