Chapter 2 - The Woman Waiting Below

Damien did not look back at the ballroom.

He walked toward the private staircase.

Mr. Stern followed.

So did the old lawyer.

I stayed near the doorway.

I was still technically fired.

Damien stopped.

He looked at me.

“Rose.”

“Yes?”

“You brought Mr. Stern inside.”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re coming.”

Elena stood.

“Damien—”

“No.”

His voice was quiet.

That was worse.

He looked at her dark red gown.

Then at her bare left hand.

“You knew my mother was alive.”

Elena lowered her eyes.

“You don’t get to decide what happens next.”

Mrs. Rossi rose from her table.

“I’m going with my daughter.”

The old lawyer turned.

“No, Clara.”

Mrs. Rossi froze.

Damien looked at him.

“You know her?”

The lawyer gave a tired smile.

“I knew her before Elena was born.”

Nobody spoke.

We went downstairs.

The lower floor was almost empty.

Private dining rooms.

A wine corridor.

A small sitting room at the end.

The lawyer opened the door.

A woman stood beside the window.

Silver in her dark hair.

Black dress.

No jewelry.

Damien stopped breathing.

She turned.

Her face was older than the photographs.

But the eyes were the same.

Damien whispered:

“Mom?”

Maria Vale covered her mouth.

For one second, she looked seventeen years younger.

Then she crossed the room.

Damien did not move.

Neither did she.

They stopped two feet apart.

Maria reached toward his face.

Her hand shook.

“I’m sorry.”

Damien stepped back.

She lowered her hand.

He stared at her.

“Sixteen years.”

“I know.”

“You were alive.”

“Yes.”

“You knew where I was.”

“Yes.”

His jaw tightened.

“And you stayed away.”

Maria closed her eyes.

“Yes.”

Damien looked at the lawyer.

“You married her?”

The man nodded.

“My name is Julian Hart.”

“I know your name.”

Damien’s voice sharpened.

“You worked for my father.”

Julian looked at Maria.

“I worked for Alessandro Vale.”

Damien’s face changed.

Maria whispered:

“Your real father.”

Silence.

Damien took out the diamond.

Mr. Stern had returned it to him upstairs.

He placed it on the table.

“You sent this?”

Maria nodded.

“To you.”

“Through Clara Rossi?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Maria looked toward the door.

“Because I needed to know whether she would finally do what she promised.”

Damien stared.

“What promise?”

“To give you the ring.”

Mrs. Rossi entered behind us.

Maria’s expression hardened.

Clara Rossi stopped.

“Maria.”

“Clara.”

Damien looked between them.

“You met six months ago.”

Maria nodded.

“In Florence.”

“Why?”

Maria reached into her handbag.

She removed a folded document.

Old.

Creased.

Stamped.

She placed it beside the diamond.

It was a copy of a death certificate.

Alessandro Vale.

Date of death:

Three days before Maria disappeared.

Damien read it twice.

Then a third time.

“My father died before you left.”

“Yes.”

“Why was I told he died eight years later?”

Maria looked at Clara.

“Because someone needed him alive on paper.”

Damien slowly raised his eyes.

“My uncle.”

“Yes.”

“Victor used his identity.”

“Yes.”

“For eight years.”

“Yes.”

Damien’s hand closed around the edge of the table.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Maria’s voice broke.

“Because Victor had you.”

Damien stared.

Maria continued.

“The night your father died, Victor came to me before the police did.”

“He told me Alessandro had been killed.”

“He showed me a photograph of you leaving school.”

“He told me if I said his name, you would disappear before sunset.”

Damien said nothing.

Maria looked at him.

“You were seventeen.”

“I had already lost your father.”

“I believed him.”

Julian spoke quietly.

“We tried to move Damien out of the country.”

Maria shook her head.

“Victor found out.”

Damien looked at Julian.

“So you helped her vanish.”

“Yes.”

“And then married her.”

“Years later.”

Julian did not look away.

“After we had proof Alessandro was dead.”

Damien laughed once.

No humor.

“Proof nobody gave me.”

Maria flinched.

Damien looked at the death certificate.

“Who signed this?”

Maria pointed to the bottom.

Damien read the name.

Then stopped.

“Dr. Nathan Cole.”

Mr. Stern frowned.

“He died years ago.”

Maria nodded.

“The doctor did.”

Then she touched the second signature.

Not physician.

Witness.

Damien read it.

Clara Rossi.

The room changed.

Damien turned slowly.

Elena’s mother had gone pale.

“You witnessed my father’s death certificate?”

Clara swallowed.

“I witnessed a document.”

Maria shook her head.

“No.”

“You witnessed the truth.”

Damien stepped closer.

“And sixteen years later you put my mother’s ring on your daughter.”

Clara said nothing.

Damien’s voice lowered.

“Why?”

Maria answered for her.

“Because the ring was not the only thing I gave Clara in Florence.”

Damien looked at his mother.

“What else?”

Maria reached into her bag again.

This time she removed a tiny brass key.

A number was engraved on it.

214.

Damien stared.

“What does it open?”

Maria looked at Clara.

Clara’s face emptied.

Maria said:

“The box containing your father’s real will.”

Nobody moved.

Then Clara whispered:

“You should never have brought that here.”

Damien looked at her.

“Why?”

Clara’s eyes shifted toward the hallway.

“Because Victor wasn’t the only person who wanted it destroyed.”

A sound came from the corridor.

A door closing.

Julian turned.

Mr. Stern looked toward me.

I knew that corridor.

I had worked in this house for four years.

There was only one door at the end.

The old wine archive.

And someone had just gone inside.

Damien looked at me.

“Rose.”

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

I nodded.

“I know another way in.”