Chương 3
“One night he brought the rabbit home,” she continued. “Emma had seen one in a shop window that week. We couldn’t afford it. He said this one had been left behind at a job and no one wanted it. It was already old. I washed it twice. The blue dye came off on my hands.”
“Was the ear stitched down then?” Don Ricci asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you ask why?”
“Daniel said it had torn.”
Emma lifted her head. “Daddy fixed him.”
Clara closed her eyes briefly.
Alessandro leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees. “What happened the day he died?”
“He left before breakfast. He kissed Emma while she was asleep. He told me to take her to my sister’s apartment if he wasn’t home by six.”
“And did you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because he had said similar things for days. Because my sister lived forty minutes away and had three children already. Because I was tired of being frightened by things he refused to explain.” Clara swallowed. “At seven, the police came.”
No one spoke for several seconds.
Emma moved the rabbit’s arm as though making it pat Clara’s collarbone.
“Did Daniel leave papers, a device, a key?” Alessandro asked.
“No.”
Another lie.
This one was slower, but Don Ricci’s gaze sharpened.
Alessandro noticed. “You are protecting something.”
“I am protecting her.”
“From whom?”
Clara met his eyes. “I don’t know yet.”
A knock sounded.
Matteo opened the door two inches and spoke with a guard. His face changed.
“What is it?” Alessandro asked.
“The west communications room was sabotaged. Fiber lines cut, backup transmitter removed. The technician assigned there is missing.”
“Name.”
“Paolo Greco.”
Don Ricci exhaled through his nose. “Whose recommendation?”
Matteo hesitated. “Mine.”
The room seemed to contract.
Alessandro stood. “How long has he worked here?”
“Four months. His background was clean.”
“Backgrounds are clean when the right person washes them.”
Matteo absorbed the insult without defending himself. “I’ll find him.”
“No. You will remain with me.”
For the first time, the security chief looked openly offended. “Alessandro.”
“If Greco entered through your department, you are either compromised or embarrassed. Until I know which, you remain where I can see you.”
Clara expected Matteo to protest. Instead he nodded once and moved away from the door, though anger tightened the skin across his cheekbones.
A second knock followed almost immediately. One of the guards outside said, “Sir, Signorina Romano is demanding access.”
Alessandro looked at Clara.
“Bring her in,” Clara said.
Don Ricci’s brows lifted.
Alessandro studied her for a moment, then nodded.
Vivian entered as though she had been invited. Her posture remained perfect, but the hand holding her train was clenched hard enough to wrinkle the fabric. She looked first at Alessandro, then the rabbit.
“You wanted to speak to me,” she said.
“Mrs. Bennett did.”
Vivian’s gaze moved to Clara. “How generous.”
Clara shifted Emma higher in her lap. Her cheek throbbed with every heartbeat. “You recognized the symbol.”
Vivian gave a short laugh. “Everyone recognized it after Ricci announced what it was.”
“You stepped back before he said anything.”
“I stepped away from a dirty toy.”
“It was behind his ear. You couldn’t see it from where you stood.”
Silence pressed against the curtains.
Vivian’s eyes flicked toward Alessandro. “She is inventing this because she knows you feel guilty.”
“About what?” he asked.
“About allowing staff to drag their children through formal gatherings.”
Clara almost smiled. The cruelty was familiar now, and familiarity made it less frightening.
Alessandro did not look away from Vivian. “Did you know the mark?”
“No.”
“Have you seen the rabbit before?”
“No.”
Emma twisted around in Clara’s arms. “Yes.”
Vivian’s face tightened.
Alessandro crouched beside the child again. “When did Miss Romano see Mr. Bunny?”
Emma pointed at Vivian. “She said throw him away.”
Clara stared at her daughter. “When?”
“In the flowers.”
Children did not organize time in ways adults found convenient. Clara searched her memory. “What flowers, sweetheart?”
“The white ones. When Mommy washed the big stairs.”
The white orchids in the winter garden. Clara had cleaned the adjacent staircase four days earlier while Emma sat with crayons at a service table.
Vivian’s voice sharpened. “I walked through the room. The rabbit was filthy. I told her the staff could replace it.”
“You touched it?” Alessandro asked.
“No.”
Emma hugged the rabbit. “You pulled his ear.”
Vivian’s hand rose to her diamond necklace.
It was a tiny gesture, perhaps unconscious. Clara remembered seeing Daniel touch his throat whenever he was frightened and pretending not to be.
Alessandro straightened. “Why?”
“I did not.”
Emma watched her. “You did.”
“Enough,” Vivian snapped.
Clara stood so quickly the chair legs scraped the floor. Emma clung to her.
Alessandro stepped between them.
He did not threaten Vivian. He simply occupied the space, and she moved back.
“Search her rooms,” he told the guard at the door.
Vivian’s composure cracked. “You will not.”
“Her luggage, her car, her phone, her staff. No one searches her person without a woman present.”
“You are humiliating me over the word of a child.”
“No,” Alessandro said. “I am investigating why you lied about touching an object marked by a traitor organization inside my house.”
Vivian looked around as though expecting someone to correct him. Don Ricci examined the face of his watch. Matteo stared at the floor.
“You asked me to marry you,” she said.
“I did.”
“You put that ring on my hand.”
“I remember.”
Her fingers closed over the large diamond. “Then act like it.”
Alessandro’s expression remained unreadable. “Give the guard your phone.”
For several seconds, Vivian did not move.
Then she drew a slim black phone from a hidden pocket in her gown and held it out.
The guard reached for it.
Vivian let it fall.
The phone struck the marble hearth and split at one corner. She looked down with a faint, brittle smile. “Clumsy.”
May you like
Matteo crossed the room and picked it up. “It still works.”
The smile disappeared.
