Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN IN THE HOSPITAL PHOTOGRAPH
Dominic ordered every entrance to the hospital sealed.
No visitors without his approval. No staff transfers. No one entered Emily's room carrying a bag that hadn't been searched.
The ring was genuine. His mother's ring.
But Isabella insisted it had been stolen from her bedroom months earlier.
"I reported it missing," she told Dominic. "You can check the household records."
He did.
The report existed, dated six months before Emily was hired.
Someone had taken the ring long before the ballroom incident.
That did not prove Isabella was innocent, but it weakened the evidence against her.
Dominic placed the ring in an evidence case.
"Until we know who wore it, nobody touches it."
Meanwhile, Marcus tracked Margaret Hale to a nursing facility in Connecticut.
She was seventy-one, suffering from a heart condition, and had spent years living under an assumed name.
Dominic traveled there with two security officers. Emily insisted on coming despite her injury.
"You should be resting," he told her.
"I've spent twenty-four years resting from a truth nobody would tell me."
He couldn't argue with that.
Margaret sat in a sunlit room beside a window. When Dominic introduced himself, she stared at his face for a long time.
"You have your father's eyes."
"Did you know Richard Moretti?"
"I treated his wife."
"Claire?"
Margaret shook her head.
"Not his wife. The woman he loved."
She looked at Emily.
"And you must be the child."
Emily sat down slowly.
"Do you know where my mother is?"
Margaret's hands trembled.
"I helped her leave the hospital after the accident. She had been badly injured. Someone had tampered with her brakes, and she knew the crash wasn't an accident."
"Who did it?" Dominic asked.
Margaret looked at him.
"Your grandfather, Anthony Moretti."
Dominic felt a cold wave pass through him.
Anthony had died fifteen years earlier, leaving behind a fortune, a criminal empire, and a reputation for ruthless control.
"Why would he hurt Claire?"
"She was pregnant, and Richard refused to marry the woman Anthony had chosen for him. Anthony believed a child born outside the family arrangement would weaken his control over the inheritance."
Emily gripped the edge of her chair.
"What happened after the crash?"
"Claire was moved to a private clinic. A man came there and told her Richard had been killed. He showed her a photograph of a wrecked car and a death report."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"That was a lie. My father died years later."
Margaret nodded.
"Claire discovered that too late. By then, she'd been taken to a safe house under another name. When she tried to contact Richard, the messages never reached him."
"Who intercepted them?"
"I don't know. But I saw a woman deliver one of the letters to the clinic director. She wore a diamond bracelet shaped like a snake."
Dominic turned toward Emily.
Vanessa had worn a similar bracelet at the engagement celebration.
Emily noticed his expression.
"Vanessa?"
"Perhaps."
Margaret leaned forward.
"There's something else. Claire left a tape recording with me. She said if anyone from the Moretti family came looking for Emily, I should play it only after confirming they had the locket."
Emily opened the velvet pouch and showed her the silver locket.
Margaret began to cry.
"Then the time has come."
She reached into a locked drawer and removed a small cassette tape inside a plastic case.
Dominic's security officer found an old player in the facility's media room. They gathered around it as the tape crackled to life.
Claire's voice filled the room.
If you're hearing this, something has happened to me, and Emily deserves to know the truth.
Emily pressed a hand over her mouth.
Richard, I tried to reach you. I sent letters. I called. I went to the places we used to meet. Someone kept telling me you were dead.
The recording paused. There was a rustle, followed by a sharp breath.
I found out who was stopping the messages. It wasn't Anthony.
Dominic leaned forward.
It was someone who wanted Richard to marry her daughter. Someone who knew about Emily from the beginning.
A faint sound came from the background.
Then Claire whispered a name.
"Isabella."
Dominic froze.
Emily turned toward him.
The tape continued.
If anything happens to me, tell Richard that Isabella knew where I was. Tell him she promised to protect Emily.
The recording ended with a click.
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
Dominic stared at his mother, who had accompanied them and stood near the doorway.
"Did you know where Claire was?"
Isabella's face crumpled.
"Yes."
Emily rose unsteadily.
"You knew my mother was alive?"
"I knew she had survived the accident," Isabella said. "I didn't know where she went afterward."
"You lied to me."
"I was trying to protect you."
"From what? My own family?"
Isabella reached toward her, but Emily stepped back.
Dominic's voice was dangerously quiet.
"Tell me why Claire believed you had promised to protect her."
Isabella looked at the floor.
"Because I did."
She raised her eyes.
"And because I broke that promise."
Before she could explain, Marcus's phone rang.
He listened, then looked sharply at Dominic.
"Boss, we found Vincent Hale."
"Where?"
"Dead in a car outside Hartford."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
Marcus continued.
"He left something on the passenger seat. A photograph of Emily, taken outside this hospital yesterday."
Emily went cold.
Dominic took the photograph.
On the back, someone had written six words.
May you like
THE DAUGHTER MUST NEVER TAKE THE THRONE.
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