Chapter 12 - Elena Admitted Why Ruby Had Really Entered the Romano House

Ruby did not shout.

That frightened Elena more than shouting would have.

They sat in the kitchen at midnight, the same kitchen where staff had quietly learned not to discuss family business. Luca slept upstairs with Marco outside the nursery.

Vincent stood near the windows.

Ruby sat across from Elena.

“Start at the beginning.”

Elena folded her hands.

“Sofia knew Caleb had a sister. She never met you, but he spoke about you. He said you were the only person who could tell when he was lying.”

Ruby almost laughed.

“That did not help much.”

“He was frightened near the end.”

“I know.”

“Sofia told me if anything happened to her, I should watch Caleb. If he disappeared, I was to find you but not contact you until I understood who was responsible.”

Ruby stared.

“You waited fourteen months.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Caleb died. Then Martin Vale vanished. Then two police detectives asking about the crash were reassigned.”

Elena’s face tightened.

“I became afraid I would lead Gabriel directly to you.”

“So you waited until I applied for a job here?”

“No.”

Ruby’s stomach dropped.

Elena looked ashamed.

“I placed the advertisement where I knew you would see it.”

Vincent’s voice sharpened. “You manipulated her into this house.”

“I gave her an opportunity.”

“You used Luca.”

“I was trying to protect Luca.”

The old loyalty between them cracked audibly.

Ruby raised a hand.

“Stop.”

Both obeyed.

She looked at Elena.

“How did you know I needed work?”

“Sofia had a private investigator. He continued one task for me after her death. I knew you left the senior facility. I knew you were behind on rent.”

Humiliation burned through Ruby.

“You watched me.”

“Yes.”

“You knew about the hospital?”

Elena’s eyes softened.

“I knew Caleb died. I did not know what he told you.”

Ruby stood.

“I need air.”

Vincent moved.

She pointed at him.

“Not you.”

He stopped.

Outside, the grounds were silver beneath security lights. Ruby walked to the cypress line and gripped the cold iron fence.

Everything about her arrival had been engineered.

The broken zipper.

The bus ride.

The rehearsed answers.

She had thought she was choosing desperation over pride.

Elena had placed the choice in front of her.

Footsteps approached.

Ruby expected Vincent.

It was Marco.

He stopped ten feet away.

“Boss said you asked to be alone.”

“So why are you here?”

“He also said alone and unguarded are different things.”

Ruby let out a tired laugh.

“Does anyone in this family understand boundaries?”

“No.”

At least he knew.

Marco looked toward the house.

“For what it’s worth, Elena did not expect the boy to like you.”

“That helps very little.”

“I figured.”

Ruby returned twenty minutes later.

Vincent waited in the kitchen.

Elena was gone.

“I fired her,” he said.

“No.”

His brows drew together.

“You don’t get to decide that for me.”

“She endangered you.”

“She also protected Luca when you were busy starting a war with the wrong man.”

Vincent’s jaw tightened.

Ruby continued.

“What she did to me was wrong. I will deal with her. But this house has enough men solving discomfort by removing people.”

He stared.

Then, slowly, he nodded.

“I told her to stay in her rooms until morning.”

“Good.”

Ruby sat.

“I’m not leaving.”

Vincent’s expression changed.

“That is not what I expected.”

“I thought about it.”

She looked toward the ceiling.

“Luca did not manipulate me. Whatever Elena did, his grief was real.”

Vincent sat opposite her.

“And you?”

“I’m furious.”

“At me?”

“At everyone.”

“That is fair.”

Ruby studied him.

“Why haven’t you killed Gabriel?”

He did not pretend not to understand.

“Because Sofia asked me not to answer pain with the thing I know best.”

“That has never stopped you before.”

“No.”

His honesty remained unsettling.

He slid a document across the table.

It was a copy of a meeting request from the United States Attorney’s Office.

Ruby looked up.

“You contacted prosecutors?”

“My attorney did.”

“What are you giving them?”

“Gabriel’s ledgers. The trust records. Vale’s statement. Claire’s photograph.”

“And what do you want in return?”

“Protection for Luca, Elena, Claire, you, and Margaret if we find her.”

Ruby waited.

“And for you?”

Vincent looked down at his hands.

“I asked for nothing.”

She did not believe that meant sainthood.

It meant he had finally understood bargaining power was not the same as innocence.

His phone buzzed.

Marco entered at the same moment, carrying a laptop.

“We found Margaret Bellini.”

Vincent stood.

“Where?”

“Vermont. Small town outside Montpelier. Cash rental under a maiden name.”

Ruby looked at him.

Marco’s face was grim.

“There’s more. She checked into a clinic yesterday.”

“What kind?”

“Oncology.”

Vincent went still.

“She’s sick?”

“According to the intake note, very.”

Ruby thought of the silver music box, the red coat, the woman who had taken evidence from Sofia on the night she died.

Margaret had been hiding for thirteen months.

Now time had found her anyway.

“We go in the morning,” Ruby said.

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Vincent looked at her.

This time, he did not tell her no.